Rostock MAX Calibrating startup problems

[keirsims]

Hello,

Im a completely newbie to this, we have recently purchased a new Rostock MAX from creative machines here in the UK.

We have built and wired the machine to Geneb's Manual.

On starting to communicate with the machine i had problems, but i got over this by finding the right baud rate(115k).

I then tried to check the endstops but in repetier it was showing the endstops on min changing not max. So i moved them over one slot and they started to work in max except they were normally H and when pushed changed to L (its not he wiring, weve been over it plenty of times and it is too the manual).

So finding some information on the net i decided to try and invert he signal in the firmware that is apparently easy. I downloaded the lastest Arduino which had the Mega 2560 option under boards and got up the firmware changing the false to true for the endstops in configuration.h.

After this the board presented me with the worst beeping sound ive ever heard and in Repetier it showed and error stating:

echo:using default settings:
error:checksum mismatch, Last Line: 1
Resend: 2
echo:SD init fail

I contacted Creative machines this morning and the sent me there latest firmware which has know got rid of the horrible beeping(which i couldnt be more grateful for) but has lef the LCD screen blank and the endstops don't change from H to L when pressed. Neither does the machine actually move even when G28 Command is sent.

We are using Repetier V0.85b and Arduino 1.0.4 and the board is a Ramps board apparently, not a RAMBo.

If anyone could help that would be super as i seem to have come to a dead end of trying things and creative machines can't help me anymore.

Many thanks,

Keir

[keirsims]

Just realised maybe this should be in the troubleshooting section? if it is then can the mods please move it across. Sorry i am a newbie.

Anyway, ive got some different firmware know from here: http://reprap.org/wiki/Rostock

and it seems to be working. Switched the endstops around a bit and switched on of the motors and it seems to be homing which is a start!

But i am having problems with manually controlling the z axis. It doesn't seem to move but just makes a humming sounds as if the steppers are stuck. Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers,
Keir

[Eaglezsoar]

The firmware that a lot of users of this forum is located here: https://github.com/polygonhell/Repetier-Firmware use the Master version.

There is a subforum under Rostock Max where this firmware is discussed http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1046
For the next step IMPORTANT-NEVER DISCONNECT OR CONNECT THE MOTORS WITH THE POWER ON!

Your Z axis, if you disconnect the Z axis motor from the Rambo can it be moved by hand, just making sure something is not locking the axis.

The next step is to power everything off and swap the Z axis motor with X or Y - turn the power back on - does the problem still exist with
whatever axis you swapped it with? These are basic troubleshooting steps but you need to know if the Z axis output of the card is working,
the best way to do that is with the swap mentioned above. IMPORTANT-NEVER DISCONNECT OR CONNECT THE MOTORS WITH THE POWER ON!
If you swap Z with X is X now not working? The other thing is to check the values for the digipots and make sure they are not set too low.
Please let us know what you find. You can ask these questions in this forum, so you are fine with that.

[Eaglezsoar]

Also check the endstop switch on the Z axis and make sure it is wired correctly.

[keirsims]

Thanks for the Help,

I will have a look at the firmware you mentioned. The Z axis does seem to be working, it homes just fine with the other motors its just very slow going down but im guessing this correct as its manual movement is more accurate than the x and y axis.

Cheers
Keir

[foshon]

Thanks for the Help,

I will have a look at the firmware you mentioned. The Z axis does seem to be working, it homes just fine with the other motors its just very slow going down but im guessing this correct as its manual movement is more accurate than the x and y axis.

Cheers
Keir

If you are using a Rambo 1.1 make sure your firmware is set for 1/16 microstepping.