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Nope, it just worked. It is odd that it shows a 2 x 8 matrix correctly in the upper left corner of the display. There are actually directives in both firmwares to specify the matrix dimensions. Double check those. If that is correct, then I suspect the connector cable first and if that verifies Ok, the LCD might be a problem.

I just checked my ribbon cable, pin for pin, and they all have continuity. sigh.

Go over the LCD board with a magnifier and look for loose/broken joints. I have 4 of these and they have been very reliable. Not to say a bad one might not squeak through though.

Since you seem to be getting partial display - and maybe enough to read the hotend temp, why not test that to see if the display works at least for that. Also, what happens when you use the selector knob to navigate the menus?

selector knob seems to work but display only shows those two lines, sometimes random characters, sometimes just two lines of white boxes across the display.

I can scroll up and down in those two lines, I can change feedrate using the knob, I push on the knob and it beeps.

the temperature that it displays seem to change when i change the temperature.

I have looked over the back of the board, I see no obvious problems



and on a side note while trying to take the lcd back out, i broke the angle mounts for it. It didn't help that used wood glue to help hold the mount together. sigh.

I know you did a ring out on the pins but did you check to make sure adjacent pins weren't shorted. Don't think that will cause the issue but never know.

I'm sending my lcd back to seemecnc for replacement.

but in the meantime. I wanted to take some temperature readings with my thermocouple meter.

here are the results. what do you guys think of this? what are your opinions?
the average temperature is the difference between the aluminum and brass parts of the nozzle.
From this chart it doesn't look like i'll be able to get the brass nozzle to 230, because aluminum temp always being higher and without damaging the peek.


on another note:
this bed rocks at 24v it heated up to 110. in a matter of minutes. Next to do test is to see how much current is exactly being drawn at 24v at the various temps on the heat bed

cambo3D, nice work. Looking at the heated bed section at the top, it shows that the reading the thermistor is sending to the controller is being held within a 1/2 degree C for all but the 61°C case - pretty nice control.

Measuring temp accurately with a thermocouple is a challenge. Did you insulate over the top of the thermocouple probe for instance?

A better way to check the thermistor against a thermocouple is to use boiling water - 100°C. If you stick the thermocouple and thermistor in the same pan of boiling water (careful of shorts if its a metal pan) they should both read 100°C. You can also use higher temperature fluids like silicone oil, etc to check calibration at higher temps. With this info, you can then calibrate your thermistor - given the thermocouple reading is accurate.

cambo3d wrote:I'm sending my lcd back to seemecnc for replacement.

but in the meantime. I wanted to take some temperature readings with my thermocouple meter.

here are the results. what do you guys think of this? what are your opinions?

tempreading photo.jpg

the average temperature is the difference between the aluminum and brass parts of the nozzle.

Does the Aluminum temp at nozzle end is the bottom, top, or outside of the ring. I find it alarming to see the difference in those two measurments increase so much as temperature rises. Tells me either the thermocouple is having difficulty measuring the right temp or something is slowing hte transfer of heat between the alum and brass. How long did you let it soak for the measurments?

Does the Aluminum temp at nozzle end is the bottom, top, or outside of the ring. I find it alarming to see the difference in those two measurments increase so much as temperature rises. Tells me either the thermocouple is having difficulty measuring the right temp or something is slowing hte transfer of heat between the alum and brass. How long did you let it soak for the measurments?[/quote]


the measurement taken at the nozzle was inside the other thermistor hole.

cambo3d wrote:Does the Aluminum temp at nozzle end is the bottom, top, or outside of the ring. I find it alarming to see the difference in those two measurments increase so much as temperature rises. Tells me either the thermocouple is having difficulty measuring the right temp or something is slowing hte transfer of heat between the alum and brass. How long did you let it soak for the measurments?

the measurement taken at the nozzle was inside the other thermistor hole.[/quote]


If you don't have plastic in there yet, pull out your tube and stick the probe right down the shaft to the tip. Let the nozzle soak at temp until it stabalizes.

will do, I didn't think about doing it that way. I'll try that and see if I get better brass readings. With the thermocouple in the brass nozzle, I should be able to get better measurements.
and i'll check my thermocouple as mhackney suggested.

edit: checked the thermocouple calibration against boiling water. It was just slightly off. 98.9 degrees Celsius so I adjusted it to 100. then rechecked.
will redo the test and post report.

So I redid the bed temperature test after some changes here is the result. Will redo the hotend temperature test. later tonight.
Edit: got side tracked and didn't get to the hotend test, will pick up again tomorrow.
temperature graph, waited for the bed to reach room temp. rep host temp 24, thermocouple temp 24.5
Total actual time shown from room temperature to 115 degrees. Note: I am using a dedicated 24v 750watt 31amp Meanwell power supply with ssr to control power to my onyx. rambo board is run off stock 12v power supply and using marlin firmware. (stock firmware with no changes) I did another test with repetier firmware installed. Heat up to 115 took about the same amount of time. One thing different about repetier firmware (stock firmware with no changes) is that it did a better job of keeping the temperature steady. less temperature flux. graph shown below.

WOW!! 110 degrees in just over what 4 or 5 minutes?!?! Awesome, looks like that one is dead on.

I read another post that repetier firmware has faster heat up times. Although 4 minutes to 110 is pretty good for me, I might try it just to see the difference.

when i was troubleshooting my lcd issue, swapping firmwares around, I'd forgotten that marlin firmware was reinstalled.

this gives me a good baseline reading to determine what temperatures i need to set in the host software to get my bed to required temperatures.
for example: if I wanted a bed temp of 110, i would need to set the temp in host to 115 or so because actual bed temp of aluminum is a little lower.(with marlin firmware)

It is interestint to note that as I read through the various parts of the forum, I see that about three people are experiencing the same white boxes on the
LCD display as Cambo3D is seeing. What the relevance is I don't know but why are 3 people all seeing the same thing on their displays? I guess we will
know once someone who is experiencing the problem gets it working.
Carl

Eaglezsoar wrote:It is interestint to note that as I read through the various parts of the forum, I see that about three people are experiencing the same white boxes on the
LCD display as Cambo3D is seeing. What the relevance is I don't know but why are 3 people all seeing the same thing on their displays? I guess we will
know once someone who is experiencing the problem gets it working.
Carl

those that have the new adapter board seem to have this problem or just could be a bad batch of lcds or something else. I wish i had a known good lcd to try out.
I've checked all the pins on the adapter board they match up with the pinout, i've checked the ribbon cables, swapped firmwares.,

Alright i finished up the second test for the hotend measurements according to forum suggestions. This time using repetier firmware because it just seems to hold temperatures better.

Something to note from the measurements is that the temperature inside the brass nozzle starts to drop off at higher temperatures, Maybe because the aluminum is doing its job and acting like a heatsink to take away heat?? or some other factor is at play here.

FWIW the AL heater on my hotend is wrapped with silicon tape and I find it seems to perform better.
I didn't really wrap it to improve performance, I did that because the rather large fan I had blowing across the print was preventing the hot end reaching temperature.

That looks a lot more "normal" to me, changes to the Therm table or just altering the expectations should get you there.

foshon wrote:That looks a lot more "normal" to me, changes to the Therm table or just altering the expectations should get you there.

I just complete the pid autotune for both hotend and heatbed. now the temperature stays more linear. nice

Just completed my calibration and pid autotune settings. I think i'm bout ready to print.

other things to mention is that the bed leveling idea was removed, after tweaking the frame to get it more flat that seems to be the best bet.
the onyx has bow in the middle, bed leveling wont help so instead i just calibrated as is, per instructions in genebs manual for calibration.

I'm understanding the rostock will print in the same plane, once you calibrate it to that plane. does this sound right?

on another note: I accidentally crashed my print head into the bed, trying to do calibration because I forgot the set the heights in eeprom for repetier firmware.
Hopefully i didn't hurt the belts doesn't seem like it affected it. I guess I'll see. Need to double check the belts to be sure.

now all i need is my lcd to work..

I'm understanding the rostock will print in the same plane, once you calibrate it to that plane. does this sound right?

Yes that's correct, assuming the surface is flat, it need not be entirely horizontal, once you have calibrated the 3 towers X and Y will be relative to the calibration plane.

If the print bed is not horizontal, then won't your prints be skewed if the towers arent orthogonal to the print surface? Seems to me that getting the towers equidistant and parallel to each other, and orthogonal to the print surface is pretty important. Am i wrong?

cambo3d wrote: ....now all i need is my lcd to work..

Cambo3d,

So you've checked your connectors soldered to the RAMBo to SmartController Adapter and they showed continuity. And you're getting text in the upper leftmost corner of the LCD but "the dreaded white boxes" everywhere else?

You might try removing your adapter from the RAMBo board. Then, look carefully at each connector on the Adapter to ensure that a pin/socket is not bent or deformed. Then, look carefully at the headers on the RAMBo board to ensure a pin is not bent or "pushed" down through the board such that it might not contact its mating socket on the Adapter.

I work with LCDs frequently; I have not looked closely at the ones we have on our Rostock MAXes. But the fact that yours is "trying to work" suggests an incomplete connection/circuit.

You might also look at your solder joints with a magnifier. A "cold" solder joint may demonstrate continuity but might not work in a live circuit. A solder-starved joint can behave similarly. Touch-up each solder joint with a "pencil tip" on your soldering iron just to ensure the solder "flows" into each connection.

Just a couple of thoughts. Good luck!

Bill

ive done all of this..