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I am successfully using a Duemilanove with the 5D firmware. Some of these boards have an AtMega164, which does not have enough program memory for the 5D firmware. If your board has the AtMega328, like mine, you should be able to run the 5D firmware. I've uploaded my firmware if you would like to try it:
From everything you have posted, it sounds like the problem is in the firmware. The nex
by
mccoyn
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General
I ran tower and got this output . It appears that chamber runs before it, so I ran that to get the tower input. . The tower output seems to be missing the following lines:
(</extruderInitialization>)
(<extrusion>)
M115 S60.0
M116 S30.0
M117 S0.0
M113 S1.0
M108 S32.0
The first line that makes it is
(<layer> 0.121 )
When I get some time, I think I'll try modifying
by
mccoyn
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Skeinforge
I just upgraded my skeinforge and I've spent a lot of time trying to get 5D support to work. I activated it in the Dimension plugin, but this had no effect (I expected E codes to be added to the output).
After some debugging I discovered that /extruderInitialization is missing from the file that is inputted to Dimension. The last plugin that was listed as procedureDone was Tower. When I tried
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mccoyn
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Skeinforge
The errors you posted at the end are most commonly caused by using an off-the-shelf USB-serial cable which doesn't auto-reset nicely. I believe the fix is to press the reset button as soon as the Arduino software shows the "Binary sketch size" message. I have also seen this error when the incorrect serial port is selected in the tools menu, the serial port is in use by another program like mini
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mccoyn
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Controllers
There are a couple mistakes on the board.
The ATX connector has the wrong spacing between the rows. It appears that you can bend the pins in and jam in through the holes.
The through-holes for the diodes are too small. These diodes are only needed if you connect an inductive load like a fan. My recommendation for installing these is to drill out the hole with a 1 mm bit. Insert the diodes a
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I've received the PCBs today. Here are some pictures.
If anyone can translate what is written on the masking tape, I would be interested to know. My guess is it indicates that those are the boards that were E-tested.
The order was for 10, but they shipped me 12. My understanding is fab houses usually do this to fill out a panel.
I'll send out boards tomorrow.
by
mccoyn
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Controllers
This happens when the wiring is incorrect, or when the stepper driver is not providing enough current.
You can use a multimeter to figure out which pairs of wires belong to the same coil. If the wires are on the same coil there will be some resistance between them, but if they are on a different coil there will be no connection (displayed as an overflow). Make sure the wires that are on the sa
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mccoyn
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General
Tonok has an interesting photo.
He used an M8 nut as a heatsink and attached it to the pololu board with double-sided kapton tape.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
1. The mega will be compatible with the easy driver, pololu driver or any of the RepRap stepper drivers from makerbot. You just have to figure out how to wire them up correctly (which is not difficult.)
2. I believe that firmware fork is configured to drive a DC extruder. It can run a stepper extruder by making a change in pins.h. You need to assign a pin number to the EXTRUDER_0_STEP_ENABL
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mccoyn
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Controllers
There was a reprap live CD a while back, but the maintainer got busy with some other stuff and it is no longer current (as far as I know).
I run all the software related to my RepRap on Linux, including 3D design and even PCB design. In general I find the dependencies a little trickier to set up on Linux for most of the software. Just read the installation instructions carefully and follow the
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mccoyn
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General
Yes, you can replace the Arduino with the Arduino Mega.
The mega isn't supported in the official 5D firmware yet. You will have to use this firmware fork on GitHub.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
What location would this be at?
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mccoyn
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General
I just ordered 10 PCBs that were 100mm x 100mm from Seeed Studio for $40 + $5 shipping. They also have an interesting distribution system targeted at helping open source hardware projects get PCBs. I ordered these boards last week and they shipped out of Hong Kong two days ago.
So, if we have 5 developers we can order a set of 10 for $10 each person and distribute 2 to each developer (having
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mccoyn
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Controllers
The only problem I see with a high insulation bed is that lots of heat will be wasted out of the bottom. As long as the bottom side is insulated better than the top, we should be fine. We probably don't need any bottom insulation with an aluminum bed, but we will need quite a bit with a glass bed.
On the issue of multiplexing: If your work area is a rectangle shape you can turn on all the row
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mccoyn
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General
I'll note that my biggest disappointment with the board I designed is that it contains over 100 components that need to be soldered. I'd like to find components that integrate multiple pieces into one package. Look at the stepper drivers, for example. The v1.2 board has 8 diodes on it, but the v2.3 board has diodes built into the chip. It would be quite useful to find an LED that could be con
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I exported higher resolution versions of these images from Eagle and updated the wiki images. On my computer, these high-res versions are slow to zoom in FireFox. If this is a common problem, we should probably have links to two different images, a high-res and an low-res.
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mccoyn
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General
The capacitors are in parallel to the boards otherwise the boards won't get any power.
PSU
|
|--- cap --- GND
|--- board 1 --- GND
|
|--- cap --- GND
|--- board 2 --- GND
|
|--- cap --- GND
|--- board 3 --- GND
|
+5v
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I've noticed a slight difference between the users that were brought up on the ReplicatorG/Gen3 electronics and those whose first experience was the Arduino Host/Gen 2 electronics. The former have a tendency to treat the firmware as a magical widget that must not be tampered with and the latter tends to see the firmware as yet another hackable element. To be fair, the former seem to be more suc
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mccoyn
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Controllers
If the noise is caused by the current chopper, then reducing the supply voltage from 12 V to 5 V might help by reducing the frequency. This will reduce the maximum speed as well.
I've also noticed that after I got through the commissioning phase and started running my stepper motors faster, they got quieter.
Finally, put a heavy table cloth or blanket between the table and the machine. I'm su
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I fixed one last bug and updated all the files on the Wiki page. I just sent out for the boards 5 minutes ago, but I think the fabricator will be on holiday for a few days. It is supposed to take 4-6 days to make the board and then 10-30 days to ship them. I wasn't expecting the long shipping delay. So, it looks like April 21 will be the earliest date I can expect them.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
The new limit on the board side comes from Seeed Studio, which is the website I am going to have make the board. I am using gEDA/PCB, which means I can design any size board I want, but I haven't figured out where to get it made from.
I basically worked out the general position of everything when I was using Eagle and used that when I redid it in gEDA/PCB.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I've found that the opto-sensors in use for the Mendel can see through blank paper, but can't see through paper I have printed black with an inkjet printed. This makes it easy to make custom encoders.
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mccoyn
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General
I like the pinchwheel extruder better than the direct drive.
A variation that gives you more torque and a smaller step size is Wade's geared extruder.
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mccoyn
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General
I've updated all the files on the wiki. This revision is likely to be the one I send out to have made. I've included a postscript file for easy printing.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
My concern with the EasyDriver is that it is only 750 mA. I know this is probably enough for a Mendel, but I'd like to design in plenty of extra room so that people can experiment with new ideas. The second problem is the board is almost twice as big and I don't have space for it since Seeed Studio will only do a 100x100 mm board.
My idea on the MOSFETs was to just provide a TO-220 footprint s
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I tried testing the Pololu stepper yesterday as a last step before ordering the boards. I was not happy with the results so far.
I ran it without any external cooling. The chip got quite hot as expected, but the pins I had hoped would help to move heat did not get hot. So it is unlikely that that will make a significant difference. I ran a fan near the chip and it seemed to make a big differ
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I still need to add the cable connectors to the BOM. I also realized today that I left out the reset button, so I added that to the BOM.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
I've updated the project file in the wiki and all the images to reflect my current design. I will likely be ordering the PCBs on Monday. rocket_scientist, I can send you two of them for $10 when I get them.
I added an ATX 12V connector. This is a four pin connector found on most power supplies that has two +12V wires on it. It should help reduce the voltage drop.
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mccoyn
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Controllers
The header and connector I am planning to use for all the 3-pin .100" connections has a limit of 4 A. This is enough for the extruder heater, but will fall short of what is needed for a heated bed (8A?).
While thinking about this I decided to review my trace widths to see if they can handle the current. I used an online calculator set with 1oz/ft2 thickness and a 20 C temperature rise.
I had
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mccoyn
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Controllers