Stuttering prints after upgrading pronterface to latest version.

I have an Ormerod1, and have been printing fine using the software downloaded when I set it up.

Ive recently tried moving to the latest version of printrun (pronterface), and find that prints are stuttering. E.g. a simple ring:
Stuttering prints after moving to Printrun 2015.03.10

I assume Ive failed to carry over some settings to do with the way commands are sent from pronterface to the Duet via USB.

Alternatively I need to update the firmware on the Duet to 1.?? from the 0.78c I installed when I commissioned the printer.

Can anyone tell me which it is, and maybe what settings I need to copy across to the new printrun? Ive had a dig around and theres nothing obvious in config files, but theres a fiar amount of hardcoded defaults in the old pronterface.py code.

Its not a pressing matter as I still have the old pronterface available.

Thanks.

I cannot tell you details but you should definitely update your firmware as they are speed improvemnets as far as I know.
But why do you use Pronterface? Printing from SD-card would not cause such problems.

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Slicer: Simplify3D 4.0; sometimes CraftWare 1.14 or Cura 2.7
Delta with Duet-WiFi, FW: 1.20.1RC2; mini-sensor board by dc42 for auto-leveling
Ormerod common modifications: Mini-sensor board by dc42, aluminum X-arm, 0.4 mm nozzle E3D like, 2nd fan, Z stepper nut M5 x 15, Herringbone gears, Z-axis bearing at top, spring loaded extruder with pneumatic fitting, Y belt axis tensioner
Ormerod 2: FW: 1.19-dc42 on Duet-WiFi. own build, modifications: GT2-belts, silicone heat-bed, different motors and so on. Printed parts: bed support, (PSU holder) and Y-feet.
Ormerod 1: FW: 1.15c-dc42 on 1k Duet-Board. Modifications: Aluminium bed-support, (nearly) all parts reprinted in PLA/ ABS, and so on.

That problem is caused by Pronterface waiting for the printer to return OK after sending each command. This isn't necessary when it is driving an Ormerod. I did a patch to the old version to fix this, and I think RepRapPro incorporated that patch and possibly made it a configuration option. So I suggest you look to see whether the version you have has that option. If it doesn't then the patch would need applying again.

But the web interface is much nicer to use anyway.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2015 05:18PM 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].

I also had this problem when moving to the latest version of print run. I found the old post about the patch, and have made the same change in the newer version, also addeding an option under the settings to turn this on or off if your using multiple printers with different electronics. Although the new version does include print speed control it did not include extrusion factor control so I have also added a control for this. There also appeared to be some minor problems with the prebuilt version that would report image type errors, these have also been fixed.

Although the web interface on the ormerod is very good, I do still like to use print run, I find it easy to use I can heat the hot end and the bed at the same time, in the web interface I cannot appear to do this it waits for one to reach tempriture then heats the other, I also seemed to get a lot of Ajax errors when printing or uploading files not sure if this is because ime using a small client router to connect the machine to my wireless network as there is no where near my router to put the printer and connect directly. So I mainly print from a windows tablet which I use to control the printer and can also run slic3r and openscad etc.. From it which seems to work pretty well. I also like the 3d print progress view although pointless I like it, the exclusion feature thogh is very usefull if printing multiple parts and one goes wrong, you can draw a box round the failed part meaning all print codes in that area are ignored the other parts can continue without the failed part causing damage.

I am hoping to add fan speed control and things going forward, but have not got round to this as yet.

I have just got back from hols so will dig out my latest build and upload a link if anyone is interested in trying it out.

Couple of things to note is that there is still a small amount of judder just as a print is started appears to be when it first fills the move que after this no judders are apparent. The judder for me always happens when printing the skirt so has no effect on the print.

If running the newer firmware no tool is selected by default so print run will report and error until a tool is selected basically the conversation of the temp string into a float fails as there is no value, haven't fixed this yet.

If running older firmware the bed temp is now properly reported This didn't used to work as there was a space between the B: and the value in the old firmware. This has been fixed in the latest official release and was proberbly fixed some time ago int the other releases but I cant confirm this as I have not used them.

Ok, have uploaded my changes to github, and created a release the link to it is below the file "Printrun.20150310-richokarl.zip" is a precompiled windows version so you should not need to install any of the dependencies just unzip and run pronterface.exe, for Linux and Mac I think you will need the dependencies download the source and run the pronfiface.py file. I have not been able to test this on either Linux or mac. I have not yet put the macro files in place that are provided by reprappro for the custom buttons, ill look to add this shortly its easy to do but just haven't got round to it yet, as I don't really use them.

printrun-20150310-richokarl

Below is the main screen showing extrusion factor control on the left and a screenshot of the new configurable wait for ok option which can be found under settings->options you will need to restart print run for the setting to take effect.

This is a Pronterface problem, rather than a Duet firmware problem; as dc42 says, it was fixed (with his code) a long time ago! I think you can turn the flow control in Pronterface off and on (any version, I think) by adding the following line to the .pronsolerc file:
set clearNext 0

For Arduino AVR boards (eg 8 bit MEGA boards), this is set to '1'.

Thanks for your update, richokarl. We keep meaning to replace Pronterface with something nicer, but never seem to get around to it. Also, for heating up heaters in the web interface, I just posted this in a different thread:

The web interface has a second way of activating tools; if you click on the tool name, eg 'Heater 1', the text underneath it will change (from 'off' or 'standby') to 'active'. You can set the temperature before or after activating the heater, though the effect is slightly different; if you set the temperature, then activate, the printer waits until it gets to this temperature - you can't do anything else. If you activate the hot end, then set the temperature, you can do other things while the hot end heats up.

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

Thanks, guys!

I will try these solutions tonight. I'm aiming to get to a situation where I'm using vanilla software straight out of the ppa and updating with apt-get. So I'll look at adding a clearNext to the dot file, then update the firmware, and finally look at putting the printer onto ethernet and changing my workflow to use the web interface.

Quote
richokarl
Ok, have uploaded my changes to github, and created a release the link to it is below the file "Printrun.20150310-richokarl.zip" is a precompiled windows version so you should not need to install any of the dependencies just unzip and run pronterface.exe, for Linux and Mac I think you will need the dependencies download the source and run the pronfiface.py file. I have not been able to test this on either Linux or mac. I have not yet put the macro files in place that are provided by reprappro for the custom buttons, ill look to add this shortly its easy to do but just haven't got round to it yet, as I don't really use them.

printrun-20150310-richokarl

Below is the main screen showing extrusion factor control on the left and a screenshot of the new configurable wait for ok option which can be found under settings->options you will need to restart print run for the setting to take effect.

I have the same problem of stuttering prints with an ormerod 2 and I tried your version of Pronterface, but there's a problem: It crashes when I try to load the gcodes! And also it gives an error while loading, referring to a .dll file.
I don't know how to manually patch pronterface to make it work, so I don't know how to solve the problem.

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Luke_Duckwalker
I have the same problem of stuttering prints with an ormerod 2 and I tried your version of Pronterface, but there's a problem: It crashes when I try to load the gcodes! And also it gives an error while loading, referring to a .dll file.
I don't know how to manually patch pronterface to make it work, so I don't know how to solve the problem.

Which dll file is it asking for?

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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].

I attached a file with the error. It's in Italian and I sincerely don't know what that means. I'll try to translate it, but I can't assure that this is the correct translation:

"Unable to find the ordinal 1 in the dynamic linkage library C:\Users\......\lphlpapi.dll"

Hope it helps.

I have put the file in the attachment if you need it

Ok, thanks. I downloaded it and put it in the pronterface folder and now the error doesn't show up anymore. But the major issue remains: I can't load the gcodes because the program crashes as far as I click on the "load file" button. What should I do?

Quote
Luke_Duckwalker
Ok, thanks. I downloaded it and put it in the pronterface folder and now the error doesn't show up anymore. But the major issue remains: I can't load the gcodes because the program crashes as far as I click on the "load file" button. What should I do?

Hi Sorry your having problems with this, are you using the version from the releases section? What OS are you using.

I haven't looked at this in a long time as there didn't appear to be much interest as everyone was switching to using the web interface. Which I now use myself as my printer is no longer near a computer. Have just downloaded the release version from git hub and run it on my windows 7 laptop and windows 10 tablet and successfully loaded a gcode file in both. My printer is in work so cannot test with the printer connected at the moment. Ime really not sure what the error is ime afraid, cant recreate it here wonder if it may be something to do with the language settings but cant see how to change the language within printrun.

Ill try it again tomorrow at work on my 64 bit windows 10 machine to see if that has any issues.

I have now managed to recreate the error using windows 10 64 Bit. I get exactly the same message about the missing dll and also am unable to load a gcode file. The error does not occur when using 32bit OS. There is a quick and easy fix to get it running under 64 bit and that is to right click the pronterface.exe file and go to the compatibility tab tick the box for "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select either windows 95 or windows 98/ME as there was no 64bit version of these it forces to app to run in 32bit mode. You should then be able to open the app without error and load gcode files. I have not been able to test connectivity to the printer as yet as it is currently printing and would need to move it across the office to connect. Hopefully this will sort out the problem for you.

You will most probably get a message saying there was an error when you quit the application. This will be to do with psutil and is nothing to worry about, I think it was to do with trying to stop the computer going into standby when pronterface was running but does not work properly so just make sure you have set your computer so it does not go to sleep while printing.

Ultimately the entire app needs to be recompiled to a 64bit version but not sure weather it would be worth the effort if the fix above works.

Yeah, I'm using win10 x64 and the compatibility mode totally solves the issue. Still haven't checked with the printer connected, but I'll do it when I can and update you on it. Thank you so much for now.

I've just tried to connect the printer and it gives me an error. I attached the screenshot. Should i modify something in the file referred to solve it?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2016 05:34AM by Luke_Duckwalker.

The printer seems to work anyway, but it keeps sending that error in the command screen. I'll try to print something to see if it works.

Hi, this error is perfectly normal. On the newer ormerod firmware no tool is select when the printer is turned on so no temperature is reported back to pronterface so it trys to convert a null value into an number which causes the error. If you select a tool once you have connect to the printer the error should stop. To select a tool send a T0 command this should select the 1st tool (hot end) and the error should stop.

Yeah, you're totally right, thanks. I'll update you on the printing

Works and prints fine like a charm. Thank you so much for all the help!

Great glad its all working for you.