Duet- in setup, it worked last night...

I'm new to additive mfg. and most of my experience is trying to get an expensive 3-extruder printer working using 'free samples' provided with the printer- wasn't working. I'm spiteful, going to get something other than more gray hairs from it. I know a little about electronics(taken a lot of stuff apart at least) and am a machinist.

Attempting to convert to Duet+x4, bought it in Feb. but seems like I got an 'old' model. (just fyi)
So I got around to wiring most of it last night- using 'used' wiring, dont have any on hand to do it right. I got as far as had firmware compiled/installed etc. used Arduino serial monitor and pronterface, both connected & communicated just fine (usb only, power supply hadn't been plugged in... M105, and M503- pronterface status all worked for what was plugged in & the webpage responded but immediately timed out).

Today I got off work and get to finishing up wiring endstops, plug in the steppers, & E0... plug it back in to USB to do actual testing beyond 'it communicates' and... nothing... plug in the usb, lights on, PC detects arduino device just fine, will not communicate at all. After trying/rebooting, changing baud, reinstalling drivers etc... still nothing. I switched the jumper and fired up a modified ATX PS. nothing more other than lots of blinking lights... nothing moved, still no comms.

-_-

any ideas what I can try or how I might have blown it?

Thanks...

Have you tried following the commissioning instructions here [reprappro.com] ? You may also find my notes on upgrading a Mini Kossel to Duet electronics here [miscsolutions.wordpress.com] useful. Did you update the firmware?

One thing to note if you are coming from Arduino/RAMPS is that the endstop connections are different. For normally closed endstop switches, you need to use the two outer pins of the 3-pin connector.

Never connect or disconnect anything (especially stepper motors) with power applied - but you probably knew that already.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2015 05:14AM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Yep, that page is how I knew the M words though it didn't quite get me there because I'm not using Omnirod.

I had skimmed through your blog on the duet in general and your kossel upgrade which helped as far as your notes on what the duet was expecting etc.

I have not updated the firmware since it was communicating I just disconnected the usb when it was communicating, plugged it back in the day later and I had nothing. (I am currently running the couple month old version of your firmware).

My endstop switches are normally open... but thinking back I think I used the outside pins. maybe because it made sense to me based on the label. I wouldn't think that would harm it though. :/

Yep... I try not to touch the board at all while power is applied.

I did run through the troubleshooting guide on reprappro and nothing is getting hot/warm. The main chip only gets to 30(c) in a 22(c) room, none of the other chips are warmer than 23(c) though it could just be my thermocouple is cheap.
A thought I had this morning was a recollection that if I wired the thermistor wrong it would send 12v to the chip and fry it... but unless it supplied power to that I didn't think that happend. I haven't been able to connect to send any kind of command

Thanks...

P.S. I had... of course... also looked through the t3p3 blog for setup/info on the board.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2015 04:59PM by Epop.

You need to use the outer two connections on the endstop connector whether your switches are normally open or normally closed. But normally closed endstop switches are recommended, they are safer if they become disconnected and they are much less inclined to pick up noise.

If the host PC recognises the board as an Arduino Due when you connect it, then the microcontroller chip is working. Are you trying to communicate using Pronterface, or using Arduino serial monitor? Pronterface won't work unless the Duet is reading and processing the config.g file on the SD card, so it is best to start with Arduino serial monitor if you are having problems communicating. See the RepRapPro commissioning instructions I linked to earlier.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Hmm... okay. Neither pronterface or arduino serial monitor is doing anything atm. I'm pretty sure I've already gone through all the troubleshooting steps for 'not communicating' on RepRapPro

Just to be clear:

- When you connect the Duet to the PC via USB, the red USB power LED on the board comes on, and the PC recognises the board as an additional COM port called Arduino Due. Correct? [Look in Device Manager if you are running Windows.]

- When you connect Arduino Serial Monitor to that COM port, and you set it to use either LF Only or Both CR & LF as the line terminator, you get no response to M105. Correct?

- You have never upgraded the firmware, but you think it is using a version of my fork a couple of months old. Why? Did T3P3 put it on for you?

If the board is still running the original RepRapPro firmware, then in order to get the board to respond to the serial monitor, you need to either wait about 1 minute after powering it up, or connect the Ethernet port to another device e.g. PC or router.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

- Yes (com4 @115200 baud)

-Yes, I had it set to Newline(LF?) as instructed on reprappro. I just tried CR & NL(newline/LF?) and still had no response to M105.

-I installed that firmware when I got the board in Feb. **it happend. just got some time to complete the project. I simply haven't updated the firmware.

I have tried inputting commands right when plugging the board in as well as waiting as long as 20-30 min (for giggles). I'm also not getting anything from the Ethernet port. The night it was working I plugged it in and the webpage popped up and then timed out, again, I'm not getting anything from it atm...

Thanks for helping btw...

You do have Arduino IDE configured to use that port, and the board type set in the IDE to "Arduino Due (Native port)" I suppose?

My only other suggestion is to try re-flashing the firmware using bossac.

EDIT: or try asking for help on the Ormerod forum - someone there may think of something obvious that I have forgotten.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2015 02:54PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

So... It's all F'ed up now... I've read & re-read the instructions and none of it works... I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if it went wrong and now it's fully manifested.

I erased the Duet, reset, used bossa to flash using the main/ZPL/DC42 *.bin, all verified successful(tried them all separately, not flash,flash,flash), reset. now only comes up as a bossac port, and can't do anything with it but continue to re-flash. still no comm.

*as a side note.
Also used bossa to flash the PanelDue(also from t3p3) with 5.0-109 and its wrong- verified successful but the calibration point is off the screen and I can't touch it... all I get is "ouch the spot".

-_-
damn it.

Quote
Epop
Also used bossa to flash the PanelDue(also from t3p3) with 5.0-109 and its wrong- verified successful but the calibration point is off the screen and I can't touch it... all I get is "ouch the spot".

If you are using the 4.3 inch screen supplied by T3P3, then you need the 4.3 inch firmware, not the 5 inch.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

(facepalm)

... yeah, it displays correctly, and calibrated... uuuggghh.
then...

I started over from scratch on Duet... file size was all wrong I noticed as I stared at the directory... I did 'save as' out of habit and got bad files... bossac successfully flashed... bad files... :B

So... I got good files this time around and that solved why it stopped coming up as Arduino... Still no serial at all, from arduino SM, pronterface, or bossa, but bossac.exe will write successfully anyway...

v1.06 web control comes right up... connects... and attempts to home? i'm losing my mind... They're coming to take me away HA HA

... well... I wired everything else back up motors turn, endstops work, hotend fan turns on... through web control.

still no serial... -_-

So... re-flashing was most of the answer. Thanks!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2015 01:38AM by Epop.

I said there might be something obvious that I forgot to mention, in this case it was to use the Raw button to download firmware files from github.

Strange that the USB port works for flashing the firmware but not for talking to the Duet, but the Duet is otherwise working. My guess is that it is something at the PC end, such as the Arduino driver not working properly, or you are using the wrong COM port number (the port number will move around between normal mode and bossac mode, and if you switch USB ports). The baud rate does not seem to matter, but I use 250000. Pronterface will only talk to the board after it has executed M555 P2, which will normally be in your config.g file.

Talking of things I forgot to mention, when you connected Arduino serial monitor, did you send the M105 command in UPPER case? Lower case won't work.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

The com port swtiching is correct.

The config.g is running M555 P2. I don't know why pronterface wouldn't work... unless it uses the arduino driver. So, My arduino driver has problems so SM isn't working. which leaves the web.

Yep, most CNC machines will not run on lowercase for some reason.

Seems like I'm good on connecting/controlling for the moment... next fish to fry is figuring out why Z moves more than Y when I tell Y to home... Y chip is also 5-6(c) warmer than the others even though Z-motor is doing more work. a short somewhere?

hmmm... new topic time maybe...

What sort of printer is it (i.e. Cartesian, CoreXY or Delta), and what do you have the motor currents set to in the M906 command in config.g? On Cartesian printers it is quite usual to set the Y motor current higher than the others, because the Y motor has to move the mass of the bed.

If the Z motor moves when you are Y homing, there could be a couple of possibilities:

1. You may be using homing files designed for the Ormerod/Huxley/Mendel, which use a proximity sensor for X homing. The Y homing files for those machines raise the head 5mm before X or Y homing to get the sensor out of the way of the bed. If you don't need this, you can edit the homey.g and homeall.g files on the SD card to remove this behaviour.

2. You have a large amount of orthogonal axis compensation set up in your M556 command in config.g.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Cartesian.
Y is set to 1000mA, (it is also running 2motors).
Yep, using Ormerod2- never had a machine that would move z slightly for homing. threw me off. that was fixed when I realised what the homex file was.
*homing was also part of the issue but i started a topic in firmware- pins are set goofy since 'E Stops not currently used'?