Newb Needs help with endstops

Hello all. Name is Kevin. I've been wanting to get a 3D printer since i heard they were available to the public. I finally got one last month. Prusa I3 clone from ebay. I've put it together, with numerous inaccuracies in the manual and non updated design changes. Good thing i'm mechanically and electronically inclined...lol. I've been running around at length with the ebay seller/manufacturer of the kit, and it simply seems they're idiots who just ordered all the pieces and shipped it out. I've emailed the folgertech support guy several times and he looked at this m119 log and says it looks good. lol

Anyway, here is my problem. I'm using Arduino Mega 2560 R3 Clone with Mega Pololu Shield 1.4.

link to ebay item [www.ebay.com]

I'm going to paste my log that i just sent to support, AGAIN.

With NO end stops connected to the board i get this

23:27:22.820 : Reporting endstop status
23:27:22.820 : x_min: open
23:27:22.820 : x_max: open
23:27:22.820 : y_min: open
23:27:22.820 : y_max: open
23:27:22.820 : z_min: open
23:27:22.821 : z_max: TRIGGERED

X End stop connecedt to slot 1 ( X Min ) ACTIVATED

23:27:57.573 : Reporting endstop status
23:27:57.573 : x_min: TRIGGERED
23:27:57.573 : x_max: TRIGGERED
23:27:57.573 : y_min: open
23:27:57.573 : y_max: open
23:27:57.573 : z_min: open
23:27:57.577 : z_max: TRIGGERED

X endstop in Slot 2 ( X Max) ACTIVATED
23:28:58.715 : Reporting endstop status
23:28:58.715 : x_min: open
23:28:58.715 : x_max: TRIGGERED
23:28:58.715 : y_min: open
23:28:58.719 : y_max: open
23:28:58.719 : z_min: open
23:28:58.719 : z_max: TRIGGERED


Y axis endstop in slot 3 (Y min) ( X endstop removed ) ACTIVATED

23:29:49.835 : Reporting endstop status
23:29:49.835 : x_min: open
23:29:49.835 : x_max: open
23:29:49.835 : y_min: TRIGGERED
23:29:49.839 : y_max: TRIGGERED
23:29:49.839 : z_min: open
23:29:49.839 : z_max: TRIGGERED


Y endstop in slot 4 ( Y Max) ACTIVATED

23:31:04.549 : Reporting endstop status
23:31:04.554 : x_min: open
23:31:04.554 : x_max: open
23:31:04.554 : y_min: open
23:31:04.554 : y_max: TRIGGERED
23:31:04.554 : z_min: open
23:31:04.554 : z_max: TRIGGERED

Z endstop in slot 5 (z min) (Y endstop removed) ACTIVATED

23:33:24.043 : Reporting endstop status
23:33:24.043 : x_min: open
23:33:24.043 : x_max: open
23:33:24.043 : y_min: open
23:33:24.043 : y_max: open
23:33:24.043 : z_min: TRIGGERED
23:33:24.044 : z_max: TRIGGERED

Z endstop in slot 6 (Z max) ACTIVATED
23:34:56.205 : Reporting endstop status
23:34:56.205 : x_min: open
23:34:56.205 : x_max: open
23:34:56.205 : y_min: open
23:34:56.205 : y_max: open
23:34:56.205 : z_min: open
23:34:56.206 : z_max: TRIGGERED


No matter where my endstops are connected (or even none connected) and in what order they're pressed, Z axis MAX is always triggered. I cannot get ONLY the min axis for any axis to trigger, therefore i cannot set a home position nor will Repetier move the Z axis up at all, ever.

I was fighting for a week to figure this out and learn the m119 command. among other problems i solved, that weren't clearly indicated in their manual.

I'm assuming the shield board is bad, since the Z MAX axis is always triggered with or without endstops connected.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as i ordered this on Jan 1st and i'm still fighting to get it working.

Change this line:

//#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS

to this

#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS

---

-David

Find me online at:
Thingiverse
Instructables.com
LinkedIn
Facebook

Check out my FolgerTech Prusa i3 (plexi) at MindRealm.net

OMG....i've been waiting 1 1/2 weeks for that answer. Hitting home on all 3 axis now works. why the hell couldn't the MANUFACTURER tell me this in the first damn email. IDIOTS!!!

I will definitely stick with this forum, as the others i posted this in, never got replies.


Thanks a lot. Now i can finally continue dialing everything in and start my first test print.

Now that it's working great...i'd like to know. Is the board bad and this was just a good way to bypass the problem?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2015 10:46PM by Badkitty.

Don't worry - you have a great printer, regardless of the seller. I highly suggest printing a replacement extruder as soon as you get it dialed-in. It will save you a bunch of grief.

Take a look at the links in my signature for parts specifically for this printer!

---

-David

Find me online at:
Thingiverse
Instructables.com
LinkedIn
Facebook

Check out my FolgerTech Prusa i3 (plexi) at MindRealm.net

Nice. that was my next plan..to find spare parts.

When i got the kit...it was missing the Y axis bearing holders. I emailed them and they said the design changed and i didn't need. To just zip tie the bearings to the plexi build plate. Whether they actually changed it and didn't think it through, or that was an excuse for the missing part, i had to mount the Y endstop on the OUTSIDE of the frame bracket. If i had mounted on the inside, where it should have hit the bearing holder, i'd have to set it TOO high to just touch the bearing, but it would completely interfere with build plate's full movement. Never got a response on that issue lol. but i got it working. I'll probably print out those holders and redo it.

Thanks again.

Quick question, why are there 6 endstops listed (min&max)?,
on my prusa i3 I only have one endstop per axis, would they be min or max?

Cheers

Hillybilly52

Having all six gives you the ability to use actual end stops on both ends of each axis.

I'm not sure why anyone would do that, with software end stops being available in Marlin, unless you were to have a printer with an expandable frame (neat idea!), in which case it would eliminate needing to redefine the travel limits in the firmware...

---

-David

Find me online at:
Thingiverse
Instructables.com
LinkedIn
Facebook

Check out my FolgerTech Prusa i3 (plexi) at MindRealm.net

And now a new issue...sighh.

As i'm dialing in my Z axis, i move it up 30mm for clearance to move the endstop and i notice it's not moving and sounds like it's binding. The hole in the bearing holders that are suppose to hold the nut in place that ride on the threaded rods....the nuts are coming out of the holes! They won't wedge in there and stay. Once the carriage goes up, one side starts going higher because the other nut came out of the holder.

Would that pressure of one side going up and the other side down, cause tension on the motors and make them stall and reverse direction on their own? I watched as one motor reversed direction and made one side come down as the other side went up! RRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

I have to figure out a way to keep those nuts in there now, maybe super glue or 60 second epoxy. Because i can just lift the whole carriage up off the nuts, easily.

Most printers (mine seems to be the exception) have the X-axis ends mounted so that the nut is inserted below the end pieces, with the weight of the axis keeping them in the cutouts. I flipped mine on purpose (for aesthetic reasons) and used a dab of epoxy to hold them in.

---

-David

Find me online at:
Thingiverse
Instructables.com
LinkedIn
Facebook

Check out my FolgerTech Prusa i3 (plexi) at MindRealm.net

i was loking at it earlier and had actually though about doing just that. gluing the nut on TOP of the holder. Would make it easier to make sure none of the epoxy gets inside the nut. Who really cares about asthetics right? lol.

What are the better ways of mounting the filament reel to feed the extruder? The manual for this thing doesn't even have anything in it for where to put the reel.

I remember seeing a video on youtube where a guy ran the filament through a white plastic tubing, so it didn't give any resistance as it came off the reel, when at max X position. He printed a small cube with the filament running normal and you could see the edges weren't sharp, due to the sligh resistance coming off the reel, but when he held the filament and kept all resistance off the reel, the edges were nice and sharp.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2015 03:30PM by Badkitty.

If your motor drivers are working correctly, this should not happen. If it is happening, then you can't count on the Z axis being correct anyway.

Make certain that you are getting good connections to the pins on the motor from your control board. A bad connection can have the motor doing some pretty weird random shit, like running backwards, or just in random directions. (Happens to me on my X axis a lot because of the setup that I have, where sometimes the X axis connector gets pulled a bit loose) if both x axis motors are getting correct control, they will move in unison, and this won't be a problem.

Make certain that you have enough current going to the motors. There are 2 motors, so you should have roughly double the bias setting for the Z motor driver.

The nut coming loose is actually something of a safety feature, preventing you from damaging the printer or motors in the event that something goes wrong. It also keeps the extruder from crashing into the print bed and breaking stuff, since the maximum force that it can exert downwards is the weight of the carriage, and not the weight of the carriage plus the torque of 2 motors multiplied by the plane of the threaded rod, which is enough to break a lot of glass, probably damage the heat bed PCB and certainly enough to damage your J-head mount, if not the head itself. I also find that it's an easy way to adjust the X axis levelling, lift up the carriage, and turn a nut by 1/6 turn increments (on 5mm rod that's 0.133mm increments) which gives a reasonably precise method of ensuring that the left and right sides of the carriage are at equal heights relative to the print bed. Also, if the nuts are forced to remain in the bearing holders, and something happens where one motor turns backwards, it will put a lot of strain on the LM8UU bearings, or the holders, which may break. Best case, it would stretch or break the Z couplers, which would also be a major pain in the rear to fix.

Thanks for the info. Although the Z motor connectors looked in place..i pulled them and reconnected. They're workiing fine now. That one motor was making alot of vibrating noise before too, now it's nice and quiet and smooth.

I glued the nuts to the X bearing holders. I had to. I know the design logic of it, but everytime the carriage went up, one side would always come up off the nut. I'll just keep an eye on everything while it's printing, to make sure it's not binding. I plan on printing all replacement parts first anyway. So i'll reprint those and hopefully the holes are tighter to hold those nuts.

Began my first print....and hit another problem, as expected lol.


In repetier , i placed my obect in the center of the build area. Ran slicer, 5min print time cool. I hit start print and the printer goes to home in all 3 axis just fine. everything heats up good and when it's time, the extruder moves to Xmax/Ymax/Zmin 200/200/0 and starts printing the whole obect in one spot. I doesn't print in the center of the build area, like i placed it in repetier. The extruder moves up after each layer, but doesn't move X or Y. So i have this little ball of PLA mess in one spot. I let it continue until it was done, in 1min ( not 5 ) and it raised up and reset to home like it should.

Attached is a pic of my Repetier settings. I also attached my arduino config file too. I'm off to work, so i won't be able to give any other info needed until almost midnight PST. Just as note, my X axis is reversed on purpose. It homes in right where i want it too.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2015 06:18PM by Badkitty.

In repetier tab "printer shape" you have to set " bed left " and " bed front " to zero.

There's also a section in slicer for the bed size, which was way too large when I first set things up. I set it to the actual bed size, and it finds the centre very well, now.

sweet guys thanks. It printed in the right spot. How stupid, those settings were in folgertechs manual. Sighh.

First test print turned out pretty good. No more issues...right now anyway.

This is just a small piece to Starlord's Gun from Guardians of the Galaxy. I found the model a week ago, so i used the smallest piece to test. Took 5mins. I used blue painters tape on the glass. It printed great, stuck to the tape and wasn't hard to peel it off after it finished.




YAAAA...it's working!!

Thanks to MindRealm and SupraGuy....you helped with my major issues.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2015 05:34PM by Badkitty.

I had the same problem. You will find that the control of all axies hinge around endstops. Your problem is located just after the boolean z-Max entry.

Remove "//"before this line #define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS
Also the next line // #define DISABLE_MIN_ENDSTOPS

That should fix the problem but you find there
are worse problems than that to over come.
When you start printing you'll see what I mean.

Hope it helpped

RICK

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2015 02:30PM by nealre.

actually after i had done that..i had no other problems related to this. I'm up to 3hr prints with no problems.