nothing ever works like its sapposed to...

[EvilFz1]

this is my first printer, and I am growing furious with this calibration process fighting me. I had gotten as far as autotuning the heatbed and extruder, then adjusting the height and then something happened. when I tried to issue G28 it then started sending it downwards, so I switched my wires BACK to how they were originally, and it moves upwards again but only moves up fast for a short burst and then creeps to a stop shortly after... it doesn't rise to the stop switches like it was before the something happened, and when It does finally get to the top after repeated G28 commands, the stop switches no longer function properly, as they had been setup and tested and worked prior to the "something" happening. I am ridiculously frustrated that I went out of my way to uninstall and delete all 4 of these files I downloaded, and re/downloaded them, wasting more time and data, and it still is doin the same thing... this is completely what I expected from this nonsense. I emailed "supPOORt" first bc the site wouldnt send me activation to post a question a week ago, and john replied but kind of insulted my intelligence, which was very discomforting, coming from the man who I just endorsed. these arnt complex machines, or hard concepts to grasp, but obviously I have to teach my robot how to move before I can print. I can read and follow directions, there isn't anything in the manual that tells how to fix my problem, and since support wasn't at all any help, even then when I called, they "went out of there way" to answer the phone the second time I called, but didn't help and once again made me feel silly for calling and wasting there valuable time, bc "that's what support and the forum is for"... so go figure, I guess this is my only level of support. so im not worthy and I am at your mercy, so have fun with that. I do need to print models ASAP, like 2 weeks ago really...

[626Pilot]

John sent me replacements for things I BROKE. I asked him to take my money, and he didn't. These are NOT mean people. At the same time, you have to cool it a little. You gotta keep it polite. Just accept that learning this is a pain in the ass and it's no one's fault, and therefore no one deserves to be taken to task over it. You have to rely on skills that are not yet well-formed, and that's tough. You're going to jump up and down with smoke coming out of your ears every now and then. Believe me. If my Rostock could hear, it would probably be plotting my death by now.

Now, if you're gonna stay around here, be advised: the community is very pro-SeeMeCNC. I'm not the only person they've been nice to.

Anyway, I bet I know what that is. Endstop switches. The firmware has a failsafe that tries to avoid letting the carriages crash into the top of the printer. If it doesn't see any current passing through the endstop switches, it assumes they are either being pressed, or miswired. The devil is in the details, and the detail is that the switches have to be wired to pass current when they are not being pressed. On the endstop switches, there are some letters by each terminal - "NC" and "NO" and possibly a third (can't see too well in here.) Make sure you have one wire plugged into "NC" (normally closed), no wires plugged into NO, and one wire plugged into the last one.

In Repetier, type m119. If the switches are pressed, you should see this:

Code: Select all

x_max:H y_max:H z_max: H

If the switches are not pressed, you should see this:

Code: Select all

x_max:L y_max:L z_max: L

Furthermore, if you press an individual switch, you will just see its letter change to either H or L. So if only the Z axis switch is pressed, you will see "z_max: H" in there. If you can get your printer to where you can send m119 and get the right results, you should be good to go.

[maxman]

WOW .

626, I Compliment you on your calm handling of that situation.

Also seems to me that he has wired the switches incorrectly.

[EvilFz1]

I can assure you things were operating as scheduled until just after I autotuned the heatbed and extruder... they mention a bug in the manual, my beef with that is if you know enough to mention it, FIX IT, I don't even know if my situation is related to the bug mentioned or not, I could also be under the assumption that some really sneaky spyware that my anti doesn't pick up, might be changing stuff so I cant get printing, bc of the energy technologies I will be prototying... all it would take is one tiny little line of code missing from one of those files I downloaded huh?

this isnt a joke, Im far from a retard playing games with you guys. things were fine until the autotune, and then kaos and frustration from there... uninstalling, deleteing, redownloading and reinstalling has led me right back to where I was at before all that time spent... I just want to print not type on a forum, that's why I purchased, bc Russ Gries and firepinto uses a rostock, and I follow them, as well as others who are also part of the OS nation, just as john is. I applaud that I can buy a kit, but I have things hooked up correctly and then they inverted, and i switched them back so they moving the way they were originally wired... its communication error or I don't know what, that's why I am asking for help, bc this forum is the only level of support I have, Good products need very little support I might add, bc I bought this thing to help me and save me time, and it hasn't yet done either, and really just the opposite... do u think I am trying to go out of my way to cause problems? trust me I have plenty better things to be doing and would be if my newly purchased tool was in working order... i shouldnt have to be typing, they could have walked me thru when I was on the phone with them, since i am having irregular problems.

how do I get rid of all previous parameters that I have inputted? bc it seems as I wiped those 4 files I downloaded from my computer, so I thought, and redownloaded them, it automatically recognized it in my device's when I started over, the com port was already enabled and recognizing the Rambo, when I had thought I deleted everything. all I want to do is start completely over and I cant even do that it seems... I have had this since the second week of September, and I now, as of yesturday have a small "job" to prototype for another company, thus have a deadline to meet so I don't really have any more time to waste trying to figure it out myself.

all I want to do is a hard reset of this whole network having to do with this rostock and then I can at least TRY again, without having to ask anymore questions from those willing to help... I am definitely learning from this experience tho, ha...

[geneb]

[edward]

...Im far from a retard playing games with you guys.

Prove it.

[geneb]

*spits coffee*

Dammit edward, that was a brand new keyboard!

g.

[dpmacri]

... I had gotten as far as autotuning the heatbed and extruder, then adjusting the height and then something happened. when I tried to issue G28 it then started sending it downwards...

Assuming what you say is true (that you had gotten as far as autotuning the heated bed & extruder), then you should have already done what 626Pilot suggested with running the M119 command. Can you confirm that that worked?

If so, then perhaps you made a mistake while auto-tuning. Part of that step is updating the EEPROM values. Thinking through possible things that could have gone wrong there, perhaps you inadvertently changed an EEPROM value other than the PID values! I suppose that could cause things to go horribly wrong.

If you'd truly like the forum to help you, then follow through on some of the suggestions rather than just complaining. So far, this has been suggested:

1) Re do the M119 steps and verify that your end stops are working correctly.

In addition, how about the following:
1) Post some screen shots of your EEPROM values. That could help to rule out that something got messed up during the auto-tuning
2) Take some pictures of your machine and post them. Maybe someone will see something that can spark suggestions.

The folks here are *extremely* helpful (I'm relatively new to this -- having just gotten my RMax in late August) when approached in a truly inquiring way. You've gotten some ire here because of your tone and frankly, having "Evil" in your name certainly lends to people thinking you're just playing a "joke" in the nature of Halloween (which would only be funny to you, not to those of us trying to help). As Edward suggested, if you're going to make bold statements about your abilities when you're struggling to do something that *many* others have done successfully with the same resources you have, then you're going to have to back that up with something or you won't get any help.

[EvilFz1]

EvilFZ1000, my first custom motorcycle i built, im a cyclist of many methods, and was maimed by a drunk city official driving a city vehicle and it was all covered up... Luckily I had time to step back and realize what was wrong with this world, more importantly america, and how I can fix it... I have been learning kinetics and alternative technologies this past year (as well as suppression), and am meaning to print a vast array of regenerative devices, that will first work on my house, and then will be helping my electric 350Z and electric motorcycle builds to extend their range dramatically. I will assure you this will ALL be open source, as well as kits, only it will be all hardware, OS aftermarket EV parts if you will!... I am on the right side here, and I am finished complaining if we can stay on track. these devices need to be printed, and tested, and then altered and reprinted, and this will be a very good platform to start out with, I am sure of that, this machine is also waiting to make parts for a bigger machine I have been building myself, a SLA machine with DLP... but that's all way beyond whats happening now...

yes i can confirm the m119 was the second thing i did, and they were and still are reading correctly but they don't stop it and move it back down that little bit, it just tops out... once it let it for a second at least... well that was after i inveted the 1 and 2 pin wires on x y and z back to normal, bc it was bottoming on the heatbed when i gave g28... and i have only changed a few things in the eeprom so ill check that too, i'll do a video, but it wont be till later... i do appreciate the effort!

[lordbinky]

*cough* Ok, I retyped this a couple times now and I detest retypeing things.

There is nothing from the problem as described that suggests anything is a software issue. There's no benefit to do so, but if you truly want to removing all traces what you have done you will need to uninstall drivers and likely dig into the windows registry and system folders or just do a clean windows install. There are other settings are stored on the board itself in an EEPROM, there are bigger problems if that needs more than some firmware uploads. Again, I don't see any reason to attribute you're troubles to software.

You said the last thing that worked was autotune, which points to an issue in hardware. The auto-tune of the hotend and heatbed are the first time your system is put under load.

You HAVE to check your wiring, meticulously (VERY VERY CAREFULLY). There are threads with pictures for common issues like connectors without fully secured pins. Don't assume you did it right the first time or didn't miss it before, check it again.

Once you have ensured all your connections are good and isolated from other connections without any signs of damage to connections or wires, then check HOW you have your wiring done. DO NOT let your end stop wiring run alongside any stepper motor wiring. If they must cross make sure they do it an a 90° angle, tape it that way if you have to. If you are seriously trying to troubleshoot then you'll take the extra steps that are trivial effort to eliminate sources of problems.

After all of that, going back through the configuration per the manual and are still having odd issues that isn't just an inverted setting, the next step is to apply process of elimination to the RAMBO board. Disconnect the following from the Rambo board: power to the heatbed, power to the hotend resistors/cartridge, and then the thermistors. Then turn everything on run the calibration scripts and check for proper movement. If that works then plug the disconnected thermistors back in, verify everything still works. Then do it for the bed power and heater power. If it doesn't work after unplugging those items, we will need more information about the problem to help resolve it. None of this is unique information and is already in many places in the forum.

Part 2, Based on your last post, to help you with eliminating software issues, there's an option to turn off the eeprom in the firmware, I'd suggest setting it to 0 which turns off the eeprom and works from the firmware. Set your height setting short for now (half height would be straightforward), it will decrease the chance of hitting the heatbed and it can point to specific issues if it does happen anyways. There's still lots of little settings that could be off in the firmware because they depend on the hardware in your kit (such as rambo boad version or the pully tooth number), but those don't explain your present issues as described so hold off on worrying about those.

[626Pilot]

There is something like "#define EEPROM_VERSION x" in the firmware. If you change that to something other than it is now, the firmware will reset everything back to factory settings. You don't need to reinstall any software on the computer because whatever this problem is, it's local to the printer.

[johnoly99]

To disable EEPROM storage on RAMBo,

First open arduino IDE, choose file>examples>eeprom>eeprom_clear This will open a new arduino window with the proper sketch to 'erase' any trace of eeprom memory. Once you have uploaded that to the RAMBo, then power cycle the rambo board. You should notice the yellow LED next to the green power LED dimly lit. That indicates that the eeprom has been erased.

Next step, make sure any changes you did to your eeprom values are made in the actual configuration.h file itself. Go into configuration.h, and search for EEPROM_MODE, and you will find it set to 1 by default. Change the appending 1 to a 0 and save the firmware, then, upload to your board. From here on out, there are NO firmware values stored anywhere on the RAMBo board at all. It's like a new board.

Every ounce of your issue points to a failed firmware installation. In your first few emails to me, you noted that you couldn't find the repetierMAX folder, which is linked to in the manual, and mentioned you had a repetier host folder, which is the software, not the firmware. Yes, it is confusion, but slowing down and reading/following the directions, and taking a minute to see how everything has to work together will get you there.


We're here to help any and everyone out. I answered your emails a bit harsh, and i apologize, but you email bombed me with questions and cursing that when i read, showed you were not following the instructions, but rather assumed some things and skipped past some important stuff. Last count, WELL over a thousand Rostock MAX's have been shipped and most have been printing great. Take your time, try and ask questions, don't post how you are smarter than anyone, and you will get great help from us as well as on here.

John

[lordbinky]

don't post how you are smarter than anyone

Protip: If ever making such a claim, all spelling and grammatical errors are bad. Otherwise there are special places in 4-chan waiting for you.

[EvilFz1]

hey if I can learn this stuff in a year anyone can... im not special nor do have I wanted to need any special treatment, i figured id hear some nonsense about spelling, protip, ill give u a protip, ideas are more important than words and grammatical errors, the manual didn't say anything about how to disable the eeprom... i did take some screenshots of my eeprom earlier , but i now will be following the reset instructions tomorrow, and hopefully i will manage to get thru the calibration cleanly this time... i will thankyou for your service, and i wish i coulda met y'all under better pretenses, like with a successful print to start things off, but hey, nothing easy ever comes my way, i am a testament to that, as this is a lot bigger than myself!

[Jimustanguitar]

I have been learning kinetics and alternative technologies this past year (as well as suppression), and am meaning to print a vast array of regenerative devices, that will first work on my house, and then will be helping my electric 350Z and electric motorcycle builds to extend their range dramatically. I will assure you this will ALL be open source, as well as kits, only it will be all hardware, OS aftermarket EV parts if you will!...

I'm excited about ^this^. Keep us in the loop on what you're working on because that's awesome!

[edward]

Wow. Still with attitude, even after all of the posts offering advice. The fact that several have freely offered help baffles me.

We all can play this game, it's just that most of us here had learned the old adage "you can attract more bees with honey than vinegar" by the time we were teenagers.

I was being both serious and a bit facetious with my last comment. What this community, really any help community, expects, is at least a minimum effort to show that you have attempted to fix your problems on your own, WITHOUT first declaring your own superiority over this machine, while simultaneously implying our inferiority for not already knowing how to fix your problems. Playing the self pity card doesn't add anything, either; everybody has problems. Up to this point we have not seen the effects of an honest effort on your part, just some story telling that seems to be corroborated by John.

Now, for my Super Duper, Triple-Dog, All-Other-Protips-Are-Shit, Pro-Protip: You bought a kit. If you wanted a working 3D printer, well, that's what Makerbot and dozens of other companies that sell working machines are for (and now SeeMe!). GeneB put together a fantastic assembly manual, complete with all of the initial tuning instructions. It should go without saying that the manual also expects a just a little bit of effort on your part. Getting these printers to their first print is VERY EASY if you can follow directions. Getting them tuned to the "amazing" level is where the real work can begin. If you can't figure out how to disable the EEPROM on your own (here's another free tip: http://www.google.com), then be prepared for some larger disappointments with your other projects. As embedded programming goes, the Arduino platform, which is just C/C++, is about as easy as it gets.

You can become a member of this community by joining the discussions, asking meaningful questions in a socially acceptable manner and hopefully providing useful answers when appropriate, or not. I promise that it will continue to grow without you if you decide to choose the latter.

[geneb]

hey if I can learn this stuff in a year anyone can... im not special nor do have I wanted to need any special treatment, i figured id hear some nonsense about spelling, protip, ill give u a protip, ideas are more important than words and grammatical errors, the manual didn't say anything about how to disable the eeprom...

Page 163,
"It was recently discovered that there is an issue with the Repetier firmware that can sometimes
cause problems when you're adjusting the PRINTER_RADIUS parameter. In order to avoid this
issue, you should turn off the EEPROM feature during the next calibration step."

Nope, not a word about that.

There's a difference between writing well and mashing your face around on the keyboard to get your point across.

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

Wow. Still with attitude, even after all of the posts offering advice. The fact that several have freely offered help baffles me.

We all can play this game, it's just that most of us here had learned the old adage "you can attract more bees with honey than vinegar" by the time we were teenagers.

I was being both serious and a bit facetious with my last comment. What this community, really any help community, expects, is at least a minimum effort to show that you have attempted to fix your problems on your own, WITHOUT first declaring your own superiority over this machine, while simultaneously implying our inferiority for not already knowing how to fix your problems. Playing the self pity card doesn't add anything, either; everybody has problems. Up to this point we have not seen the effects of an honest effort on your part, just some story telling that seems to be corroborated by John.

Now, for my Super Duper, Triple-Dog, All-Other-Protips-Are-Shit, Pro-Protip: You bought a kit. If you wanted a working 3D printer, well, that's what Makerbot and dozens of other companies that sell working machines are for (and now SeeMe!). GeneB put together a fantastic assembly manual, complete with all of the initial tuning instructions. It should go without saying that the manual also expects a just a little bit of effort on your part. Getting these printers to their first print is VERY EASY if you can follow directions. Getting them tuned to the "amazing" level is where the real work can begin. If you can't figure out how to disable the EEPROM on your own (here's another free tip: http://www.google.com), then be prepared for some larger disappointments with your other projects. As embedded programming goes, the Arduino platform, which is just C/C++, is about as easy as it gets.


You can become a member of this community by joining the discussions, asking meaningful questions in a socially acceptable manner and hopefully providing useful answers when appropriate, or not. I promise that it will continue to grow without you if you decide to choose the latter.

You are good with your writing skills and people skills, well said and you kept it to less than a page which is really unusual.

[Eaglezsoar]

626Pilot:
I would also like to compliment you on your answer.
Well done.

[lordbinky]

i figured id hear some nonsense about spelling, protip, ill give u a protip, ideas are more important than words and grammatical errors!

I was just commenting on that one little bit of John’s post for fun . I wasn't trying to be mean or dismissive, and I don’t remember (not going to double check, ha!) reading a post of Fz1 claiming that he was smarter than anyone just claiming he isn’t dumb (It be a boring world if the smartest people didn’t do some of the dumbest things though). I make spelling mistakes all the time, I'm sure it wouldn't take going through more than four of my posts and your guaranteed to find one. Hell, I got plenty of posts on here that have sentences without a complete thought and I just leave it when I read over it again later and face-palm my posting skills. And yes the protip is an annoying and absurd when used, especially when the person is serious, I was just being facetious in its use thinking it would making the point more obviously not serious.

Sorry if that came off as anything more than a lighthearted poking.

edit: Damnit I posted this before I read edwards comment. Quit using the fun words.. Hope everything's copasetic now EvilFz1. HAHA! Beat you to that one edward!

[626Pilot]

626Pilot:

Exactly none of this is going to matter in 100 years. I would rather be pragmatic.

[lordbinky]

It is also understandably frustrating to be new to the subject such that you don't even know what words you want to search for. Like edward said the tone of your post will determine the tone in our responses. Still we'll help if you're stumped (or at least point you in the right direction).

I agree it really isn't uncommon for any forum to give you a hard time for not doing what is considered the typical research, like asking a question that is in a sticky thread (That's a mistake I don't intend to repeat). I think this is a good forum where you'll still get help instead of 10 responses of 'RTFM', and be ignored or trolled for a bad first post.

626Pilot:

Exactly none of this is going to matter in 100 years. I would rather be pragmatic.

True,but that single comment is like the snowflake that causes an avalanche and in 200 years humanity is wiped out because of it. Thanks 626 pilot.

[edward]

You are good with your writing skills and people skills, well said...

Wait! Stay right there! I'm going to need to call my mother and have her here you say that

[geneb]

*hear




*grins, ducks, runs*

g.

[edward]