Some progress on Morgan build in Tennessee

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    • #2841
      Jack
      Participant

      Finally some progress! I bought the plastic parts on ebay back in January. I have been slowly gathering other parts and boring out holes and inserting captive nuts, etc. I ordered a pile of bearings from China and they took the expected long long time to arrive.

      Box of parts
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/k489wlo3g0ptn8n/2014-02-03%2011.54.15.jpg

      Parts laid out
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/d90isito21jqd5o/2014-02-12%2023.52.17.jpg

      There were a few missing parts and 2 broken parts. A friend at work (my boss) printed the replacement parts for me.

      Replacement parts
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/87ouc6iqldzcars/2014-02-27%2018.46.42.jpg

      My bed z mount bracket was wider than the top and bottom z mounts so I cut the ends off so that they could align the rods with the bearings in the bed arms. I expect this means that my hall effect sensors are going to have to stick out from their holders but I think I am ok with that.

      The completed frame
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/sjgp1j0gg1agfd9/2014-03-27%2011.46.25.jpg

      It really seems like downhill from here. =]

    • #2845
      Steve
      Participant

      Congratulations Jack.

      BTW, what motors did you get?
      Be sure an know the amperage <2.

      • #3629
        hfisselier
        Participant

        Hi! Could you share with us where you have bought you plastics part on eBay?

        Thanks.

    • #2853
      Jack
      Participant
    • #2857
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Those motors should work perfectly.

      Your boss has a old prusa mendel, right? 😉

      You must have one of the most colourful parts sets I have ever seen… It is most definitely going to draw a lot of attention.

      Enjoy the build!
      Q

    • #2873
      Jack
      Participant

      I think that is what his printer is. I have a photo:
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/kp9u2glu255c1ji/2012-12-05%2017.31.41.jpg
      In regards to the colorful parts I really want to email the guy I bought them from and ask him about it. He said he bought the parts and decided to go with a different printer. I am really curious who it was that printed these parts. The white feet are actually glow in the dark! It is a lot of fun. It also sets the bar for my future Lilian.

    • #3025
      Jack
      Participant

      Well, I think I overheated the DRV8824’s. Neither do a thing. Both have voltage out of the top of the tuning pots but no motor movement. Both A4988’s move their motors just fine and will move the X and Y as well given the chance. So the good news is that everything passed the smoke test and my Morgan moved for the first time! Yay! The bad news is I guess I will be waiting on new drivers before I can do anything.

      More photos:
      RAMPS https://www.dropbox.com/s/c14bu18zcao7ph7/2014-04-10%2002.50.24.jpg
      Morgan with wires https://www.dropbox.com/s/dsgguumfgpt7z2g/2014-04-10%2013.45.19.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/lb3oi8ova1yzqep/2014-04-10%2013.45.26.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlld8cpe3hchhrk/2014-04-10%2013.45.31.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/i1e4sts67xdb0l4/2014-04-10%2013.45.57.jpg
      First smoke test https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1c3cu7qqp5ts3v/2014-04-10%2023.06.55.jpg
      Second smoke test https://www.dropbox.com/s/xzlz79z4e6w7ast/2014-04-10%2023.48.05.jpg

      So very little left to do but still not printing.

      Since the drivers are outputting power is there anything I can do to test them or are they a lost cause?

    • #3037
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Well, isn’t that a pretty little Morgan!

      Sorry to hear about the drivers. Perhaps get some thinner wire and a kid with good eyesight and a steady hand to do the soldering.

      As I said, I now get mine made up. If shipping was not so expensive, I could have sold you the right drivers…

      Time to explore international shipping options again.

      • #3057
        Jack
        Participant

        I am really really *really* pleased with how my first Morgan is turning out. To help with the cost I have been buying the parts for the next section once I finished the current section. Progress has been slow because of that but I am happy with the result so far.

        I actually said “I don’t want to do this” right before I plugged it in for the first time. I was really nervous that I was about to let the magic smoke out. Seeing the Z and extruder motors moving was a wonderful moment. =]

        I emailed Blackbox Industries just a few minutes ago. Someone else asked them if they would ship to France and they said they would ship anywhere via DHL. Hopefully I can get a set from either you or them =] I plan to buy 4 so I will be ready for Lilian.

        So close!!

      • #3061
        Jack
        Participant

        To save money I think I am going to order 2 more A4988’s and run the Morgan in lower resolution while I wait for the CoolSteps to arrive in the mail instead of paying for DHL shipping (R360). I can then reuse the pulled drivers in my future Lilian. I think I like this plan. =]

    • #3065
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Will work. Remember, my first Morgan worked with 200 step motors and 4988’s for quite some time. Installing Coolsteps will be as simple as doubling the M92 steps for the axis, and swapping two wires in the plug to the RAMPS (coolsteps drive the other way)

      Let’s get that machine running!

    • #3069
      Jack
      Participant

      Thanks for the warning! It looks like I should swap the outer two pins once the new drivers arrive. Hopefully I will be able to melt some plastic on Monday!!

    • #3077
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Great!

      Swap pins 1 and 2 (two pins on the same side). You will otherwise see nothing happening, or some Morgan epileptics

    • #3109
      Jack
      Participant

      Dang, I was so sure I had that one.
      A4988 CoolSteps
      2B 1B
      2A 2B
      1A 1A
      1B 2A

      I was thinking swapping 1 and 4 would give me
      2A
      2B
      1A
      1B

      Where it would really give me:
      1B
      2A
      1A
      2B

      Where swapping 1 and 2 would give me:
      2A
      2B
      1A
      1B

      Thanks again =]

    • #3117
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      If you don’t have keyed connectors, you can also simply turn the plug around… Food for thought

    • #3225
      Jack
      Participant

      The replacement drivers arrived. I installed them just fine but while I was setting their output voltage/current there was a fizz noise and everything stopped working. It took me quite a while to determine that the 5v regulator on the arduino clone had fried. I am powering it via the usb port for now. Onward!

      All of the motors turn, all of the endstops work and I can home the bed and the arms. I had to reverse the connector for the X and Y connectors but Z was correct. All of the motors were wired red, blue, green, black from http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4

      I am having a problem with the MANUAL_*_HOME_POS. No matter what numbers I put in there the arms home to the same location. Once it is in place I can not jog in any direction. Z will go up and down at my direction.

      I thought I would go ahead and move on to calibration anyway. I was able to jog around once I started to calibrate theta. I was not sure what to put after M206.

      Anyhoo…It is alive!! It runs!! Wahoo!!!!!

    • #3229
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Manual home position settings are a way to tell the firmware where home is, rather than you telling it where you want it. Home is always tied to the position of your hall effect sensors and the magnets.

      You must enter the position of the homing on your machine relative to the bed zero point. This helps the maths figure out where the arms are before it can work out where it needs to go for the calibration positions.

      Good to hear it is finally moving.
      Sorry to hear about the clone 5v. Sometimes the makers of these clones opt for the lower current regulators (0,8A) which is enough for most projects, but tend to be a bit under spec for RAMPS.

    • #3233
      Jack
      Participant

      For some reason I totally had that backwards. I will tell it how far away it is from the bed and try again.

      I was so pleased when I found the fried component. I was looking on the RAMPS board and everything I tested seemed fine. It was convenient having RAMPS power the Arduino so I may replace the regulator. Then again I am going to have to come up with 5V for the raspberry pi at some point so I may not. =]

      This is so wonderful!!

    • #3237
      hoff70
      Participant

      I cooked the VR on a mega during another build. Can’t remember how I did it…

      I replaced it with a regular 7805 regulator bodged in place of the SMT component. It’s been running like that for a couple of years!

    • #3249
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      It happens too easily.

      I have one board that needs fixing soon…

    • #3361
      Jack
      Participant

      Z-axis problems.
      My first problem was the coupler. I was not able to get any tool inside the holes for the captive nuts. I ordered a metal flexible coupler.
      My next problem was that the hole for the Z motor did not go far enough back. I believe I have one of those over-sized Z brackets. The bracket is wider than the top and bottom Z mounts. I had to cut the top and bottom mounts into 3 pieces.
      The flexible coupler would stretch and then spring shut. I asked my boss if he would print another plastic one for me. He said he could make a metal one on his lathe quicker.
      Now I have an inflexible coupler and the Z-axis is straight (after expanding the holes for the motor). The motor skips a lot of steps at the top. It looks like I have the rods too close together at the top. I spaced one *slightly* farther away and now I can move the Z easily all the way to the top.
      I can not get the Z-axis to work reliably. After bed leveling if I try to print the Z does not start 0.3mm from the print head. It is more like 4mm. If I pause the print and recalibrate Z with an m206 I can get the printhead right next to the bed. Once it starts to print the head dances over the bed 2 or 3 mm away.
      With the motors unpowered I can easily move the bed up and down so I do not think there is just too much friction. I am not sure what to look at next.

    • #3373
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Z problems can be any of the following:
      1. Smooth rod not parallel to the copper pipe.
      2. Drill bit not parallel to the copper pipe
      3. Lead screw nuts not loose enough
      4. Top nut not deep enough into the z bracket, bumping at the top.

      For point two, moving the motor to the back does help. I changed the platform dxf recently to help with that.

      Hope it helps

    • #3377
      Jack
      Participant

      Wow. Thank you for that. I was thinking something along the lines of a counterweight (suggested to me) or higher voltage or slower speed or fewer steps in the motor driver. Instead you tell me that if I build it right it will work ;]

      The smooth rod was really close according to some calipers so I think it was ok. The lead screw nuts were a bit tight. The drill bit was not parallel. I mean it looked ok but the calipers told a different story.

      I took care of 2 and 3 and it does not appear to be skipping steps. It hits the mark each time and it does not make clicking noises when I move it around. It is too late to print tonight but I am really hopeful that I will print the calibration phantom tomorrow.

      Thank you so so much for everything =]

    • #3381
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Excellent! You are so close now…

    • #3581
      Jack
      Participant

      Still no closer. I ordered some heat sinks hoping that the pausing was caused by the drivers going to sleep. I was told that since I have barely warm to the touch motors that the drivers were probably not overheating. At any rate I now have heat sinks on the drivers as well as a fan and I get the same results.

      I am trying to calibrate Z. I was issuing this command:
      G1 X100 Y100 Z100 F10000

      I dropped the speed to 5000, then 1000. At 10000 the motor just makes noise and there is no movement. At 5000 sometimes it moves and sometimes it just makes a terrible noise. At 1000 it moves each time.

      It always goes up for 20 or 30 mm and then stops, goes down for a bit and then continues climbing. I am pretty sure this is the part where the Z axis gets messed up. It drops a different amount at the pause and so the bed never ends up at the same height twice.

      The voltage was at 0.6. I raised it to 0.74 just to see if it needed just a bit more. Same results. The power supply is putting out 13.77 volts (it is set for charging 12 volt batteries) and does not waver when the motors are moving.

      The X and Y also pause at the same time when Z pauses for a moment.

    • #3585
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      I think it may be related to the maximum speed of the z drive. If you drop that down you should be able to calibrate.

    • #3589
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Dump the output of M503 here…

    • #3601
      Steve
      Participant

      Quentin,

      Still have problems here. Recvd new motor driver chips, so maybe still hope.

      These “speed” parameters you and Jack discuss – are these the %_ACCELERATION_% params ?

      Would like to be able to follow the remedies discussed, need full disclosure of comments. May need to execute for myself on my build.

    • #3669
      Jack
      Participant

      SENDING:M503
      echo:Steps per unit:
      echo: M92 X210.95 Y210.95 Z104.00 E450.00
      echo:Scaling factors:
      echo: M365 X1.00 Y1.00 Z1.00
      echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
      echo: M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
      echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
      echo: M201 X400 Y400 Z400 E8000
      echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
      echo: M204 S9000.00 T3000.00
      echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum xY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s)
      echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X10.00 Z10.00 E5.00
      echo:Home offset (mm):
      echo: M206 X-4.64 Y0.00 Z10.00
      echo:PID settings:
      echo: M301 P16.37 I1.36 D49.36

      I will try your acceleration values and see how that goes!

      hfisselier: I will see what I can find out. The seller I bought from did not make the parts. I do not know where they got them. I do want to know. The parts are very colorful and people ask me about them.

    • #3733
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Progress?

    • #3841
      Jack
      Participant

      I was out of town for a week and then again this past weekend. That really slowed me down. It looks like the 400 step motor has half the torque of a comparable 200 step motor. I have a borrowed 200 step motor. I am going to see if I can either slow everything down enough to use the 400 step motor or buy a 200 step motor to replace the borrowed one.

    • #4049
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      Try to limit the Z speed to 100, or 50. It never moves that fast during a print

    • #4177
      Jack
      Participant

      m203 z50
      m370
      m371 (platform zooms faster than motor can handle)

      It looks like m371 has a set speed that is not controlled by the max speed set in m203. Is there another command that I am missing where I set the speed that the firmware will not go faster than?

    • #4181
      Jack
      Participant

      Looking at Marlin_main.cpp (line 1972) the feedrate is hardcoded to 10000. I am going to lower that and update the firmware.

    • #4185
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      That feedrate is not set in stone. It will use the max feedrate, limited by the soft feedrate.

      I’ll take a look at making it better…

      Thanks

    • #4197
      Jack
      Participant

      Even going down to 1/4 stepping the 400 step motor had problems consistently lifting the bed. I used a borrowed 200 step motor and printed my first object.

      I had some problems with the first layer sticking. I ordered a power supply and they never shipped it (got a refund) so the heated bed is not powered.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqws5nps084g2ut/2014-06-01%2014.24.56.jpg
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/twi4iyzegsibcpv/2014-06-01%2014.35.10.jpg

      I removed a glop that was causing problems with the left side of the X leg.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2069pmqzfls3j3/2014-06-01%2014.38.10.jpg

      I let the print continue. I was going to get whatever I was going to get from my first print, even if it was just a ball of tiny threads.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/h2f2ol53z0ejsd5/2014-06-01%2014.52.36.jpg
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0p9z7svbpz18hn/2014-06-01%2015.02.14.jpg
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/gto7s4z9gjbtxek/2014-06-01%2015.06.52.jpg

      When the filament retracts it seems like it does not advance as far as it retreated. When it starts printing again there is a good bit of distance before plastic comes out of the nozzle again. Because of that I did not get any of the lettering on the top and very little of the top of the bottom right leg of the theta leg was printed.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/ezobw8340q5kzlh/2014-06-01%2015.07.35.jpg

      This is wonderfully exciting!!!

    • #4245
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      I agree.

      Extruder action is a bit of black magic sometimes. Is the filament slipping, or the motor skipping steps?

      If it is the latter, check your max E acceleration. Default is 10000 (I think) – you can set it down to 800 without major problems.

    • #4265
      Jack
      Participant

      I can’t tell. When the bed was trying to zoom up and then stopped moving and the motor just went click click click, it was really obvious to me that the motor was skipping those steps ;]

      With the extruder the outside gear spins one way and then the other. *shrug* This is another one of those 400 step motors. I bought 4 of them. I will reduce the stepping on the driver and slow it down a little and see if that makes a difference.

      I had the 400 step motor running at 1/4 steps for the Z axis. Even running at 300 mm/min it was skipping steps. When I swapped to the 200 step motor I changed the driver to 1/8 so I could test without changing the steps/mm. It worked. I was able to get through the bed level calibration without an obvious click without movement. I need to see if it will run ok at 1/16.

      I have not installed the 32 step drivers for the arms. I wanted to leave the wiring compatible with other units when I was having problems moving the bed. Since I have a configuration where it works (and just needs tweaking) I might as well make that swap.

      I am still using the 12v battery charger (no heated bed). I ordered one of those Dell DA-2 D220P-01 laptop chargers for $10. I am hoping to be able to power the heated bed soon =]

      So my todo list:
      Change Z to 1/16 and see if it still works.
      Change Psi and Theta to 1/32 and rewire for new driver.
      Drop extruder to 1/8 stepping? These 400 step motors have very little torque.

      Hmm I thought the 400 step motors were close to half the torque of the 200 step motors. Unless I am doing the math wrong they are pretty close. 48N.cm vs 54N.cm (Yes I know that is before the stepper driver drops it down).

      https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10846
      Kysan 1124090 Nema 17 Stepper Motor

      It would be great to get out of calibration and maybe print a spool holder this week =]

      Thanks for all of the hand holding. I really appreciate it. I have never done a project quite like this and I have been getting help from several people =]

      Oh! hoff70, Yes that it an E3D V5 and yes the fan stays on when the printing is finished. I have been leaving the fan powered until the hotend reaches room temperature. Knowing it is safe at 50C is good to know. Thanks =]

    • #4293
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      You may be right on the stepper motor on the extruder and Z. A machine I built recently also had issues…

      Will let you know.

    • #3605
      Quentin Harley
      Keymaster

      This is my M503

      Send: M503
      Recv: echo:Steps per unit:
      Recv: echo: M92 X424.76 Y428.83 Z208.67 E450.00
      Recv: echo:Scaling factors:
      Recv: echo: M365 X1.00 Y1.00 Z1.00
      Recv: echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
      Recv: echo: M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
      Recv: echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
      Recv: echo: M201 X250 Y250 Z250 E8000
      Recv: echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
      Recv: echo: M204 S9000.00 T3000.00
      Recv: echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum xY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s)
      Recv: echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X10.00 Z10.00 E5.00
      Recv: echo:Home offset (mm):
      Recv: echo: M206 X2.48 Y1.63 Z-7.40
      Recv: echo:PID settings:
      Recv: echo: M301 P22.20 I1.08 D114.00
      Recv: ok

      Speed is a function of maximum feedrate (maximum steps per second) and Acceleration (how fast it gets to that maximum speed.

      If you use the drill bit I would recommend using:
      M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
      M201 X250 Y250 Z250 E8000

      If you use threaded rod, use this in stead
      M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z50.00 E45.00
      M201 X250 Y250 Z50 E8000

    • #3993
      Jack
      Participant

      If you use the drill bit I would recommend using:
      M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
      M201 X250 Y250 Z250 E8000

      It seems that the Z moves ok at those speeds but when I issue M371 the Z seems to move much faster. Is there a way to slow it down during calibration?

    • #4205
      hoff70
      Participant

      Congrats on printing!

      Is that an E3D V5? I haven’t fired mine up yet but a friend who has one says to keep the fan running all the time and to keep it on post-print until the temp reaches about 50C.

      Keep at it and you’ll be printing cool stuff in no time \o/

      It sounds as if you need to fiddle with your E steps and retraction a bit.

    • #4349
      Jack
      Participant

      I apologize in advance for the photos. I thought they were ok when I took them. The flash washed out everything white.

      Since my first power supply never arrived (20A LED driver for $20) I needed to order another one. I had a power supply recommended to me and I am really happy with it so far. I bought one of those Dell DA-2 D220P-01 supplies. It is rated for 18A at 12V and cost me $10 (including shipping).

      This link explains the pinout.
      http://azsurplus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2341

      If you do not mind some ASCII art:

       _,,_
      |5678|
      |1234|
       ‾‾‾‾

      6, 7, 8 = ground
      2, 3, 4 = 12V
      5 = on/off
      1 = unconnected
      Short 5 to ground (and keep it grounded) to turn on. Open the connection to switch off (standby).

      It has an arrangement of square and angled connectors that fit in certain sections of an ATX power connector.
      http://www.powerstream.com/ac-12180.htm

      I desoldered one of those connectors off an old motherboard and then cut a section that the supply could mate with.

      I took the power switch from a dead power supply, a 4 pin peripheral connector (I used one that provided power for a cpu fan so that the connectors would mate), and desoldered a fan connector.
      Again – sorry about the washed out photos.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/6x0ucf4kbmkxn95/2014-06-04%2022.35.36.jpg
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/vv5faxmuxota5by/2014-06-04%2022.35.46.jpg

      I stripped and tinned the other side of the 4 pin connector to connect to the RAMPS board. I also connected the heated bed for the first time!!
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k74u79cxwkrfc9/2014-06-04%2022.36.12.jpg

      I attached the piece of ATX power connector and the power switch with some double sided foam tape.
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bdnpcv1p05w5md/2014-06-04%2022.57.14.jpg
      https://www.dropbox.com/s/l2icq98jtvxtq6u/2014-06-04%2022.57.36.jpg

      I now have a power switch!! I can use a 4 pin PC Y adapter if I need to split the power to something else. The soldered on fan connector that goes off to the right is connected to the E3D.

      My original plan was to cut the cord from the supply and run the wires around but I am really happy with this setup.

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