Problem with Ponterface printer interface

To start off with, I hope I'm on the right forum section. If not, please let me know.

I'm a first time builder of a prusa mendel. The mechanical build went without a hitch.
I have a sanguinololu 3D-printer driver that was pre-built including firmware. The sanuigololu has12V and is connected to the computer via an USP port.

I first downloaded the Python software and then the Ponterface and Sfact software from Githb all into one directory. I've included a screen shot of the printer interface and a photo of the sanguinololu as attachments.

I know I'm doing something wrong because the print ikon is not active.
I down loaded a .stl file and slicing seems to have worked OK
All I really want to do at this moment is to get the X-axis to do somthing

My questions are:

1. Have I down loaded the correct software or am I missing something?
2. Do I need to change the Com1 port. If so, How and to what?
3. Or have I wrongly connected the sauguinololu?

As you can see, I'm not an expert and need a kick start to proceed to the next fase.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2012 11:19AM by Dobert.

First of all you have to press the connect button.
If it doesn't connect then you may indeed have the wrong COM port.
Look in your devices at COM & LPT ports and you should see an FTDI virtual COM port.
It is usually COM3 or COM2 but can also be COM1, COM4, COM5 and etcetera.
Change the COM port to the one where the FTDI is connected and press the connect button.
If it still doesn't connect then the baudrate may be wrong.
This must be what is set in the firmware.

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Good evening Mr. Morrison,

Thanks for the feedback.

You were correct, I had the wrong COM port. I configured the FTDI port to COM3 en set the baud rate at 115200 (this is the sanguinololu baud rate). Pushed the Connect button. And received the following message in pronterface.exe: "serial.serialutil.SerialException: could not open port COM3: [Error 5] Toegang geweigerd". By the way, Toegang geweigerd means Entry refused.

Any ideas?

Really impressed with you designs in Thingyverse. Although it makes me feel a bit amateurish. Ah well who knows, in 10 years from now.

Robert

"Toegang geweigerd" means "access denied", at least in Microsoft jargon.
What baudrate do you have set in your firmware?

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

I've set the baud rate at 115200. This is in accordance with the sanguinololu software.
I down loaded Pronterface and Sfact again and unzipped the Sfact in the same map as the Pronterface. I've even down loaded an STL file and the slicing seems to work OK. In fact everything looks OK. It just will not connect to the hardware.

This is what Pronterface.exe reports:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "pronterface.py", line 1142, in connect
File "printcore.pyc", line 59, in connect
returns True on success, False if already printing.
File "serial\serialwin32.pyc", line 30, in __init__

File "serial\serialutil.pyc", line 260, in __init__

File "serial\serialwin32.pyc", line 56, in open

serial.serialutil.SerialException: could not open port COM3: [Error 5] Toegang geweigerd.

Attached is a print screen of printer interface.



I probably doing something silly, I just don't know what.

I don't know of any firmware named "sanguinololu software".
What firmware are you using?

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Please bear with me, I'm not an experienced software/firmware user and this is my first 3-D printer.
However, I'm thoroughly enjoying the build and I WILL get there. I'll try and get the terminology correct this time (learning curve).

What I inappropriately called software is of course firmware. The firmware on the Sanguinololu is arduino. The Sanguinololu 1.3a hardware was purchased complete with the latest firmware installed and tested. I assume that the [reprap.org] site was used as basis from which to download the necessary software/firmware.

Which firmware:

1 FiveD
2 Sprinter
3 Teacup
4 sjfw
5 Marlin
6 Makerbot
7 Grbl
8 Repetier-Firmware

or maybe something else...

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Good evening Bob,

The firmware is “kliment-Sprinter-95fbe3d”.

Robert

So, the default baudrate for Sprinter is 115,200 baud so if you haven't changed it this should be correct so maybe the next thing to try would be to use any terminal program (such as hyperterminal) to connect to COM3 (@115,200 baud) and if successful see if you get any response, e.g. send the command "M105" to get the bed and extruder temperatures i.e. you should see something like "ok T:201 B:117" as a response to this command.

---

Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Back again,

I set up hyperterminal, but couldn’t send any commands. There is no reaction when typing letters on the keypad.
However I can use the cursor which makes strange blue blocks appear. When closing the hyperterminal, I'm informed that the hyperterminal is still connected!

Robert

Bob,

Thanks very much for your help and I hope I haven’t wasted too much of your time.

The build and the wiring of the Prusa Mendel was straightforward, however I'm having real difficulty getting my head around the software. The many options and load sequences and prerequisites have left me a little confused.

Therefore I have decided to take time out to make some basic decisions before moving on to the next step in my RepRap project.

Robert

Dobert,

Hang in there. I suffered the same problem six months ago while loading Sprinter firmware to my Sanguinololu 1.1 (modded to 1.2). Then auto-magically, it just connected to Pronterface one day after I made some indeterminable change. The change that might have had enabled Pronterface to be able to connect was possibly by loading the firmware using the AVR Pocket Programmer from SparkFun (instead of via the FTDI).

Anyway, I'm now back at the beginning after deciding to give Marlin a try (in place of Sprinter). 18 head-banging hours later, I'm still no further on. I can load any firmware either via FTDI, or ISP and pronterface can't connect to the board via the same (on-sanguinololu-board) FTDI that I used to load the firmware.

BTW: For me, neither the Windows 'precompiled' or python version of Pronterface connects.

I'll post something here when I find the solution to my probs.

It really shouldn't be this hard, but some of us seem able to make it so.

Hamish

Bob en Hamish,

Thanks very much for the help and the encouragement. I now understand how to setup the Ponterface environment. So this is solved.
My problem now is uploading sprinter to the PCB. Bob pointed me in the right direction. I’ve put this question in the forum: electronics folder-sanguinololu.

Still having fun with the build and going through a fast leaning curve.

Robert

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2012 04:20PM by Dobert.

I have a botmill slider 3.0 it works with repsnaper but im not getting the best results.
I instaled ponterface and all the axis work but the extruder did not .
I tried to speed it up at the extruder button and it seem to work untill isilced the stl file
and the extruder does not work what can I do to make it work.

by the way the botmill has gen 6 electronics in it

Hi

I have been having communication problems using the usb ttl link, this was also true downloading using the Arduino, but as I have an AVRISP I used the Arduino to compile and the AVRISP through ATmel Studio to download the complied file and did not persue the problem.

With Pronterface not comminicating I had to persue the issue, it transpired that access was denied (Error 5) so I checked the the coom link set up etc before remembering that I have an external hard drive usb linked. I shut down removed the drive and restarted, this solved the problem and I can now communicate. Hope this may help.

Hi Guys, I come from a History of messing with this Small Controllers using the Serial Interface for Downloading, Debugging and monitoring the Controllers program progress. Here is the Sequence I use to trouble shoot the problem:

1. Make Sure the Hardware and COM software on the PC Works as it should.

a. This can mean hooking the USB or Serial connection (This Daye’s one and the Same) to another one and using a program like ‘PuTTY’ or ‘TinyTERM’.
b. When you get the two cables connected and one of these programs running twice, one connected to the one COM port and the other connected to the Other COM port. You should be able to type in one and have it show up in the other. Keep checking your cable connections and COM port settings till you achieve this.
2. Now that you now the PC Side is working, plug one of the USB Ports In to your Controller. If the Controller is working it should just be a Matter of getting the right COM port and Baud rate setting in the Printer ‘Interface program’ to get it to work.

Notes

1. This Assumes you have installed all the Components for ‘Pronterface’ in the Computer and OS you are currently Using (Note a Previous OS or Computer you just copied the program over to). The Computer Language the ‘Pronterface’ is written in is one of the resins Windows Installer programs where invented in the first place. The Language is slow and has a Lot of Complex parts that are not part of the Distribution, thus making it Imposable to just copy the program or the program folder from one computer to the next, and have it work.
2. COM Ports where never plug and play, do not get discouraged. Get on the web and start searching for answers to your question.
3. Be methodical whale you are trouble shutting, do not get frustrated. When I was Unger I spent many and hour fiddling with cables and settings, just because I missed something simple in the beginning. Also sum times it tacks hours fiddling to figure out the simple thing you missed.

Hop this Help, have fun