Just bought my first 3D printer

I just picked up my first 3D printer. I traded an old laptop I wasn't using anymore for a Reprap Mendel that someone wasn't using. I'm still early in my learning curve, but I'm making progress. I believe the printer has gen 6 electronics and T5 belts and pulleys. My first step it to learn what I'm doing and get it working before I start thinking of upgrades.

I've been able to get it hooked up to my computer and I have pronterface connecting. Here is what I get when I connect to it.

start
Printer is now online
echo:Marlin: 1.0.0 RC2
echo: Last Updated: 2012-02-25 | Author: erik
echo: Free Memory: 1506 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Using Default settings:
echo: Steps per unit:
echo: M92 X39.02 Y38.47 Z3240.00 E176.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo: M203 X500.00 Y500.00 Z5.00 E45.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo: M201 X9000 Y9000 Z100 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo: M204 S4000.00 T3500.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum xY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X6.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo: PID settings:
echo: M301 P22.20 I1.08 D114.00

First, it appears the firmware is from 2012. I'm sure that it pretty old.

I have tried moving in all three axis and it does move. It doesn't seem to handle the 3 limit switches correctly. If I move to the limit switches it doesn't stop. If I move very far away from the limit switches, it stops moving and displays that the limit was reached.

Any ideas what to look for? Is there some kind of calibration I need to perform, update the firmware, or change some settings?

I've tried to do as much reading as possible, but many pages on this site won't load. The servers seem to be overloaded.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2014 02:43PM by EmailGuy.

I need to clarify which axis is Y and Z. Is the Y axis supposed to move the printbed and the Z axis raise and lower the extruder? If so, then mine are reversed. So I think I need to switch the connectors around where the stepper motors plug into the electronics board. The limit switches may be reversed as well.

In pronterface when I move in the negative direction it should move towards the limit switch, and the positive direction it moves away, right?

OK, so now it looks like the limit switches are all messed up. Of course like the servos, the Y and Z axis are swapped. It also looks like the normally open and normally closed contacts are reversed. It thinks it's at the lower limit when the switch if open instead of closed.

The previous owner removed the connectors on the limit switches and soldered them directly to the connectors on the electronics board. He probably thought they were not making good contact when the real problem was they were in the wrong connectors and wired backwards.

I'll unsolder them, put on connectors, and reverse the switch polarity and see if it works correctly.

The limit switches dont matter how they are wired as far as polarity.
you can reverse the wires but its going to do the same thing.
It would be a big help if you could take a clear picture of the machine you are working on.

That's actually contrary to what is stated on the page for the Gen6 electronics. It states they must be wired to match the type of board you have. By manually pressing and releasing the switches I can confirm that the movement works correctly if the switches are in the opposite state. It appears that the newer firmware allows you to invert it in software, but not the version I have.

I don't know if you also saw in my post that the Z axis switch is soldered into the Y axis connector and the Y axis switch is soldered into the Z axis connector.

Since I have to unsolder the wires to connect them to the correct axis, I'll invert the polarity as well. That way I don't have to change the firmware yet.

I'll post pictures and my results after I rewire the switches.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2014 09:26AM by EmailGuy.

So after rewiring the endstop switches is now moves like it should. I've attached a couple of photos of the printer.

Now I'm trying to extrude some material. The hotend heats up correctly and the feeder turns to advance material. I received two spools with the printer. How can I tell if they are PLA or ABS? There are no marking on the spools. By measuring them, they appear to be 1.75 MM diameter.

I'm getting close. All three axis move correctly and the end stop switches work correctly. I can home each axis and it goes to the end stop switch (minimum position).

So I enabled the hotend to try extruding some material. Once it's heated up, if I press Extrude, it runs backwards. If I press reverse it extrudes material. Is there a way in software to reverse the direction of the stepper for the extruder, or do I have to change some wires on the stepper motor to make it run the other direction?

EDIT: That was an easy fix. After reading up on 4 wire steppers, I found out all I had to do was reverse the plug. Now the extruder runs the right direction.

Next steps, level the print bed, adjust the z axis endpoint switch to get the right distance from the print bed, and try my first print.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2014 03:02PM by EmailGuy.

To see what material it is you can do a "burn test"
[www.3d2print.net]

Cool. I'll try the burn test on both of my spools.

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3D Printer: Reprap Original Mendel with RAMPS 1.4 electronics, j-head MK V-BV 0.4MM extruder, Wade's geared extruder, setup for 1.75MM filament

So I'm to the point of trying my first print test.

I loaded a sample STL file into ponterface and tried to print it. It seemed to be going along OK on the first layer. When it went to start the second layer, it didn't lay it on top of the first layer. It was shifted about two inches to the right. I tried a different STL sample file and it printed the second layer about two inches more forward on the print bed.

Any ideas what would cause this?

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3D Printer: Reprap Original Mendel with RAMPS 1.4 electronics, j-head MK V-BV 0.4MM extruder, Wade's geared extruder, setup for 1.75MM filament

Usually its because the voltage to the steppers is either too high or too low.
There is a trim pot on the stepper driver that you can turn to increase or decrease the voltage. Use a ceramic screwdriver while powered up. Personally I power down, adjust then power up and test again.

Also looks like your accelleration is at 9000. Most people with reprap printers stay about at about 1000-2000. Your motors might not be able to keep up at 9000.

I read the wiki page on the Gen6 electronics and they said the board comes with the stepper motor current set so that it reads 2V at the test pads. I used a plastic tool to adjust the pots to read 2V at each test pad and tried again. It still didn't print right.

I created a simple 10mm x 10mm x 10mm cube in FreeCAD, exported it as an STL file, and opened it in pronterface. I tried to print it. It didn't seem to be feeding filament properly and the hotend never got very far above the printbed.

If I move it around using the arrows or home buttons in pronterface it works perfectly. It also extrudes material by clicking the button. The fact that I can move in all directions and extrude material from the interface, but it messes up when printing makes me think that acceleration parameter would be the issue. In the interface it waits long enough between commands. When printing it streams the commands too fast for the printer to keep up.

Where do I configure the acceleration? Do I have to download new firmware to change that or can I configure pronterface or the slicer to set that when I go to print?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2014 03:02PM by EmailGuy.

I think I figured out my issue. When I bought the printer it had two wall type power supplies. There is a 12 V 6 A supply for the heated bed and a 12 V 1.5 A supply for the electronics board. After reading up on the Gen6 electronics board, it recommends a 12 V 60 W power supply for the electronics. That would be 5 A, not 1.5 A. I hooked it up to an old PC power supply 12 V channel and it appears to be working much better.

So with the 1.5 A power supply, it could run one stepper at a time. When trying to print and running several steppers at once, it didn't have enough current.