Extruder wont extrude while printing

[gmh39]

So I got my Rostock MAX all calibrated and everything, and now I am trying to print the calibration cube. I was able to extrude filament out of the hotend manually, but when I go to print, nothing comes out.

my temps are :

Bed: 60 C
Hotend: 190 C

I am printing with PLA.

Anyone know how to fix this?

[lordbinky]

Can you see the bolt in the extruder turn? If you try to extrude with the manual control in repetier host does it extrude? How about retract?

[gmh39]

Yea, the bolt turns (I put a dot of sharpie on the bolt just to make sure). It even extrudes and retracts when I use the manual controls.

FWIW, I am following the calibration steps in the Assembly Guide.

[kbob]

Maybe you accidentally turned on Dry Run mode?
There's a button on the Print Panel to turn it on and off.

[gmh39]

Nope. Dry Run is turned off.

[lordbinky]

What slicer are you using? Try using a different slicer real quick just to compare results.
Another thing to randomly try is using the SD card.

It doesn't seem to be a hardware based issue, but I'm not sure whether to rule out firmware or software problems to narrow this down...

[gmh39]

Im using Slic3r in Repetier for slicing. I'll set up Skeinforge and give it a try.

I don't have the LCD/sd card reader for the printer (bought it used and didn't come with it), so it's kinda hard to print from an SD card... Any other suggestions?

[gmh39]

I just sliced the calibration cube in Slic3r and nothing happened. I didn't change any of the Slic3r settings though.

[Eaglezsoar]

Does the printer go through the motions of printing with the exception of extruding the PLA?
In other words, do the arms move as if it is printing or does it just set there doing nothing except heating the hotend and heatbed?

[gmh39]

Yup. Everything moves around and it acts like it is printing, but nothing will come out. I've been able to manually extrude filament immediately prior to running the code for the calibration cube, but when I run the G code, nothing comes out.

[gmh39]

I think I just figured it out (crosses-fingers). The extruder is retracting instead of extruding. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. I use the "Retract" button to extrude manually. (it was assembled by the previous owner and that is how he told me to manually extrude.)

What would be the best approach to fixing this? Reverse the wiring or change the firmware?

[lordbinky]

It is easiest and faster to just change the firmware, also less risk of introducing any new problem too.

[gmh39]

I got it working. Just had to change "#define EXT0_INVERSE false" to "true".

[Eaglezsoar]

I'm glad you got it working, that was unusual and we all learned something.

[lordbinky]

I remember doing that same thing when I first set up my printer for that same reasoning, the arrow next to rectract would extrude. The confusing part was the arrows made sense for the reference point I was picturing... Odd though, now that I think about it I've downloaded brand new firmware since then and never made that change again..

[CJGerard]

Thank you for this "#define EXT0_INVERSE false" to "true" i just had to change mine