Folger Tech i3 First print - X & Y axes have a mind of their own

With some help from the helpful guys at Vancouver Hackspace last night, I got my Folger Tech i3 to the point where it was ready for its first print. Or so I thought.

I patiently waited while first the bed and then the hot end warmed up to operating temp. As the hot end temp hit 190 suddenly my printer started moving on its own for the first time ever. Very cool! The x axis moved from the home position (back-right corner of the bed) across to roughly the centre of the bed as the Y axis also moved to help it achieve that goal. Then the extruder crossed the centre point and just kept on going until it eventually overran bed more or less at the front left corner. Before I could hit the emergency stop button the extruder started pumping out some bright green PLA onto the table top.

So...apparently something isn't set up quite right.

First I checked the jumpers to make sure I hadn't left any out but they were fine.

Then I checked the firmware for the steps settings and that looked fine: #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,4000,90}

I manually commanded moves of the X ad Y axes of 10 and 50 mm and got moves that were exactly those distances.

So I am not sure where the problem lies. One thing that I'm wondering about is the fact that in manual control mode, my x axis moves to the left when I enter a positive value and to the right when I enter a negative value. In Repetier this means that I have to push the left side button to make the X axis move right and vice versa. This is in contrast to the Y and Z axes which move forward when you push the forward button and up when you press the up button respectively.

This printer has been set up exactly per the instructions from Folger but those instructions certainly have issues (in fact they're terrible) so I won't be at all surprised if it turns out something in them in completely wrong.

Any ideas?

It's probably trying to home the x axis, but since it moves away from the endstop it just keeps going. Flip around the x motor connector, this will reverse the x axis direction. Alternatily you could flip the direction in the firmware, but that's a bit more complex, however at some point you may need to make some changes in the configuration, to add a heated bet, increase max allowed temperature or adding auto bed levelling. Might as well getting acqainted with the dev studio.

Quote
imqqmi
It's probably trying to home the x axis, but since it moves away from the endstop it just keeps going. Flip around the x motor connector, this will reverse the x axis direction. Alternatily you could flip the direction in the firmware, but that's a bit more complex, however at some point you may need to make some changes in the configuration, to add a heated bet, increase max allowed temperature or adding auto bed levelling. Might as well getting acqainted with the dev studio.

OK with the x axis motor connector reversed, the x axis now moves towards the left when I hit the Home button which means it doesn't go towards the X end stop which is on the right side of the printer. And when I control it manually it moves left when I click left and doesn't move at all when I click right.

Quote
Vanbot

Quote
imqqmi
It's probably trying to home the x axis, but since it moves away from the endstop it just keeps going. Flip around the x motor connector, this will reverse the x axis direction. Alternatily you could flip the direction in the firmware, but that's a bit more complex, however at some point you may need to make some changes in the configuration, to add a heated bet, increase max allowed temperature or adding auto bed levelling. Might as well getting acqainted with the dev studio.

OK with the x axis motor connector reversed, the x axis now moves towards the left when I hit the Home button which means it doesn't go towards the X end stop which is on the right side of the printer. And when I control it manually it moves left when I click left and doesn't move at all when I click right.

With a manual move X+ should move right, X- should move left
In your Marlin configuration.h you probably have the X-endstop set wrong.
It should be:
#define X_HOME_DIR 1
This will make it a MAX end stop.
Check the status with a M119 in repetier with none of the switches closed then again one at a time closed.

Steve

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My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Quote
SteveRoy
With a manual move X+ should move right, X- should move left
In your Marlin configuration.h you probably have the X-endstop set wrong.
It should be:
#define X_HOME_DIR 1
This will make it a MAX end stop.
Check the status with a M119 in repetier with none of the switches closed then again one at a time closed.

Steve

Hey Steve.

Mine was set as #define X_HOME_DIR -1.

So I changed it to #define X_HOME_DIR 1. It's still doing what it did before with the only change being that now when I hit the Home button it jogs to the left 10 mm. :-) Seriously.

EDIT: Turns out the way Folger Tech tells you to plug in the end stops is wrong so I've changed around the end stop plugs and now this seems to be resolved. I.e. the x axis moves left and right when I push the corresponding buttons in Repetier. But it's still going apeshit when I try to print. Now instead of wandering off the front left corner it pretty much just shoots straight forward off the end of the bed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2015 10:50PM by Vanbot.

Did you setup the print bed size correctly in repetier (menu config, Printer settings, Printer shape tab)? Also check the start g-code in the slicer settings. See if it tries to move beyond your actual print bed size.

Are you coming down to the hackspace Saturday?
I can go through your Marlin setup with you.

Steve

---

My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Quote
imqqmi
Did you setup the print bed size correctly in repetier (menu config, Printer settings, Printer shape tab)? Also check the start g-code in the slicer settings. See if it tries to move beyond your actual print bed size.

Everything is set up exactly the way the Folger Tech instructions describe. I am wondering though about setting up the Printer Shape settings in Slic3r/Repetier. Folger shows the settings for

Folger says to set HomeX, HomeY and HomeZ all to "min" values. This doesn't seem right to me since the X end stop is actually set up at the max position for the X axis.
I have tried running the X value with this setting at Max and Min and neither seems to help.

Next Folger advised Printer Shape settings:
X Min: 0 X Max: 200 Bed Left: 200
Y Min: 0 Y Max: 200 Bed Front: 200
Print Area Width: 200 mm
Print Area Depth: 200 mm
Print Area Height: 185 mm

So I'm wondering if some of these need to be negative values? Since the X axis end stop is at the Max position does that mean that the print area width, for example, should be -200 mm?
Or should any of those X/Y Max or Bed Left/Front settings be negative?

Here's the gcode from the start of the run:

M109 S190 ; wait for temperature to be reached
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
G92 E0
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
M106 S255
G1 F1800.000 E-1.00000
G92 E0
G1 Z0.300 F7800.000
G1 X312.536 Y294.364 F7800.000
G1 E1.00000 F1800.000
G1 X312.664 Y294.241 E1.00816 F3240.000
G1 X315.262 Y292.650 E1.14824
G1 X315.623 Y292.525 E1.16577
G1 X317.282 Y292.165 E1.24383
G1 X319.091 Y292.220 E1.32703
G1 X319.526 Y292.296 E1.34733 F3240.000
G1 X320.556 Y292.560 E1.39624
G1 X321.845 Y293.134 E1.46109
G1 X322.446 Y293.517 E1.49388
G1 X323.210 Y294.120 E1.53862

So yes it seems to be completely ignoring the printer shape settings and trying to print out around the 300,300 coordinate.

Quote
SteveRoy
Are you coming down to the hackspace Saturday?
I can go through your Marlin setup with you.

Steve

Oh yes I'll be there. But I was hoping to be able to print you and Kevin a matching pair of dental floss holders to thank you for all your help BEFORE Saturday. :-)

Quote
Vanbot

Quote
imqqmi
Did you setup the print bed size correctly in repetier (menu config, Printer settings, Printer shape tab)? Also check the start g-code in the slicer settings. See if it tries to move beyond your actual print bed size.

Everything is set up exactly the way the Folger Tech instructions describe. I am wondering though about setting up the Printer Shape settings in Slic3r/Repetier. Folger shows the settings for

Folger says to set HomeX, HomeY and HomeZ all to "min" values. This doesn't seem right to me since the X end stop is actually set up at the max position for the X axis.
I have tried running the X value with this setting at Max and Min and neither seems to help.

Next Folger advised Printer Shape settings:
X Min: 0 X Max: 200 Bed Left: 200
Y Min: 0 Y Max: 200 Bed Front: 200
Print Area Width: 200 mm
Print Area Depth: 200 mm
Print Area Height: 185 mm

So I'm wondering if some of these need to be negative values? Since the X axis end stop is at the Max position does that mean that the print area width, for example, should be -200 mm?
Or should any of those X/Y Max or Bed Left/Front settings be negative?

Here's the gcode from the start of the run:

M109 S190 ; wait for temperature to be reached
G90 ; use absolute coordinates
G92 E0
M82 ; use absolute distances for extrusion
M106 S255
G1 F1800.000 E-1.00000
G92 E0
G1 Z0.300 F7800.000
G1 X312.536 Y294.364 F7800.000
G1 E1.00000 F1800.000
G1 X312.664 Y294.241 E1.00816 F3240.000
G1 X315.262 Y292.650 E1.14824
G1 X315.623 Y292.525 E1.16577
G1 X317.282 Y292.165 E1.24383
G1 X319.091 Y292.220 E1.32703
G1 X319.526 Y292.296 E1.34733 F3240.000
G1 X320.556 Y292.560 E1.39624
G1 X321.845 Y293.134 E1.46109
G1 X322.446 Y293.517 E1.49388
G1 X323.210 Y294.120 E1.53862

So yes it seems to be completely ignoring the printer shape settings and trying to print out around the 300,300 coordinate.

I updated the manual but it was never uploaded. In printer setup>printer shape, the bed front left is not 200, 200, it's 0, 0. That should fix the issue.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2015 02:55PM by MakerFront.

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Making it better for Makers!
[makerfront.com]

This left/right and front/back stuff is confusing me. I am assuming the coordinate system looks like this seen from the top/above/ +Z.


X motor location

....Vertical frame || Z motor
Origin, 0,0,0-------------------------------------------------Y + front, right, 0,200,0
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
| Y motor.............||
|=================================== Y pulley is here. 100,200,0 approx
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
| .........................||
X+......................||
back left.............||
200,0,0...............|| Z motor --------------------------- 200,200,0
| .........................X pulley is here

Is this correct????

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 08:24PM by Ecky.