Last try before smoothie to junk shelf

Iv tried everything to get this smoothieboard to work. Reversing wires on steppers, changing config files, modifying gcode itself, wiggling the antenna on my truck etc etc. I'm going to try 1 more thing before it goes on the junk shelf. In most programs ( I've downloaded about 16 million of these it seems to get this to work ) it ask you what firmware type or what machine type it is. None of them have smoothie as an option. Does anyone know what I'm supossed to put for that? The choices are usualy Marlin/Sprinter/Repetier,Teacup,Makerware,Sailfish and Mach3/Linux .Iv been putting mach3. Of course I've tried ALL of them ! 1 more try then it's to the junk shelf with the rest.

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Iv tried everything to get this smoothieboard to work. Reversing wires on steppers, changing config files, modifying gcode itself, wiggling the antenna on my truck etc etc. I'm going to try 1 more thing before it goes on the junk shelf. In most programs ( I've downloaded about 16 million of these it seems to get this to work ) it ask you what firmware type or what machine type it is. None of them have smoothie as an option. Does anyone know what I'm supossed to put for that? The choices are usualy Marlin/Sprinter/Repetier,Teacup,Makerware,Sailfish and Mach3/Linux .Iv been putting mach3. Of course I've tried ALL of them ! 1 more try then it's to the junk shelf with the rest.

You need to use the specific SMOOTHIEWARE firmware Firmware tab none of the ones you listed will work on the Smoothie as far as I know

The upgrade is very easy and is well documented on there Firmware page

HTH Doug

ps they also have some very good guides to setting it up on there as well

Smoothie boards run only Smoothieware firmware. Most of the calibration guides don't apply either, Smoothieware has its own flavour of configuring things (something with a config file at the root of the SD Card or similar).

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

When you slice for smoothieware, you use the marlin/repetier gcode option.

If the smoothieboard is behaving strangely in spite of checking and rechecking everything, try using a different uSD card. I had some problems getting it working initially because it couldn't read the card reliably. I got a new uSD card and all the problems magically disappeared.

Dougal, where's the firmware tab in cura? Traumflug, every software I've tried doesn't have an option for smoothieboard. I don't know how I'm supossed to chose it if theres no option.

Smoothieware is fully compatible with Marlin. In Slic3r, you select Marlin type gcode. It works.
It also works fine with Cura. I slice with Cura all the time- there's no need to change anything in Cura.

Calibration is not dependent on firmware. You still have to set steps/mm and calibrate the extruder the same way you do with any other firmware. The only difference is that all the config variables are located in a single config.txt file on the uSD card. You don't have to hunt through multiple files looking for the variables, make changes and recompile the firmware. All you do is edit the config.txt file with any text editor, save it to the uSD card, then reboot the board. The config.txt file is read each time the Smoothieboard boots.

Ok, that means theres something wrong with the board then . i've tried all of those. I will pick up another sd card in a bit and re flash it with firmware like you said earlier but I dont see that helping as I dont see a problem with it finding the card or files on the card. I did notice that just pressing the reset switch is a big no no as for as resetting. You have to pull the usb cable if you want something to actually take effect. Which is why I'm fixing to stop with it. I'm not destroying a $1000 computer pulling the usb out so much.

You don't have to pull the USB cable, you just eject the card by right clicking on it and selecting eject. If you're using pronterface you can reset the smoothieboard by sending the "@reset" command. As an alternative you can simply pop the uSD card out of the smoothieboard and edit its contents on your computer then plug it back into the smoothieboard. I believe you can also access and edit the files via the network interface.

My computer had no trouble finding the uSD card files or editing them either. The problem is not with USB access to the card- it is with the CPU on the smoothieboard accessing the files. There's some sort of voltage level/timing problem that makes some cards incompatible. All my mysterious, nonsensical problems with the board were suddenly cured by changing the uSD card.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2015 03:27PM by the_digital_dentist.

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Iv tried everything to get this smoothieboard to work. Reversing wires on steppers, changing config files, modifying gcode itself, wiggling the antenna on my truck etc etc. I'm going to try 1 more thing before it goes on the junk shelf. In most programs ( I've downloaded about 16 million of these it seems to get this to work ) it ask you what firmware type or what machine type it is. None of them have smoothie as an option. Does anyone know what I'm supossed to put for that? The choices are usualy Marlin/Sprinter/Repetier,Teacup,Makerware,Sailfish and Mach3/Linux .Iv been putting mach3. Of course I've tried ALL of them ! 1 more try then it's to the junk shelf with the rest.

There is no reason to get angry ... Smoothie is a reprap firmware, in most hosts, it will be written as either "Reprap flavour" or "Marlin/Sprinter/Repetier".

Just choose that and it will work with Smoothie.

If you have any other problem with the board, you can contact me directly for help at wolf.arthur@gmail.com

Ok, I finaly got time to go get another micro sd card. For some reason that fixed the extruder not working. I get a timeout from the board every once in a while , but I think that's just a setting or something simple.I got it to print a test cube 12mm ! It's all warp sided, stringy and a long way from actualy being a cube, but it's a start. Now that I'm finaly able to test the printing part, I have more questions. Do I change the speed of the machine in Cura, or with smoothie config? I tried changing speed down in cura and smoothie but it's still jerking the machine pretty bad. Around the outside edges it's smooth, but when it gets to a corner it jerks real bad. I need to slow it down untill I get the rigid ( mechanical )part of the printer more stable. I noticed some controls don't even work in Cura and I'm trying to figure out which ones I can change in the host and which ones I have to change in the smoothie config file. Thanks for the help.

The print speed settings are adjusted in Cura, but the maximum acceleration and maximum jerk speeds are set in the Smoothie config file.

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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].

In smoothie, jerk is known as "junction deviation". I believe the default value is a little high for most printers. Try a value like 0.02 for starters and then turn it up a little at a time once the machine is up and running. There are settings for maximum speeds and accelerations in the config.txt file. Those are considered upper limits. You set the desired print speeds in Cura.

Sorry for the late reply. It's hard to get off work long enough to work on it. Thanks everybody for the help. Each step get's it better. I have a couple more questions. Dentist, I set the junction deviation to 0.02 and I swear it seems to have got faster instead of slower. Will different parts change direction at different speed depending on the slicer or something? I'm also having a problem with the hotend dragging across the last layer it lays down. I've read that this is caused by the extruder putting out too much filament. I went from 100 percent flow rate in Cura to 90 percent but didn't see a change. Do I change the flow rate in Cura or the smoothie config somewhere? I wished someone would do a write up on what changes in the config file for smoothie and what you change in the host.

You shouldn't have to tweak the flow rate- you have to calibrate the extruder and enter the exact filament diameter when you slice or print.

Look here for calibration: [reprap.org]

Also pay attention to the stuff about volumetric slicing. It's very useful because you can change filament colors/spools without having to reslice.

As for filament diameter, you need to measure the diameter of each spool you use at multiple places along several meters of filament then calculate the average value. Use that average value when you slice or print (if you use volumetric slicing).

Every time you get a new spool of filament, you should measure and write the average value of the diameter on the spool. Weigh it and mark the weight of the empty spool on the spool, too. That way you can always check how much filament is left on the spool by weighing it so you don't run out of filament mid print.

I have checked the filament probably 5 or 6 times and it always comes out 1.74, 1.75 and 1.76. I have it set in Cura at 1.75. Maybe I need to change the settings in the config file somewhere.

If the filament diameter is set correctly and it is still over-extruding, then the extruder is not calibrated accurately.
Do the calibration using the thinnest layers you ever expect to print with. If you get it set right for 50 um or 100 um, it should work fine for 300 um.

The smoothie config file is both a description of the hardware and a set of instructions telling the firmware how to handle certain things that are dependent on the hardware. On the description side, you have the steps/mm of each axis and the extruder, and many others. On the instruction side, you set things like acceleration, maximum speeds, and junction deviation that are all dependent on the performance limits of the specific hardware in your printer. There are usually tweaks that can be applied in the slicer and/or via an LCD panel input, but in the end, if you're using a specific tweak a lot, it should be put into the firmware so you don't have to remember and enter a bunch of tweaks every time you slice an STL file. Likewise, if you're tweaking prints on the fly via host software you probably don't have the config file set up right and/or you're not utilizing the slicer options correctly.

Ok. In the steps per mm part in the config file. Do I go up or down with that number to lower the amout that's extruded? My thinking is I go up with it for less? I did have time to learn some things about the filement I'm using. I started it at 230c now I'm up to 260c and it's bonding a lot better. I guess the cheaper the filement the hotter it needs to be. Also theres a write up on the wiki about half steps. He said for .2 resolution that it needed to be set to 1.967 something like that to make it go to a full step and not get off when the stepper switched back on. Does that apply to smootieboard too?

Decreasing steps/mm will reduce the filament extruded. The firmware is thinking in terms of volume of filament. For a given diameter of filament, making fewer steps will move less filament through the extruder.

I don't know what the 1.967 stuff is about. Smoothieboard's on-board drivers are set to 16:1 microstepping.

Thanks dentist. That number calculator I was talking about is here calculator
It's down some on the page under "Optimal layer height for your Z axis "

His description of it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. He says errors are introduced when the motors are disabled mid microstep. If the motors are getting disabled mid microstep, you've got bigger problems than error introduced by the motor moving itself to one of its detents. After you start a print, the motors are normally only disabled when the print is finished. Before you start a print, the machine is going to go to the home position. I can't see how it's going to cause a problem.

Ah! now I see. If there are two or more motors lifting the X axis or bed, the X axis (or bed lifter alignment) may get thrown off when the motors shut down at the end of a print. Yet another excellent reason NOT to use two or more motors to lift the X axis or the bed! Put a belt on the Z axis screws and drive them with a single motor. I knew multiple motors was a bad idea, but I had no idea it was this bad. Wow!

Yeah I think I have that problem too. I have 2 motors lifting the bed and it seems to get off. I'm going to redesign that and use 2 motors with a central belt or something. Maybe I can put a gt2 pulley on the bottom of the z axis on both sides and connect them together with a belt. Then it wouldn't have no choice but to turn the same amount . Right now I'm trying to deal with this hotend dragging the last layer still after changing every config setting I can see. And of course the abs warping problem..

When you get ready to dump that card, let me know and I will take it.
I love smoothieware and have had good success with it.