Hmmm since I had no responses to my last post I'll assume I am not clearly stating the issue properly. When I run the reprap software and go to the extruder 0 tab and press extrude the motor for the extruder advances for about 5 seconds and then stops. When I adjust the E, E0, E1 values in the software, it appears to change how much time the extruder motor operates say from 5 secs to 15 secondsby HereIgoAgain - General
Thanks for all the responses, however the issue seems to be that the wade extruder doesn't turn. It turns a few revs when the software is run but then stops. There doesn't appear to be any advancing of the pla after this first run up of the motor. also, the software is arduino-22 on the motherboard and ardunio-21 for the extruder board . thanks again for trying to helpby HereIgoAgain - General
Ok I have found information on this before but I just can't seem to now. I have an almost ready to go Mendel with gen3 electronics and a wade extruder. All works fine except that the pla melts too slowly or better the extruder motor is too slow. In the code I found: //#define E_STEPS_PER_MM 0.9 // NEMA 17 extruder 5mm diameter drive - empirically adjusted #define E0_STEPS_PER_MM 2.2by HereIgoAgain - General
thanks everyone. I haven't measured them and I haven't melted any plastic...just checking. sure do like this forumby HereIgoAgain - General
My X and Y axis motors get quite hot even thou they're not moving. Seems I've read something about this before but can't now find it. Is this normal ?? thanksby HereIgoAgain - General
Thanks Bob...and I agree. Now on to the current dilemma. As I mentioned above, for endstops, I used mechanical switches from makerbot and after configuring them to work with the RJ plugs they (appear to ) work fine. However, once the switch is made, it seems to disable the stepper motor board for that axis and I must manually move (the axis) to release the switch. Is this correct ? Does hoby HereIgoAgain - General
Rather than change the wires around I looked for and found this code in the configuration.h file and made the change to invert the y dir, noted in the last line. A simple change and things work fine. I'm just reluctant at this early stage to start hacking "known code" but oh well...it works!! #define Y_STEPS_PER_MM 10.047 #define Y_STEPS_PER_INCH (Y_STEPS_PER_MM*INCHES_TO_MM) // *RO #defineby HereIgoAgain - General
Arduino-21 for the extruder and Arduino-22 for configuration. Which way did you to solve the issue Viktor, changing the wires or the software ?? and if you changed the software, could you tell me where and what. thanksby HereIgoAgain - General
Thanks brnrd, It's what I thought. It just seems odd to me. Any thoughts on the endstops ?by HereIgoAgain - General
Hey again, Anyone have a simple reason why when I home x,y,z the y goes the wrong direction ?? The motors are all hooked up in a similar fashion. I suppose I could wire it differently but it just seems odd. also, I installed (switch) endstops for the three axes. When I auto home, it hits the switch for each axis and stops..However, having hit the switch, I must move the axis by hand to open tby HereIgoAgain - General
Anyone have diagrams or ideas how to attach the wade extruder to the xaxis carriage (mendel). It doesn't look straightforward unless I build a platform or something to attach the unit to. thanksby HereIgoAgain - General
Ok, one more time. Thanks for the advice Geoff. In answer to how it is mounted, I have just placed the resistor in the aluminum block. It is a rather tight fit. I then placed a hi temp silicon sealer at both ends. this is just a temp measure to test my proof of concept. I also have not as yet insulated the unit. Today, I attached a watt meter to the reprap with the following results. At rby HereIgoAgain - General
Hey again everyone. Well I tried to hook up two of the 3.3 resistors in parallel and nothing happened. I also ordered and tried some 5w 4.7 ohm resistors and nothing. the little 3.3 3 watt resistors heat up and with some difficulty, eventually melt the plastic...but not enough to do anything. And it seems that there isn't enough power to heat the 5watt resistors. Any ideas ??by HereIgoAgain - General
Thanks for the responses. The software I'm running is just the reprap software, not sure what redsnapper is. the resistors I'm using I believe are 3.3ohm I think the 3e3 is just another way of representing that. the colors look like: orange, orange, gold, gold which i read to be 3 ,3, and .1 multiplier =3.3 +-5%by HereIgoAgain - General
I heated it further and finally got a dribble. I wonder if perhaps connecting 2 resistors in series might work better ? Also, it seems the heating isn't consistant, it heats 5-10 degrees then stops and I have to turn the heat on and off to get it to continue. Is this normal ? thanksby HereIgoAgain - General
I have built a heater block extruder tip. I have purchased 3E3 3watt metal oxide film resistors. I also purchased a number of 10k thermistors. Everything looks and runs...except I'm not melting any plastic. Are these inadequate resistors ? I do know that I will most likely need to change the temperature file to work with the 10k vs 100k thermistors (as soon as I can get that to work). The tby HereIgoAgain - General
Viktor, I did as you suggested and made sure I ran the 21 software (for the extruder) in a seperate location and it worked immediately....and the issue I had with the thermistor was resolved !! Thank you. I know tomorrow I will have my next challenge with my reprap but I must say that it is so gratifying to find solutions to these issues with help of this forum. I don't know where you are liveby HereIgoAgain - General
Thank you for responding Viktor. the pin.h file I haven't changed, it is what it was by default. The extruder controller firmware is what I am trying to do. either I can only compile it if I choose sanguino or I get an error that I should choose Sanguino.by HereIgoAgain - General
I'm sorry but perhaps I haven't been clear, and by the way for those who have made suggestions, thanks for your help. I am using makerbot gen 3 electronics. I used the arduino-22 software opened the configuration.h file, compiled and uploaded to the motherboard without incident. the motherboard seems to work fine. Using the 22 software, I opened the extruder.h chose the ...ATMega168 board anby HereIgoAgain - General
Well I did install the addons for version 21 and was able to choose the sanguino board and was able to compile but couldn't download. The chip on the extruder board looks something like ATMega168, so not sure why it wants me to choose the sanguino. This all happened when I was testing my extruder to try and get some plastic to flow. The thermistor quit responding so I thought I'd reload the sby HereIgoAgain - General
yea I'm looking into it now. It just seems odd that it worked before. I had the motherboard software with 2.2 and downloaded the 2.1....It loaded quite easy on the extruder. Anyway I'm about to check out the link you supplied. thanks for the info...I'll see how it goesby HereIgoAgain - General
sorry about that. Couldn't find the last post. I thought it was attached to an old threadby HereIgoAgain - General
Some time back, I was having trouble loading software for extruder. In this thread, ATA0921 suggested I go back a version (ie. Arduino 2.1 instead of 2.2 for the extruder. I did this and it worked fine. Now some time later I am trying to do this again...and I get errors suggesting I should choose the Sanguino board which doesn't seem to be an option in the 2.1 software....I'm confused as to whby HereIgoAgain - General
Some time back, I was having trouble loading software for extruder. In this thread, ATA0921 suggested I go back a version (ie. Arduino 2.1 instead of 2.2 for the extruder. I did this and it worked fine. Now some time later I am trying to do this again...and I get errors suggesting I should choose the Sanguino board which doesn't seem to be an option in the 2.1 software....I'm confused as to whby HereIgoAgain - General
ok before I pull my hair out I thought I'd just ask. I ran thru the exercise to test a stepper motor (http://objects.reprap.org/wiki/Testing_RepRap_Electronics#Testing_a_Stepper_Driver ) for the x axis and it works fine. Backwards ..forward no problem. Question is, should this work for the Y and Z axis as well ?? I have no problem with X but when I try the test the Y axis, nothing happens.by HereIgoAgain - General
Ok so my Mendel with Makerbot gen 3 electronics: 3 x Stepper Motor Driver v2.3 Fully Assembled 1 x Extruder Controller v2.2 Fully Assembled 1 x RepRap Motherboard v1.2 Fully Assembled is almost ready. However, while playing with stuff I managed to smoke one of the v2.3 stepper motor drivers and have since learned that it is probably impossible to ever get another one. Today I see there is noby HereIgoAgain - General
thanks for responding....yea that's what it did. Just wanted to do some testing b4 i put it all together.by HereIgoAgain - General Mendel Topics
Ok, I've tested out the mother board and the stepper motors and believe I've installed the extruder board software and connected up the extruder board correctly. Is there a way to test to make sure the extruder motor works before I begin tackling the hot end mechanics ?? Slow and easy steps...that gets the job done....I hope!!by HereIgoAgain - General Mendel Topics
thanks again rh!!by HereIgoAgain - General Mendel Topics
I'm building a Mendel using Makerbot Gen3 Electronics. To make things easier, I elected to leave everything on the board stock except for adding the I2C pins. My question is, I added the I2C pins (4pins) which are suppose to be connected to D9 D10 (6 pins) on the Extruder board as in the attached photo. Can anyone tell me which 4 pins on the D9 D10 get connected to the 4 pins I added to the moby HereIgoAgain - General Mendel Topics