Duet setup - instructions in progress

[dmo]

Could you check your Homedelta.G for me, and tell me what it says? Also, I believe you need E1500:1500 to account for dual nozzle. Is the extruder failing to work something that you've tried using either a paneldue or DWC to check, or is that just a printing a file thing?

I was wondering about the E1500:1500. I've tried it both ways, I'll switch it back to that. I have my Macbook networked to it and I'm controlling it through the browser. I haven't tried a print yet, I'm still trying to calibrate it. None of the motors work. X,Y,Z,E0,E1. My homedelta.g is,

; Homing file for RepRapFirmware on Mini Kossel
G91 ; use relative positioning
;******* Change F250 in the following line to F2500 when you are finished commissioning
;******* Change 320 in the following to a higher value if your Kossel has taller towers
G1 S1 X320 Y320 Z380 F2500 ; move all carriages up 320mm, stopping at the endstops
G1 S2 X-3 Y-3 Z-3 ; move all carriages down 3mm
G1 S1 X6 Y6 Z6 F250 ; move carriages slowly up 6mm, stopping at the endstops
G1 Z-5 F2000 ; down a few mm so that we can centre the head
G90 ; back to absolute positioning
G1 X0 Y0 F2000 ; centre the head and set a reasonable feed rate

[dc42]

I suggest you start by testing the motors individually. Place the carriages about half.way up the towers, then power the printer on. Connect to it using the web interface or USB or PanelDue. Send G91 to put it in relative coordinates mode. Then send G1 S2 X10 F500. This should move the X carriage up 10mm. Change X10 to X-10 to move it down, and replace X by Y or Z to test the other motors.

If none of the motors move, then check you have 12V or 24V power applied and the power input terminal block screws are tight. Send M906 and check that the reported motor currents are the ones you set in config.g.

[dmo]

I suggest you start by testing the motors individually. Place the carriages about half.way up the towers, then power the printer on. Connect to it using the web interface or USB or PanelDue. Send G91 to put it in relative coordinates mode. Then send G1 S2 X10 F500. This should move the X carriage up 10mm. Change X10 to X-10 to move it down, and replace X by Y or Z to test the other motors.

If none of the motors move, then check you have 12V or 24V power applied and the power input terminal block screws are tight. Send M906 and check that the reported motor currents are the ones you set in config.g.

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of those. When I get to the G1 S2 X10 F500 a blue message box appears "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" but nothing happens. The M906 does send the correct currents I have set up. The voltage at the screw terminal is measuring 11.68v, that's all I was getting with the Rambo board as well. I have a Senty 750w Bronze PSU. I took the 6 yellow wires from the Rambo input wired them all to an extension cord wire that is 16awg, hooked that to the Duet and the same with the ground wires. Is that enough of a volt drop to make the motors non-functional?

[dc42]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of those. When I get to the G1 S2 X10 F500 a blue message box appears "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" but nothing happens.

You must have forgotten to send G91 first.

[dmo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of those. When I get to the G1 S2 X10 F500 a blue message box appears "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" but nothing happens.

You must have forgotten to send G91 first.

I'm pretty sure I did send it, but I'll try it again when I get back this afternoon, Wasington DC time. If it still doesn't work do you have any other suggestions I could try? It just seems strange all of their functions work except the motors. Thanks

[dmo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of those. When I get to the G1 S2 X10 F500 a blue message box appears "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" but nothing happens.

You must have forgotten to send G91 first.

Just remembered what happened when I did the G91. Nothing changed. The x,y,z still showed n/a in the coordinates box. I have to hit the home button and then trigger the end stops with my finger to get it to register. I then tried the G91 again and the other steps. Nothing happened.

[dmo]

Ok, I'm ready to give up. One last thing. How can I check that the stepper drivers aren't shorted? That's the only thing I can think of.

[CRPerryJr]

Hi dmo.

I actually had a similar issue when converting to the Duet. I had to completely rewire (or swap wires) the connection from each motor to the board. I don't remember what the exact combination or appropriate connections are right off the top of my head, but I can check for you when I get back home. I had to do this with both the drive X,Y,Z motors and the extruder motors.

This helped me to determine what wires go to what....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U9pf7S_ov4

[dmo]

Hi dmo.

I actually had a similar issue when converting to the Duet. I had to completely rewire (or swap wires) the connection from each motor to the board. I don't remember what the exact combination or appropriate connections are right off the top of my head, but I can check for you when I get back home. I had to do this with both the drive X,Y,Z motors and the extruder motors.

This helped me to determine what wires go to what....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U9pf7S_ov4

Thank you so much. I've been working on this for weeks and finally posted my problem. I did the led bulb test in the videos and that part seems to work. Do you have any links from when you were having this problem?

[dc42]

What the G91 should do is avoid the "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" message when you send the G1 S2 X10 command. If you are not getting that message and the X motor still isn't moving and the currents are set nonzero, then it does sound like a motor wiring problem. Is the X motor making any noise when you send that command? When I had motors mis wired, they made a loud buzzing sound instead of moving.

[dmo]

What the G91 should do is avoid the "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" message when you send the G1 S2 X10 command. If you are not getting that message and the X motor still isn't moving and the currents are set nonzero, then it does sound like a motor wiring problem. Is the X motor making any noise when you send that command? When I had motors mis wired, they made a loud buzzing sound instead of moving.

When I do that I get this message, " Attempt to move the head of a delta printer before homing the towers". The motors make no noise, even when I take a screw driver with my ear to them and listen, and there is no resistance of movement. I've tried to trick the board into homing by hitting home and triggering the end stop with my fingers, then repeat the commands and nothing happens. If I unplug the end stops it thinks its home but the motors still do not function. If I unplug a motor and test the 2 end wires on each side of the pug with an led the both light up while manually turning the motor. I tried taking one of the extruder motors and re-wired the pins according to the back of the board according to the info from Automation Technology. Red 1A, Green 1B, Yellow 2A, Blue 2B. Neither extruder works either even after heating the hot end. I replaced the PSU, heavy'd up the wires with 12awg, and get 12.30v'. I think it's getting plenty of current. All three power led's come on. The 12v fan works. The end stop led's work properly.

[geneb]

Have you unplugged a motor with the board powered up? I don't know if it's the same on the Duet, but it's my understanding (at least with the Rambo) that the driver chips don't survive that.

g.

[dmo]

Have you unplugged a motor with the board powered up? I don't know if it's the same on the Duet, but it's my understanding (at least with the Rambo) that the driver chips don't survive that.

g.

No, I always unplug the PSU, and USB before doing anything on the board. I'm very careful in the way I handle electronics.

[dc42]

What the G91 should do is avoid the "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" message when you send the G1 S2 X10 command. If you are not getting that message and the X motor still isn't moving and the currents are set nonzero, then it does sound like a motor wiring problem. Is the X motor making any noise when you send that command? When I had motors mis wired, they made a loud buzzing sound instead of moving.

When I do that I get this message, " Attempt to move the head of a delta printer before homing the towers".

That's a different message, and it means that this time you forgot the S2 parameter on the G1 command.

To clarify: until a delta printer has been homed, the only moves we allow are RELATIVE moves that specify the tower movements individually. So you need G91 to put the printer in relative mode, and either S1 or S2 on the G1 command to specify that the XYZ parameters are individual tower movements amounts, not Cartesian movement amounts. The difference between S1 and S2 is that S1 terminates the movement for each tower when the endstop switch is triggered.

You can simulate homing either as you did by telling it to home and pressing the endstop switches, or by sending e.g. G92 X0 Y0 Z250 to tell it where the head is.

If the motors are not moving and they are also making no sound when commanded to move and there are no error messages, then it sounds to me that no power is reaching the motors. Please check again that you can heat up the hot end, to make sure that 12V or 24V power is reaching that end of the board.

[dmo]

What the G91 should do is avoid the "Attempt to move the motors of a delta printer to absolute positions" message when you send the G1 S2 X10 command. If you are not getting that message and the X motor still isn't moving and the currents are set nonzero, then it does sound like a motor wiring problem. Is the X motor making any noise when you send that command? When I had motors mis wired, they made a loud buzzing sound instead of moving.

When I do that I get this message, " Attempt to move the head of a delta printer before homing the towers".

That's a different message, and it means that this time you forgot the S2 parameter on the G1 command.

To clarify: until a delta printer has been homed, the only moves we allow are RELATIVE moves that specify the tower movements individually. So you need G91 to put the printer in relative mode, and either S1 or S2 on the G1 command to specify that the XYZ parameters are individual tower movements amounts, not Cartesian movement amounts. The difference between S1 and S2 is that S1 terminates the movement for each tower when the endstop switch is triggered.

You can simulate homing either as you did by telling it to home and pressing the endstop switches, or by sending e.g. G92 X0 Y0 Z250 to tell it where the head is.

If the motors are not moving and they are also making no sound when commanded to move and there are no error messages, then it sounds to me that no power is reaching the motors. Please check again that you can heat up the hot end, to make sure that 12V or 24V power is reaching that end of the board.

The hot ends heat up fine, even with both heads at the same time and the bed on. Everything else on the board seems to work fine.

[dc42]

This is getting very strange. Here are a few more suggestions:

1. With power off, disconnect one of the motors, and check for continuity between the correct pins of the motor cable where it plugs into the Duet. If we label the pins 1 2 3 4 in order, there should be continuity between pins 1 and 2, and between pins 3 and 4. There should be no continuity between any other pair of pins.

2. With the motors all connected and power applied, gently push one of the carriages up and down a little. Then press the Home button, and immediately try to push that carriage again. Does it move just as easily, or is it harder to move? That will tell us if the motors are receiving any current.

3. As well as running M906 with no parameters to check that the motor currents are as you set them in config.g, run M913 to check they they are all set to 100%.

4. After you tell it to home, does the status in the web interface say Busy, or Idle?

[dc42]

PS - I couldn't think of an electrical fault with the board that would affect all the motors - but it has just occurred to me that there IS a fault that would affect the first 4 motors. So please try this:

1. With power off, connect a stepper motor to the E1 (second extruder) connector. This could be the actual extruder motor, or any other motor.

2. Power up and send M906 to check that extruder 1 has its motor current set. For example, if it says E1000:1000 that means that both extruders 0 and 1 have 1000mA set.

3. Send the following commands:

M563 P0 D1
T0
G1 E10

That should make the motor turn.

[dmo]

PS - I couldn't think of an electrical fault with the board that would affect all the motors - but it has just occurred to me that there IS a fault that would affect the first 4 motors. So please try this:

1. With power off, connect a stepper motor to the E1 (second extruder) connector. This could be the actual extruder motor, or any other motor.

2. Power up and send M906 to check that extruder 1 has its motor current set. For example, if it says E1000:1000 that means that both extruders 0 and 1 have 1000mA set.

3. Send the following commands:

M563 P0 D1
T0
G1 E10

That should make the motor turn.

Still nothing. I checked the pins and there's no continuity between the pairs. There is no resistance from the motors when I try to home. The currents respond back with the correct settings. ( I have them all used to 1500) Do I need to set parameters for M113? I reports it's a bad command. I connected the Z plug to E1. Still no movement or resistance. When I send the home command the ideal turns to busy and then goes back to idle and reports that a delta printer must be homed first.

[noishi]

I'm getting ready to convert my machine to a duet, and am wondering if somebody can help explain what I am seeing.

I flashed both my duet board and Paneldue to v1.14 successfully, but when I connect my PanelDue to my Duet and power both boards via USB connected to the Duet, The PanelDue screen blinks around 1/sec. Everything appears to work fine in terms of the touch screen and navigating the menus, but it just blinks on/off.

If I plug in USB to just the PanelDue, I get no blinking and everything else is fine. I have nothing else connected, just the paneldue to the Duet board via the supplied 4 pin dupont connector (havent converted it to a kk connector yet). I wanted to know if this is normal before I start taking my machine apart. I also tried 1.12a-dc42 firmware and paneldue 1.12 but saw the same results.

Thank you!

[dc42]

PS - I couldn't think of an electrical fault with the board that would affect all the motors - but it has just occurred to me that there IS a fault that would affect the first 4 motors. So please try this:

1. With power off, connect a stepper motor to the E1 (second extruder) connector. This could be the actual extruder motor, or any other motor.

2. Power up and send M906 to check that extruder 1 has its motor current set. For example, if it says E1000:1000 that means that both extruders 0 and 1 have 1000mA set.

3. Send the following commands:

M563 P0 D1
T0
G1 E10

That should make the motor turn.

Still nothing. I checked the pins and there's no continuity between the pairs.

Please explain. Do you mean that you DO get continuity within each pair (between pins 1&2, and between pins 3&4)? Or no continuity anywhere?

[dmo]

PS - I couldn't think of an electrical fault with the board that would affect all the motors - but it has just occurred to me that there IS a fault that would affect the first 4 motors. So please try this:

1. With power off, connect a stepper motor to the E1 (second extruder) connector. This could be the actual extruder motor, or any other motor.

2. Power up and send M906 to check that extruder 1 has its motor current set. For example, if it says E1000:1000 that means that both extruders 0 and 1 have 1000mA set.

3. Send the following commands:

M563 P0 D1
T0
G1 E10

That should make the motor turn.

Still nothing. I checked the pins and there's no continuity between the pairs.

Please explain. Do you mean that you DO get continuity within each pair (between pins 1&2, and between pins 3&4)? Or no continuity anywhere?

No continuity. I checked the other pairs as well and there is no continuity between the pairs.

[dmo]

Still nothing. I checked the pins and there's no continuity between the pairs.

Please explain. Do you mean that you DO get continuity within each pair (between pins 1&2, and between pins 3&4)? Or no continuity anywhere?

No continuity. I checked the other pairs as well and there is no continuity between the pairs.

I just tried 2&3 as well, there is no continuity. Just to clarify, I check for continuity between 1&2, 2&3, 3&4. None of them have continuity.

[dc42]

So the motor is open circuit then? No wonder it doesn't move.

[dmo]

So the motor is open circuit then? No wonder it doesn't move.

Oh, the motor, I was testing the pins on the board. The motors have continuity on 1&2, 3&4, the pins on the Duet board does not.

[dc42]

I am out of ideas. I think it's time for you to request a replacement board from your supplier.