Repetier for RostockMax and RAMBO

[mhackney]

Just grabbed your latest Polygonhell, tweaked my parameters (RAMBo ver. 1.1 has 16 microsteps, not 8), compiled uploaded and now I have the LCD AND the SD card! Very cool, it will be neat to be able to print disconnected.

Thanks for posting.

cheers,
Michael

[Polygonhell]

Tell me about the kill! Are you talking about the big Emergency Stop button at the upper right of the Repetier Host? I'm using Haloped;s version and that works on my system.

cheers,
Michael

No talking about the small "reset" button on the panel.

[mhackney]

Got it, test it, now I see what you meant! Thanks.

Is there an easy way to add buttons.menus/commands to Repetier host similar to prontorface?

[Highcooley]

Got it, test it, now I see what you meant! Thanks.

Is there an easy way to add buttons.menus/commands to Repetier host similar to prontorface?

Nope, you just have five scripts available. You can program them in the G-Code editor switching from G-Code to the scripts and launch them in the printer menue/send scrip XY.

[mhackney]

Ok, thanks!

Cheers,
Michael

[theverant]

So I'm having trouble installing this firmware. Is there something special I need to do for RAMBO? It complains I need to select Gen7 from tools -> boards. When I use the Johnoly/Ultimaker firmware RAMBO is defined, I don't use Gen7. Can someone shed some light on this?

[mhackney]

Select Arduino Mega 2560

Also what version of Arduino are you running?

I'd recommend using repetier firmware that polygon hell posted. Good stuff!

[theverant]

Select Arduino Mega 2560

Also what version of Arduino are you running?

I'd recommend using repetier firmware that polygon hell posted. Good stuff!

I have Mega selected. I have tried both Arduino 1.X and 22. I get the same Gen7 error in both. When I first open the Repetier it has "71" for the board, which is defined as "Gen6 1.4.1 an dlater". Is this correct? Seems strange.

I have uploaded johnoly99's marlin firmware with no issues.

[mhackney]

It sounds like you have a couple of things going on!

Firstly, depending on where you get your firmware you will likely need to do some configuration before compiling. The "MOTHERBOARD" directive should have a 301 option for RAMBo so set it to that. If you don't see that in configuration.h run and get an updated Repetier firmware! (what version is your firmware by the way?).

Compile with Arduino 1.0.3. It's there you make the board and serial port setting to let the Arduino IDE know how to communicate to your board/RAMBo.

The complexity is that these firmwares support many printers and configurations so unless you get a version that has been configured by another user or manufacturer of your printer it may require some configuration. The versions that Polygonell and halopend forged on github and tweaked for the Rostock MAX both worked for me with Aruino 1.0.3 on a mac and windows with ONE EXCEPTION - my Rostock came with the newest RAMBo v.1.1 which supports 16 microsteps by default. The 1.0 version was 8, so I had to change that in several places in configuration.h to get the printer moving and extruding the right amount!

Cheers,
Michael

[Polygonhell]

Unless you are very technically minded, I wouldn't try and configure reptier yourself, it's not the easiest thing in the world to get right, either download my version from github, or download Halopend's version.
Both of those will have the firmware set to support board 301 which is the RAMBO board, along with approximately correct values for the rostock max' delta geometry.

[theverant]

Unless you are very technically minded, I wouldn't try and configure reptier yourself, it's not the easiest thing in the world to get right, either download my version from github, or download Halopend's version.
Both of those will have the firmware set to support board 301 which is the RAMBO board, along with approximately correct values for the rostock max' delta geometry.

That's what I thought was strange. I thought I did download your version but saw no reference to RAMBO, it's not even an option like it was in johnoly99's marlin. I'll poke around your git a little more. Is it possible I downloaded the stock repetier from your git somehow? Usually I just grab the ZIP from the git and have had no problems in the past, but I'm certainly no git guru.

[theverant]

That's what I thought was strange. I thought I did download your version but saw no reference to RAMBO, it's not even an option like it was in johnoly99's marlin. I'll poke around your git a little more. Is it possible I downloaded the stock repetier from your git somehow? Usually I just grab the ZIP from the git and have had no problems in the past, but I'm certainly no git guru.

Derp.

This is exactly what happened. I wasn't understanding the commit structure of the git and I guess I got the original repetier firmware - got your latest commit and it's uploaded with no issues!

Thanks for your work on this - it appears the LCD is working and everything. Nice!

[Eaglezsoar]

FWIW I just added LCD/SD Card support to my version.
About the only difference to Haloped's version is the kill switch works.
I changed the repetier behavior for the kill switch, the standard version turns everything off and hangs the firmware, which requires resetting the arduino to continue.
My version turns everything off then just resets the arduino.
There is code in repetier to soft level a rostock, when I get a chance I'll add it to a menu option to test it.

Thanks for getting this to work, your time is appreciated. I just hope that I get the correct version! Thanks again and thanks to mhackney who made me aware that
this firmware was ready.

[Highcooley]

All right

I am still fighting the problem where the printer goes idle mid print. I've got four aborted prints now. Three of them are from the same KISSLICER GCode. All three prints aborted during layer 90. The printer stops moving and shows idle on the LCD. All temperatures stay set and the printer reacts normally to any command. When printing from the PC, the host stays mid print and keeps counting the time till print end. In the communication log, I don't find anything unusual. It seems, as if the printer doesn't request more GCODE and the host just waits for the next request.
The last print was from the SD card, so the USB definitely didn't cause this. The PC was off anyway, so there is no possibility, that there was a faulty code sent over USB. Looking at the GCODE, I cannot find any strange commands either. There are only FAN on/off, G1 positioning, extruding, retracting and motor speed setting commands, next to ";" comment lines.

The only explanation which remains is, that it could be some stack overflow problem. The 90th layer starts on line 897'944 in the code. This doesn't ring a bell concerning stack overflow due to max variable ranges. However, this is GCODE including comment lines. I don't know how many lines there would be without empty and comment lines.

Any other idea, what to try next? Am I still the only person confronted with this issue?

[Polygonhell]

The fact it's terminating on the same layer is a bit suspicious.

Is the PC actually off, is it plugged into the USB connection?
I've had issues where the PC will got to sleep or power save, if the USB cable is plugged in it's providing power.
The next thing I'd check is if the file is intact on the SDCARD, unfortunately if you wrote it with Repetier, the file on the SDCARD is in it's binary format, so all you can really do is check the size is reasonable i.e. it's much larger than 897,944.
897944 isn't really any round binary number, so probably not an overflow.
Is the model publicly available?

It could be any number of things, if it's software what we need is a way to repro it on a second machine.

[Highcooley]

The fact it's terminating on the same layer is a bit suspicious.

Is the PC actually off, is it plugged into the USB connection?
I've had issues where the PC will got to sleep or power save, if the USB cable is plugged in it's providing power.
The next thing I'd check is if the file is intact on the SDCARD, unfortunately if you wrote it with Repetier, the file on the SDCARD is in it's binary format, so all you can really do is check the size is reasonable i.e. it's much larger than 897,944.
897944 isn't really any round binary number, so probably not an overflow.
Is the model publicly available?

It could be any number of things, if it's software what we need is a way to repro it on a second machine.

The PC was off, the USB cable plugged in, but USB power of the PC is configured to off (all other USB devices switch off as well). So there should really nothing coming over USB. The model I am trying to print is http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:37926. The print stops on 18 mm height (90 layers @ 0.2 mm):
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-sEo0 ... CF0632.JPG[/img]
I uploaded the GCODE on the SD card by a card reader, checked file size and copied it again to compare file size (53 MB on the SD card). The file should be intact. I also browsed the file on the PC for several times trying to find faulty code but didn't find any.

Here is the GCODE for anybody to try (maybe in a dry run):

blosslmp.zip

Blossoming lamp shade GCODE which stops on layer 90 (Z=18.0 mm).

(12.18 MiB) Downloaded 708 times

Be aware, it takes 3-4 h until the problem occurs and total print time is something more than 8 h.

Thanks for your feedback

[mhackney]

I'm doing an "air print" now and will let you know what happens. I looked at the code briefly and it seems in order.

[mhackney]

Highcooley, so I did an "air print" of your code. It also failed/stop responding at layer 80 for me. Here is the code snippet in the log window:

> 6:56:04 PM: N776178 G1 F12000.00 *75
> 6:56:04 PM: N776179 G1 X-18.50 Y-23.23 E31.9196 *114
> 6:56:04 PM: N776180 G1 F3900.00 *117
> 6:56:04 PM: N776181 G1 E38.9196 *113
> 6:56:04 PM: N776183 G1 F3300.00 *124
> 6:56:04 PM: N776184 G1 X-19.25 Y-23.73 E38.9581 *125
> 6:56:04 PM: N776185 G1 X-18.84 Y-24.06 E38.9803 *116
> 6:56:04 PM: N776186 G1 X-18.47 Y-23.82 E38.9990 *120
> 6:56:04 PM: N776187 G1 X-18.69 Y-22.75 E39.0451 *116
> 6:56:04 PM: N776188 G1 X-18.45 Y-22.60 E39.0571 *114
> 6:56:04 PM: N776189 G1 X-18.91 Y-21.70 E39.0999 *114
> 6:56:04 PM: N776190 G1 X-18.46 Y-21.40 E39.1230 *122
> 6:56:04 PM: N776191 G1 X-19.37 Y-21.40 E39.1614 *126
> 6:56:05 PM: N776192 G1 X-19.50 Y-21.49 E39.1682 *122
> 6:56:05 PM: N776193 G1 X-20.38 Y-21.48 E39.2056 *114
> 6:56:05 PM: N776194 G1 X-20.59 Y-21.62 E39.2164 *122
> 6:56:05 PM: N776195 G1 X-20.44 Y-22.73 E39.2638 *122
> 6:56:05 PM: N776196 G1 X-20.08 Y-22.49 E39.2821 *126
> 6:56:05 PM: N776197 G1 X-19.88 Y-22.95 E39.3037 *114
> 6:56:05 PM: N776198 G1 X-20.13 Y-23.12 E39.3163 *123
> 6:56:05 PM: N776199 G1 F3900.00 *125
> 6:56:05 PM: N776200 G1 E32.3163 *113
> 6:56:05 PM: N776201 G1 F3300.00 *117
> 6:56:05 PM: N776202 G1 X-19.88 Y-22.95 E32.3163 *118
> 6:56:05 PM: N776203 G1 X-20.08 Y-22.49 E32.3163 *116
> 6:56:05 PM: N776204 G1 X-20.44 Y-22.73 E32.3163 *114
> 6:56:05 PM: N776205 G1 X-20.59 Y-21.62 E32.3163 *124
> 6:56:05 PM: N776206 G1 X-20.38 Y-21.48 E32.3163 *112
> 6:56:05 PM: N776207 G1 X-19.50 Y-21.49 E32.3163 *116
> 6:56:05 PM: N776208 G1 X-19.37 Y-21.40 E32.3163 *115
> 6:56:05 PM: N776209 G1 X-18.46 Y-21.40 E32.3163 *117
> 6:56:05 PM: N776210 G1 X-18.91 Y-21.70 E32.3163 *116
> 6:56:05 PM: N776211 G1 X-18.45 Y-22.60 E32.3163 *126
> 6:56:05 PM: N776212 G1 X-18.69 Y-22.75 E32.3163 *119
> 6:56:05 PM: N776213 G1 X-18.47 Y-23.82 E32.3163 *115
> 6:56:05 PM: N776214 G1 X-18.84 Y-24.06 E32.3163 *112
> 6:56:05 PM: N776215 G1 X-19.25 Y-23.73 E32.3163 *126
> 6:56:05 PM: N776216 G1 X-18.50 Y-23.23 E32.3163 *123
> 6:56:05 PM: N776217 G1 F12000.00 *65
> 6:56:05 PM: N776218 G1 X16.80 Y16.68 E32.3163 *127
> 6:56:05 PM: N776219 G1 F3900.00 *118
> 6:56:05 PM: N776220 G1 E39.3163 *120

curious, did you save the log window code where you hung up too?

[Polygonhell]

Can you try printing from say layer 79, I'm wondering if the issue is the specific set of instructions or just the number of lines that have been sent.

I just looked at the repetier git hub and don't see anything checked In that would address something like this, if we can get an easier repro case, he's usually very responsive with bug reports.
Times like this make you wish there was a debugger of almost any description in the arduino tools.
I will note that the GCode there is odd in that it isn't advancing the filament at all - probaly just a wipe though

[mhackney]

I am doing exactly that - I actually backed up to the start of this layer - the code where it stopped was indeed doing a wipe.

It is running now and already up to layer 20 (which is actually 80 + 20).

[Highcooley]

Highcooley, so I did an "air print" of your code. It also failed/stop responding at layer 80 for me. Here is the code snippet in the log window:

> 6:56:04 PM: N776178 G1 F12000.00 *75
...
> 6:56:05 PM: N776220 G1 E39.3163 *120

curious, did you save the log window code where you hung up too?

Very strange, indeed.

Nope...I was advised to enable logging (didn't know how this works with repetier host before). Unfortunately, it only works after a restart of the host. So, the last time trying to print from my PC, nothing was logged. I didn't save the log window, as I hadn't enabled printer echos. I might rerun the print with echo on to see, what the last firmware response is before the printer stops. I fear, that the printer confirms the last line but doesn't request the next one. Otherwise it would result in a connection error and the host would try to resend it. However, I don't know how the transfer protocol works. Probably, the printer requests the next line? Or does the host push GCODE lines every time it gets an OK from the printer?

Obviously, I wasn't able to log anything when printing fro m the SD card.

[mhackney]

So., I removed the code up to the 80th layer as per my previous post. I reran from that point. I got up to layer 81 last night and had to Pause the print so I could sleep! This morning I went to unpause and continue printing and nothing happened. As a quick test, I clicked the heated bed button to turn on the heater and the LED light on my bed did not light nor did the bed warm up. This indicates the communication between my Mac and the Arduino is broken.

I'm going to leave it unpaused for an hour in case something "catches up" and it continues to print.

[Highcooley]

So., I removed the code up to the 80th layer as per my previous post. I reran from that point. I got up to layer 81 last night and had to Pause the print so I could sleep! This morning I went to unpause and continue printing and nothing happened. As a quick test, I clicked the heated bed button to turn on the heater and the LED light on my bed did not light nor did the bed warm up. This indicates the communication between my Mac and the Arduino is broken.

I'm going to leave it unpaused for an hour in case something "catches up" and it continues to print.

Hmm, this adds a complete other dimension to the problem. I never paused any print so far. So I don't know, how the printer reacts to such a long pause.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see, if the printer stops again on layer 160. I'm wondering, if the comment lines of the code add to the problem or not. As there is a huge comments section in the beginning of the print, the print from layer 80 on could last a bit longer than to layer 160, if this is the case. However, I think the host is parsing the real code from the file and only sends these lines to the printer.

[mhackney]

So, my printer never unpaused. I had to Disconnect and Connect again. Watching the log display, there are no comments from the source gcode file so I think you are right that the host parses it out before sending.

This is one monster file though! I have 32GB of memory and a beefy processor and the 3 different apps (TextEdit, TextMate and a gcode editor) all struggled to deal with editing this file.

[gabrielk]

2 questions about firmware:

1. Is this normal when you are not using machine the power to the motors is turned off. I find out that when I home machine, and it sits in this position doing nothing, after 2 minutes i hear click of endstops. I want to know is this normal?

2. Is this the newest version of firmware, that can you use LCD Smart Controller by reprapdiscount wired like in Geneb manual? And it could be uploaded by Arduino 1.0.3 without any changes in Arduino IDE files?
https://github.com/polygonhell/Repetier ... evelopment