X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help.

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Jimustanguitar
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X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help.

Post by Jimustanguitar »

I'm setting up a Rostock Max with the standard Rambo board and an LCD kit. I loaded the Marlin FW from Oly's github and loaded it to the board (led's flash, and everything seems right). Then in Repetier (after the setup described in seemecnc's youtube video) when I type G28 into the manual window and send it, the Y and Z towers move up and the X tower moves down. I changed the true/false statement in the FW for the X direction and got the same results. I also swapped the red and blue wire with no luck.

I'm new to the arduino environment, so I'm sure that I'm missing something common. It seems that every time I search for relevant topics though, the search terms that I'm using are omitted and I don't find much. Any advice?

Another note. I have noticed several differences from the available guides and how-to's... My version of Repetier seems different than the instructions that I've found (it has a Rostock setting and doesn't have many of the data fields specified in the video) and my arduino program seems different too (the pins file for the LCD screen doesn't overwrite an existing file at the specified path, it's like the original is missing).

Thanks in advance for the help, I really appreciate it! Jim
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by cambo3d »

the repetier host you have now is the newest version, the video they show was the old version. you only need to enter the requested dimensions in the boxes that show up.

are you using arduino 023, if not that is why your pins file isn't overwriting because the newer version of arduino isn't the same. use arduino 023. also seemecnc now has rosoft bundle you can download with all required files.

as far as the stepper motor that is strange that changing the x direction didn't fix that, are you sure you changed the correct values?
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

cambo3d wrote:the repetier host you have now is the newest version, the video they show was the old version. you only need to enter the requested dimensions in the boxes that show up.

are you using arduino 023, if not that is why your pins file isn't overwriting because the newer version of arduino isn't the same. use arduino 023. also seemecnc now has rosoft bundle you can download with all required files.

as far as the stepper motor that is strange that changing the x direction didn't fix that, are you sure you changed the correct values?

I'll give it a try with the older Arduino program... Currently I've been trying to use these versions:
Arduino 1.0.4
Repetier 0.85b
Marlin RC2 https://github.com/johnoly99/Marlin-for ... kmax-rambo
LCD pin file ? http://www.reprap.org/mediawiki/images/ ... o_pins.zip
USB Driver ? http://reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMBo_USBdriver.zip


Just noticed the Rosoft Bundle... that must only be a few days old. Very cool, I'll try it out!
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

Jimustanguitar wrote: I'll give it a try with the older Arduino program... Currently I've been trying to use these versions:
Arduino 1.0.4
Repetier 0.85b
Marlin RC2 https://github.com/johnoly99/Marlin-for ... kmax-rambo
LCD pin file ? http://www.reprap.org/mediawiki/images/ ... o_pins.zip
USB Driver ? http://reprap.org/wiki/File:RAMBo_USBdriver.zip
Rosoft bundle does have Arduino 0023. Everything else looks the same or doesn't specify a version number. I'll let you know how it goes this evening!
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

I uninstalled all of the software that I was previously using (incompatible/newer versions) and used everything from the RoSoft package on the homepage of seemecnc.com. Starting from scratch, I installed the new USB driver, opened the Marlin firmware and uploaded it, installed Repetier and followed the setup instructions in the RoSoft folder.

All of my endstops work correctly with the M119 command, and the values change to H when I depress one of them and send the command again. Then when I sent G28, all 3 towers moved down. I cut the power and changed the 3 falses in the firmware to true, saved and reloaded the Marlin firmware and tried it again. Y and Z move up now, but X still moves down. I changed just x back and forth from true to false and reloaded the firmware each time and couldn't make x do anything but move down.

To test the wiring, I swapped the connectors for x and y. This made y move down and x move up. The problem followed the port on the Rambo board and not the x motor, so I know the motor wiring is good...

I took screenshots of the true/false statements that I've tried changing at http://imgur.com/a/2CCbj I've also been getting a checksum error about half of the time when I first connect in Repetier, there's a screenshot of that in there too.

What am I missing here?
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by cambo3d »

in rephost, printer setting tab are all your home axis set to max?
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Polygonhell »

Jimustanguitar wrote:All of my endstops work correctly with the M119 command, and the values change to H when I depress one of them and send the command again. Then when I sent G28, all 3 towers moved down. I cut the power and changed the 3 falses in the firmware to true, saved and reloaded the Marlin firmware and tried it again. Y and Z move up now, but X still moves down.
The issue is likely either a bad pins.h or more probably a bad RAMBO.
If you plug the X stepper into Y and vice a versa does the issue swap to the Y axis when you use G28?
Most likely since changing the direction the firmware just changes the state of the DIR pin on the driver, either the X Dir pin is mapped incorrectly (which seems unlikely) or either the XStepper driver is bad or there is a bad connection to the DIR pin on it, the best fix is a new RAMBO board, you could map X to the second extruder driver by swapping over the pin definitions in pins.h if you just want to get running.
It could have just been a bad driver or it could have been damaged the driver chips are extraordinarily sensitive to having anything connected or disconnected when there is ANY power to the board both the 5V from the USB as well as the 12V, that unfortunately includes dodgy wiring to the connectors.
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

Polygonhell wrote: If you plug the X stepper into Y and vice a versa does the issue swap to the Y axis when you use G28?
Yes, if I turn everything off and swap connectors, the problem follows the port on the board and not a specific motor.

I'd be absolutely shocked if the board was damaged, I've been working on a static mat with a ground strap.



What's involved in changing the pins.h file as a test?
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Polygonhell »

Jimustanguitar wrote:
Polygonhell wrote: If you plug the X stepper into Y and vice a versa does the issue swap to the Y axis when you use G28?
Yes, if I turn everything off and swap connectors, the problem follows the port on the board and not a specific motor.

I'd be absolutely shocked if the board was damaged, I've been working on a static mat with a ground strap.



What's involved in changing the pins.h file as a test?
If pins.h was incorrect everyone would have an issue, so I'd guess you have a bad board, doesn't mean you damaged it, the drivers are really sensitive, I'd drop SeeMeCNC an email.
What firmware are you using?
To swap X and extruder 1 you'd have to go into pins.h find the section for the RAMBO board it'll be inside something like
#if MOTHERBOARD == 301

Set X_STEP_PIN to 33 and X_DIR_PIN to 42 and X_ENABLE_PIN to 25
Set E1_STEP_PIN to 37 and E1_DIR_PIN to 48 and E1_ENABLE_PIN to 29

Your just swapping the settings over the names might not be exactly right for Marlin, once you've done that you can plug the X Stepper into the E1 output and see if it behaves correctly.
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

cambo3d wrote:in rephost, printer setting tab are all your home axis set to max?
X and Y are set to 0 and Z is set to MAX. This is per the Rosoft manual even though the bundle came with a slightly different version of Repetier than the steps outline, are my settings correct?
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by cambo3d »

Jimustanguitar wrote:
cambo3d wrote:in rephost, printer setting tab are all your home axis set to max?
X and Y are set to 0 and Z is set to MAX. This is per the Rosoft manual even though the bundle came with a slightly different version of Repetier than the steps outline, are my settings correct?
all mine are set to max for home positions, i don't know if that makes any difference worth a try.
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

cambo3d wrote:
Jimustanguitar wrote:
cambo3d wrote:in rephost, printer setting tab are all your home axis set to max?
X and Y are set to 0 and Z is set to MAX. This is per the Rosoft manual even though the bundle came with a slightly different version of Repetier than the steps outline, are my settings correct?
all mine are set to max for home positions, i don't know if that makes any difference worth a try.
I believe that the home position is specified in Cartesian coordinates, and xyz are axis in 3D space and not the steppers of a delta machine... If x and y are 0, that would center the hotend over the print bed, and with z at max, the head would rise as high as it goes until it triggers the end stops.

These settings are telling the machine what to do with the G28 command though (exactly what I'm having trouble with) so if I've got a compiler snafu or a type-o in the FW, playing with this setting is definitely worth trying.

I'll give it a whirl tomorrow and let you know. Thanks again for the help!
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Polygonhell »

Jimustanguitar wrote:
cambo3d wrote:in rephost, printer setting tab are all your home axis set to max?
X and Y are set to 0 and Z is set to MAX. This is per the Rosoft manual even though the bundle came with a slightly different version of Repetier than the steps outline, are my settings correct?
For delta bots it only pays attention to the Z offset, and assumes that all 3 carriages are the same distance above the bed when the endstops are triggered.
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Re: X tower runs backwards, rewire and FW change didn't help

Post by Jimustanguitar »

Well, I spent the evening with John Oly and we got it figured out. It turns out that one of my motor wires was damaged inside of the jacket and measured open. The motor wasn't getting power to one of the coils and when the board drove it, it would just shutter and lose altitude.

Fixed the wire and made my first print!

I noticed nicks in the leads before I installed the motors, and I just taped them up so they wouldn't short. I didn't think of testing them for continuity. Seems like the milled front edge of the motors wore away at the leads in shipping, because I taped up at least one wire on each motor right out of the box.

I must have had an open circuit in my head when I thought the fault followed the port on the board. That's what I deserve for changing more than one variable at a time.

Thanks John!
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