Pronterface Missing -Z Jog Option?

I have a MakerGear M2E printer, and I'm going to upgrade the firmware. I want to be able to test it a bit before I run a print, and was planning on using Pronterface. I've installed it, and set all the parameters I can find. If I click on the three "Home" buttons on the jog control wheel, all three axes go to the right place. The +/-X and +/-Y commands all work as they should. HOWEVER, the Z axis homes at the maximum Z position (fully down), and I have no "-Z" option available on the wheel to raise it. Z is currently stuck with the platform al the way down. (see attached image).

Any idea what I'm missing? As long as I manually raise the platform after the firmware update, I can still check that everything runs in the right direction, but I'd like to get this fixed for the future.

Thanks!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2024 03:00PM by gwhite.

... check for the ref-button-status with "M119" - if not "homed" for Z or still triggered status, then it runs only in one direction ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly..

I ran the program, connected and clicked on the Z-Home button. The platform went down to the bottom and stopped. I sent the M119 command, and received:

Reporting endstop status
x_min: TRIGGERED
y_min: open
z_min: open
z_max: TRIGGERED

If "z_max" is triggered, I don't understand why it won't let me reduce Z. I have no trouble increasing X, even though the "x_min" stop is triggerred.

Any ideas as to what might be going on & how to fix it?

Thanks for any suggestions.

... you have to configure the axes directions and switch-positions (min/max and eventually inverting the switches) accordingly to your setup, otherwise it can show such behaviour.

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

The Z axes is operating in the right direction (+ Z is down, lowering the build platform). The limit switch for homing is on the bottom end of the platform travel (Maximum Z). Clicking on the Z homing button runs the platform in the right direction (plus Z), and it stops when it gets to the bottom and trips the limit switch.

My Z-axis settings are:

Height: 200
Z offset: 0
Z home pos: 200

The only thing that I'm not sure about is the Z offset. In the firmware, there is an ~ 11mm Z offset, but I don't know how that relates to the Pronterface settings.

Thanks!

... IIRC, you can set an offset in the firmware and you can define the "home" coordinates in pronterface too ... didn't work with it some years now ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I homed the Z-axis, and then tried sending it a relative move command to change Z by -10. That should be what the jog wheel would be sending if the buttons worked:

G91 (set to relative mode)

G1 Z-10 (Move up 10 mm)

That worked exactly as expected. Everything appears to be working as it should, I just don’t get the negative move options displayed on the jog wheel graphic.

If I set it to absolute mode, and send it to Z=100 (half way up/down), it also does exactly what it should.

I find it hard to believe I've stumbled across a bug on my first serious exploration of Pronterface. I'm running 2.0.1, but I have a screen shot of 2.0.0, and it is also missing the negative Z jog options.

I am open to any further suggestions or things to try.

Thanks!

... there was no negative indication on the Z-jog or XY ... it will move into only one axis direction, if it's not homed correctly or outside of the "allowed" moving range.

Here a screenshot of my old modified Pronterface from arond 10 years ago:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2024 06:39PM by VDX.

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Your screenshot shows what mine does. Just to the right of the circular part of the graphical jog control, you have vertical section with buttons for positive Z movement, and below that, there is a "-Z" displayed, but but there are no corresponding 0.1, 1, 10 buttons displayed to execute negative Z movements.

My machine homes at the maximum Z value of 200 mm. and I can command the Z axis to reduce from there (platform goes up) with both relative & absolute Gcode commands. At no time does the Z axis jog control show buttons that would allow me to raise the platform by sending a negative Z adjustment with a simple mouse click. The only way I can get the platform off the Z limit switch is by sending Gcode commands. The positive and negative X and Y movements indicated in the graphical circle all work fine.

Maybe it's designed that way, but it makes no sense to me to have a place for negative jog values that is apparently never active. Everything else works fine, exactly as I expect it to.

Thanks!

The current pronterface does not show values for z- it does however highlight the number above and move

tested Z 1, verified with lcd that Z is now at 1
tested Z -1 (1 is highlighted above). verified with that Z is now back at 0

THANK YOU! I suspected there was something I didn't understand about the user interface. I tried all sorts of things, and now I have it working. I found it VERY non-intuitive.

For those who may have the same issue, the process is to hover your mouse pointer over one of the empty boxes just above the "-Z" down arrow. When you do that, the appropriate movement size will hi-lite in the column of numbers just below the "+ Z" arrow. When you click on the empty square, the printer will execute a -Z movement of the size selected.

I have no idea what would be involved in changing the graphics to add the numbers to the -Z column. The buttons all work, they just need labels.

... try the same with hovering the mouse above the XY-"target" -- it's the same for the Z-"buttons" too - they arent't "empty", but only lack the numbers for not overloading the graphics ... this was designed so and hadn't caused any issues over the years ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]