Connection issues w/ Folger Tech 2020

Hey guys,

So I finally got my printer all built and ready to go except the fan that it came with doesn't seem to want to work. Other than that everything seems to be running according to plan. All lights and displays are coming on. Seemed to be going just fine until I got to the Repetier part. I uploaded the firmware that folger tech had on their google drive and all I got was an error on my Repetier saying something to the effect of "no connection-- forcing start" and nothing starts. Changed the baud rate to 11520 on all parts of my system and then it says there is a fatal error or does the same thing. Can't tell you how many times I have done this and still got the same result. So any tips or suggestions would be great! I am pretty new and don't know much about coding in general. If there is anything else I need to do or that I need to upload or tell you guys so that it will help you to help me.

Thanks!

Quote
schmuck
Hey guys,

So I finally got my printer all built and ready to go except the fan that it came with doesn't seem to want to work. Other than that everything seems to be running according to plan. All lights and displays are coming on. Seemed to be going just fine until I got to the Repetier part. I uploaded the firmware that folger tech had on their google drive and all I got was an error on my Repetier saying something to the effect of "no connection-- forcing start" and nothing starts. Changed the baud rate to 11520 on all parts of my system and then it says there is a fatal error or does the same thing. Can't tell you how many times I have done this and still got the same result. So any tips or suggestions would be great! I am pretty new and don't know much about coding in general. If there is anything else I need to do or that I need to upload or tell you guys so that it will help you to help me.

Thanks!

Make sure to change the transfer protocol in repetier to ASCII (repetier host > printer settings > connection > transfer protocol). Also make sure that you are using the proper port.

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Mach,

That seemed to be the trick, however now I am running into issues with the stepper motors. The instructions fail to say that it doesn't work perfect after that last step, or at least that's how its going in my case. My z axis motors don't want to work in sync with each other. The one closest to the ramps board seems to work better than the of the one of the filament spool side.

My y axis doesn't want to do anything that it is being told. It just jiggles back and forth when trying to move it in repetier and even with the lcd. I have messed with the current flow going to the motor and it doesn't seem to do anything no matter which way I turn it. The repetier also doesn't seem to know where the endstops are because there motor will move one direction but when I try and to move the other direction it says that it engaged the endstop. Giving me this error:

echo:endstops hit: X: xx

where the xx is the number that the host thinks that it is hitting the endstop at. I am getting this for all 3 axis so I'm guessing its something in the config.h that I will be able to change I just don't know what it is.

I feel like there is some faulty equipment in there, I just have no idea what it would be and what problem that it would be causing. I have already had a fan that doesn't work so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the only thing.

Anything helps. I just wanna see it print something!

Thank you so much!
Schmuck

Quote
schmuck
Mach,

That seemed to be the trick, however now I am running into issues with the stepper motors. The instructions fail to say that it doesn't work perfect after that last step, or at least that's how its going in my case. My z axis motors don't want to work in sync with each other. The one closest to the ramps board seems to work better than the of the one of the filament spool side.

My y axis doesn't want to do anything that it is being told. It just jiggles back and forth when trying to move it in repetier and even with the lcd. I have messed with the current flow going to the motor and it doesn't seem to do anything no matter which way I turn it. The repetier also doesn't seem to know where the endstops are because there motor will move one direction but when I try and to move the other direction it says that it engaged the endstop. Giving me this error:

echo:endstops hit: X: xx

where the xx is the number that the host thinks that it is hitting the endstop at. I am getting this for all 3 axis so I'm guessing its something in the config.h that I will be able to change I just don't know what it is.

I feel like there is some faulty equipment in there, I just have no idea what it would be and what problem that it would be causing. I have already had a fan that doesn't work so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the only thing.

Anything helps. I just wanna see it print something!

Thank you so much!
Schmuck

The problems you are having with the X and Y axis are well known problems first time users of this printer come across. I forgot the exact solutions to the problems, but I believe you can find them Here
under "Marlin Firmware Upgrade". I would highly suggest changing over to This version of marlin, since the version that FT has is way outdated, and is lacking important features. Repetier-host also has some things that have to be properly configured for the printer to work. If you could paste your config.h file to pastebin and give a link to it, I could take a look and give some more info from there.

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Mach,

Sorry for the late response. Here is my configuration.h in a link:

[pastebin.com]

You could probably tell me for sure, but I think that I already downloaded that version and that's how I got it to do what I wanted, but still having mechanical issues. Not anything on the firmware side.

Thanks

Quote
schmuck
Mach,

Sorry for the late response. Here is my configuration.h in a link:

[pastebin.com]

You could probably tell me for sure, but I think that I already downloaded that version and that's how I got it to do what I wanted, but still having mechanical issues. Not anything on the firmware side.

Thanks

Forgot to ask, where are your endstops located?

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X: Left
Y: Back
Z: Bottom

Quote
schmuck
X: Left
Y: Back
Z: Bottom

you should have your endstops plugged into:
X min for x axis
Y max for y axis
Z min for z axis

#define USE_XMIN_PLUG
#define USE_YMIN_PLUG
#define USE_ZMIN_PLUG
//#define USE_XMAX_PLUG
//#define USE_YMAX_PLUG
//#define USE_ZMAX_PLUG

should be

#define USE_XMIN_PLUG
//#define USE_YMIN_PLUG
#define USE_ZMIN_PLUG
//#define USE_XMAX_PLUG
#define USE_YMAX_PLUG
//#define USE_ZMAX_PLUG

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#define ENDSTOPPULLUPS // Comment this out (using // at the start of the line) to disable the endstop pullup resistors
 
#if DISABLED(ENDSTOPPULLUPS)
  // fine endstop settings: Individual pullups. will be ignored if ENDSTOPPULLUPS is defined
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_XMAX
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_YMAX
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMAX
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_XMIN
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_YMIN
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE

should be

//#define ENDSTOPPULLUPS // Comment this out (using // at the start of the line) to disable the endstop pullup resistors
 
#if DISABLED(ENDSTOPPULLUPS)
  // fine endstop settings: Individual pullups. will be ignored if ENDSTOPPULLUPS is defined
  #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_XMAX
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_YMAX
  #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMAX
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_XMIN
  #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_YMIN
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN
  //#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#define X_HOME_DIR -1
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define Z_HOME_DIR 1

should be

#define X_HOME_DIR -1
#define Y_HOME_DIR 1
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

settings in repetier > printer settings > printer shape should look like this

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other things that should be changed are

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 6
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_3 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 6

should be

#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 1
#define TEMP_SENSOR_1 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_2 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_3 0
#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80,80,3840,90}

should be

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {80,80,4000, (should be a value calculated for your extruder)}

Extruder steps/mm calibration formula is
extruder steps/mm formula = (current steps/mm * intended extrusion in mm) / (actual extrusion in mm)

These changes should fix most of the problems. If the motors move in the wrong direction when you home a axis, flip the motor connector around on the ramps.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/2016 09:10PM by Mach.

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hi

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2016 05:09PM by schmuck.

Quote
schmuck
hi

Hi

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