The Techzone electronics, board layout etc are all documented on the wiki. (I know as I was looking at them again today). (Worth looking at both of them until the information in them is merged) And also this one Cheers Davidby davmj - Firmware - mainstream and related support
I have to say, Jonathan's reprap packages for Ubuntu work really well. Rebuilt a laptop and installed Ubuntu 10.10. Had RepRap host up and running ready to be connected to the printer with in 10 minutes. Just need to confirm that the laptop is not going to be driving me crazy (It took nearly an hour to get the graphics working on the laptop, damn SIS graphic chips). Davidby davmj - RepRap Host
Hi all, Where are people getting the PTFE rod and PEEK blocks (depending on requirements) from in NZ. Not that i need it now, but if I am going to experiment with hot ends and various approaches to extruders than I may need to locate a source for at least PTFE rod. Cheers Davidby davmj - New Zealand RepRap User Group
Does anyone have any spare fibreglass nichrome that I can purchase, beg etc. Finally finished moving house and getting sorted so I can get back to focusing on the printer Davidby davmj - New Zealand RepRap User Group
The local "blacksmiths" to me sell the various smaller bearings, I can see how much they are charging at the moment at get back to you if you want. Davidby davmj - New Zealand RepRap User Group
The local implement workshop down the road from me (Place normally fixes farm equipment (or builds it)), also sold 90% of the metal parts required. Other suppliers are EDL which has offices around the country. Davidby davmj - New Zealand RepRap User Group
Yeap, I'm fine, living in the north island, (Although I am about 2km from the Wairarapa fault line. ) Daveby davmj - New Zealand RepRap User Group
The board you are looking at sets the current using the variable resister to set a value in the firmware on that board. The firmware must be configured up to use the variable resister to set the value. And you must not have sent a G-CODE that makes it use a software setting. The board is not a stepper driver, but uses a PWM pulse to "fake" being a stepper driver. (As will all GEN3 electronics)by davmj - General Mendel Topics
Sorry been away. I would just use a multimeter and just check that with out the thermister connected measure the resistance between the two points where the thermistor would be attached. I believe it should indicate an open circuit (I could be wrong) Davidby davmj - General
If the thermistor is unplugged then the reading you are getting is from the firmware hitting the end of the lookup table. That is how it is suppose to work. However why it flips between the values you state I am not sure, but my suggestion would be that you have a resistive short where the thermistor is plugged in, and this is causing the firmware to detect a resistance value and thus return a vby davmj - General
Also note, the suppliers tend to advertise the total wattage that the PSU can supply. Read the small print to see what wattage the 12Volt supply can provide, the 5V supply and the -12Volt supply. (And any other voltage supplies) These are normally then added together to give the head line figure Davidby davmj - General Mendel Topics
Bob, How do you get the four sets of Step/Dir connections as although I can see 4 RS485 connections, I only see 1 set of Step/Dir connection on the Motherboard. Davidby davmj - Firmware - mainstream and related support
Agreed, the wiki format does work, And I have seen it used well. Doing good documentation is a skill and some people love it, and would be willing to clean up what are in effect journal entries into full clean "instructions", merge pages etc. This takes time and I suspect most people interest are currently spending time working on getting printers working rather than processing and cleaning up "iby davmj - Administration, Announcements, Policy
(Of course it helps if you remember the firmware is not written in java) Davidby davmj - General Mendel Topics
Based on the information that exists, it should be possible to quickly release a design of the A4983 stepper driver that would be open source (Covering what people feel is needed for an opensource hardware design), based on the datasheet for the chip as well. as the reality is this is just a breakout board in order to use the SMT chip in a test environment. (I am not getting in to the the openby davmj - Controllers
To be honest it sounds like you need to confirm that firmware is correctly setup. You should not need to change the motherboard type. And as the motherboard speaks to the extruder board to get the temp, the issue will be on the extruder firmware rather than the motherboard firmware. Are you using the 5D firmware for both boards? Davidby davmj - RepRap Host
I tried it out Jonathan and you are correct the STL file does not show up in RepRap. I also noted that this was mentioned in the comments to this object back in March as well. Davidby davmj - RepRap Host
Which firmware have you got on the extruder? Davidby davmj - RepRap Host
Can you confirm which version of the RepRapHost software you are using? I have just done this. Downloaded the OpenSCAD file Loaded it in OpenSCAD, rendered the item Saved it as as an STL file Started up the very lastest build of the RepRapHost software from the SVN source and it loaded with no problem at all Davidby davmj - RepRap Host
Or it is a problem with your firmware or thermistor. If 231 is the last entry in your lookup table in the firmware than the board is not getting a reading from the thermistor. Either that or your firmware needs to be updated to match the thermistor that you are using. Have you confirmed that the thermistor is working by just measuring the resistance across it as the temp increases? Davmjby davmj - General
Using a beer can my approach to "flimsy" opt flags was to fold the metal over and use it double thickness. (Little bit of folding along the edges as well and they become less flimsy (I know doing sheet metal work at school would be useful). Not using the standard design for the thin sheet as my electronics are in different locations Davidby davmj - General Mendel Topics
And infact those two pages tell you everything you need to get the electronics 95% working, as long as you follow the testing advice on the main mendel pages as well. The additional 5% is problems that not specifically techzone issues, but rather constructions issues or other firmware issues etc. (As you are correct those pages do need merging, as the Howto has some "tricks" that people have foby davmj - Reprappers
Which generation of Makerbot electronics, as the Mendel can use the Makerbot electronics but the firmware in the extruder drives a stepper motor connected to the PWM chip (i.e. it is not a true stepper motor driver chip). The cutting edge designs that some people are working on use 4 stepper drivers to provide the functionality as required. But as I said, this is the cutting edge of the design,by davmj - General
The techzone USB-Serial board does do that, the only issue I was aware of was on the motherboard in older designs Davidby davmj - General
There is a firmware sketch on the website which would enable you to just test the stepper and adjust the trimpot until the motor starts to move, so you don't have to mess around with clicking extrude. Remember on the extruder board, the trimpot is just a setting and has no physical control over the current. That is done by the firmware reading the pot setting and then setting the PWM suitablyby davmj - Reprappers
On my board I don't have to help reset to to upload firmware, however this is a "feature" of some early techzone boards and Ardunio boards. There is a jumper near the serial port which when connected means that the reset should happen automatically. (That is as much as I know) Davidby davmj - General
The stepper extruder still uses the extruder board, but drives the PWM in such a way that the stepper can be moved, so you should just be able to replace the DC Motor in the setup with a stepper motor. Quick confirmation: It is the triangular shaped printer that you have been given and not the cube shaped one? Davidby davmj - General
With respect to can't find programmer id "arduino" it means that and it is not a board or communication issue (normally). What version of the Arduino IDE are you using? If you run, avrdude -c asdfg It will list the programmers that it is aware of, if arduino is not listed there then that is your problem. Davidby davmj - Controllers
The software does loop looking for a temp response (and continue to request a temp once it has received one) as it is monitoring the temp to report it back to you in the host software. Davidby davmj - Controllers