Operation Instructions

#2
I am also looking for any operational documentation for the LCD, motor controller electronics, etc. The assembly manual kind of leaves us hanging.

Thanks,
Julia
 
#3
The basic idea is to download a control program, I prefer Repetier-Host http://www.repetier.com/download/

It can be a little intimidating at first, but there is a slic3r config file on the download tab of the gmax site, which can be loaded into Slic3r to make your life simple.

Repetier-Host uses Slic3r to 'slice' the models and produce gCode, which is then sent back to Repetier which then sends those commands to the printer in order to make the print.

The idea is to drag an STL file into Repetier. Go into the Slicer tab (this is where you can press configure to open the slic3r program, then File--> Load Config to use the config file downloaded from the gMax site). Press Slice, wait till G Code pops up (model will now be blue), and hit run job on the top, horizontal menu.

That's the basics behind running a job. With my Printrbot Plus, I've never had to use the LCD for anything other than reading stats off that instead of my computer. There are many people advising against printing from an SD card, so if you have an old laptop to dedicate as a "print server" (21st century meaning = 3D print server) that will be much better suited.

Let me know if there's anything else I can answer, I'm still in the process of putting my 'custom' gMax together.
 
#4
Thanks, raykholo. I understand the workflow of printing. What I'm looking for (unsuccessfully so far) is how to understand and adjust the myriad parameters available in the LCD menus, particularly those under the Adjust and Tune menus like this:



but really everything. As I poke around the web it's looking like those are all Marlin settings, but so far all I've been able to find are instructions as to how to configure Marlin for a particular printer but nothing about the LCD UI.

julia

EDIT: This page seems to 'splain a lot of the things that can be adjusted via the LCD:

http://www.repetier.com/documentation/repetier-firmware/rf-installation/

I'm not sure that it actually explains what everything is on the main info display but I guess that'll become clear in time...
 

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#5
Julia, is there something in particular you are looking to change, an issue you are looking to solve, or are you just trying to get better acquainted with your printer?

It seems like you've already realized this, but that article shows how you can change these settings in the firmware and upload the updated firmware to the Arduino. Only problem is that Gordon hasn't released his 'customized' Marlin file on the download site. You can try pulling it off the Arduino, but that's not worth the trouble, in my opinion.
 
#6
raykholo said:
Julia, is there something in particular you are looking to change, an issue you are looking to solve, or are you just trying to get better acquainted with your printer?

It seems like you've already realized this, but that article shows how you can change these settings in the firmware and upload the updated firmware to the Arduino. Only problem is that Gordon hasn't released his 'customized' Marlin file on the download site. You can try pulling it off the Arduino, but that's not worth the trouble, in my opinion.
A little of both. Familiarity so I can solve problems, and problems there are, yes. I'm not new to 3D printing (I have two Ups and a Zortrax), but I am new to reprap, so just getting my head around all these parameters.

I'm liking Repetier a lot, thanks for that recommendation. And so far it's the only one of the bunch that I've been able to get talking to the gMax from my MacBook, which is a big point in its favor :) I would like to get Creator working, though, for its great support control.

Regarding specific problems, I've been working with a 40mm test cube. For some reason Slic3r defaulted to "honeycomb" fill, which the gMax Y axis totally could not handle at the default settings no matter what I did with the stepper drive control pot. So I took some somewhat blind stabs and cut XYjerk down to 4, VmaxY down to 400, and AmaxY down to 1,000, and it worked! Better still with nice linear fill. I don't really need this thing to be a speed demon, I just need it to print with decent quality reliably.

The remaining issue I'm seeing is "ridges" up and down the vertical walls, which I think correspond with the cycle of 3 perimeters. I suspect that may have something to do with the "extrusion multiplier" but I'm guessing.



You're right, some of the parameters are discussed on the Repetier site, but I think not all of them. Maybe I have to dig into Sprinter/Marlin docs...

Also, right now I need to manually enter my modified parms with the encoder at the start of every print; I guess I need to upload a new config file to the printer to solve that?

Do you recommend abandoning Marlin altogether and installing the Repetier firmware?

Thanks for your help,
Julia
 

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#7
Repetier, as I meant it anyways, would be the program running on your computer, not the firmware. Stick with Marlin on the Arduino, at least until Gordon releases his custom Marlin on the download site so you can go back.

Repetier-Host (Mac version available) is what I prefer to run. For example, it would be an extremely quick change to go to rectlinear for infill instead of honeycomb.
 
#8
Yes, I'm using Repetier Host on your recommendation, and as I mentioned, liking it. Just wondering if it would make sense to use their firmware as well for better integration and feature support; for example, the direct upload to SD card, which I like and which is how I'm used to working with my Up/Afinias.
 
#9
That, I'm afraid I cannot comment on. I believe the Printrbot uses a slightly modified Marlin as well, and I've been content with that so far.

If you do decide to reprogram, please heed my advice about being able to go back to the customized Marlin. You can fire up AVR Studio, connect your Arduino board via ICSP to a programmer, and attempt to retrieve the program on there or ask Gordon to post the file. If you have success with that, btw, please send it my way, would be one less thing to worry about for my gMax clone build.
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

Administrator
Staff member
#10
I finally found a free minute ans saw these posts.

As for the Marlin firmware, our updates have included very minor changes to the config file to ensure the outputs work properly and I tweaked the steps per minute settings per our extruder setup. Other than the I tried to keep the program as original as possible for future upgrades. Most of our testing is in slicer as its much easier to experiment with changes per slice than having to upload new firmware.

Today we actually are experimenting with new slic3r settings pushing the gMax to 2x the original speed and its actually printing amazing well. See the attached screenshot for the settings. The key is to play with the acceleration and speed settings.

Julia, per your 'ridging' problem on the z-axis, I have literally spent hundreds of hours trying to solve this issue over the past year. I believe it s a hardware problem and not software since the slicer settings don't seem to affect it and its a very regular pattern. I fear the ACME threaded rod may be slightly bent causing the x-axis rails to 'wobble' as the z-asix lifts up but the ACME rod is only lifting the z-axis carriage and it shouldn't be moving the carriage in the x or y direction. I have tried:

-Loosen the z-axis carriage ACME spring/nut setup to alleviate unneeded pressure (little affect)
-Tighten any bolts pertaining to the z-axis movement (fixed the problem 40% to 60%)
-Ensure z-axis bearings are aligned to provide smooth movement (slight fix)
-Ensure the filament spool is loose which may cause unneeded strain as the extruder pulls filament inside (slight fix)

Two of our printers have perfect z-axis movement ans two produce slight ridges.

We will continue to work on it. As I tightened the z-axis bolts everywhere the wobble seemed to lessen. This includes the bolts holding the smooth rod in place and the screws on the extruder.

The smooth rod we purchase is very high quality and it doesn't appear to be bent at all so we know the rails should be fine.

Lastly, pertaining to your inquiry about an 'operation' manual for the LCD. We shot an operation video many months ago but we have been too swamped to edit it and add the narrative voice-over. As I mentioned, instead of tweaking the printer settings in the LCD, play with the slic3r settings since the LCD settings will lose their values when the printer is unplugged anyway. We hope to release an operation manual next which shows the basic settings to change during a print and what settins to tweak. Much of it is literally experimenting with settings as a print is happening.

Note: If you simply turn the LCD know during a print this will speed up or slow down your print in real time. Very useful!
 

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#11
Thanks, Gordon, I'm slowly getting the hang of this thing. I did see a dramatic improvement in wall ridging on my test cube just by backing off on the Y stepper drive.

Neither of my Acme screws is perfectly straight, they both have some wobble.

I also restricted XY Jerk to 5 or 10, not sure how much difference that made - have you played with that at all?

I had a problem with extruder stuttering on layers where it was trying to pump a lot of plastic, but I think I solved that by lowering Vmax X and Y and maybe acceleration. Hard to keep track of everything, especially when there are so many seemingly redundant places to enter values.

I'm really liking Simplify3D Creator as a slicer and machine controller (better support generation and visualization than Repetier/slic3r), but developing a complete profile for the gMax is going to take some time and effort.
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

Administrator
Staff member
#12
Thanks Julia,

It's worth noting that many of these settings are already defined in the firmware and changing them in the LCD screen or slicer doesn't have an affect. For an example, I've learned that I can set the slic3r speed to 1000mm/sec but that doesn't matter if the firmware restricts it to 100mm/sec (just an example as i forgot the exact numbers). Despite that, I've actually played much more with the slic3r settings than the LCD software settings so if you find any great tweaks in the LCD screen (which is basically the firmware settings) feel free to post them. What specifically are you looking to improve? Try the speed improvements I suggested as we've had good luck lately.

I can upload the firmware if you think it will help but honestly the changes are minimal to the original marlin firmware.

I've found the 3d model design has a HUGE impact on the print quality. I have a lot of experience in 3d modeling and the models I produce, which have clean high poly surfaces, print much better than many downloaded models. I've also found producing models which result in clean (2) wall thickness prints are much much cleaner than models with (2) walls plus garbage gap infill. On that note, I typically set "gap" speed to zero on models with thin walls. This dramatically speeds up print and produces finer results.

Keep playing and we will too. part of our problem of being a small startup is the lack of resources to experiment but we assure you all we want to do is experiment to get the best results too.
 
#13
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
Thanks Julia,

It's worth noting that many of these settings are already defined in the firmware and changing them in the LCD screen or slicer doesn't have an affect. For an example, I've learned that I can set the slic3r speed to 1000mm/sec but that doesn't matter if the firmware restricts it to 100mm/sec (just an example as i forgot the exact numbers). Despite that, I've actually played much more with the slic3r settings than the LCD software settings so if you find any great tweaks in the LCD screen (which is basically the firmware settings) feel free to post them. What specifically are you looking to improve? Try the speed improvements I suggested as we've had good luck lately.

I can upload the firmware if you think it will help but honestly the changes are minimal to the original marlin firmware.

I've found the 3d model design has a HUGE impact on the print quality. I have a lot of experience in 3d modeling and the models I produce, which have clean high poly surfaces, print much better than many downloaded models. I've also found producing models which result in clean (2) wall thickness prints are much much cleaner than models with (2) walls plus garbage gap infill. On that note, I typically set "gap" speed to zero on models with thin walls. This dramatically speeds up print and produces finer results.

Keep playing and we will too. part of our problem of being a small startup is the lack of resources to experiment but we assure you all we want to do is experiment to get the best results too.
Gordon, if you could upload your Marlin firmware, would be much appreciated.
 
#16
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
Thanks Julia,

It's worth noting that many of these settings are already defined in the firmware and changing them in the LCD screen or slicer doesn't have an affect.
Wow, now I'm totally confused. You mean when I put stuff (M commands) into the "Start Code" section of the G-Code editor in Repetier Host, it immediately gets overridden by the firmware?!? I thought the whole point of that feature was that those codes would override the firmware settings, as an alternative to using the EEPROM.

BTW, Gordon, it's really great to have you here active on the forums, I was beginning to feel very alone :)
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

Administrator
Staff member
#17
Unfortunately after working literally 100 hr weeks (at a job i love) the forums have not been my stomping ground but I hope to be here more often. I want to share what I've learned instead of filling bolt baggies every night. From my understanding the firmware rules im most situations. Part of the great benefit of having open source firmware is the community but the drawback is not having the intimate knowledge I need. I am a php/java programmer so i'm right there with you guys.

I've found that when I run a slic3r profile, yet the firmware has it's own values, the firmware rules. The firmware values are usually pretty extreme and they protect the electronics etc... I could be wrong but this is what I've seen. I just uploaded the firmware for those who want to experiment and feel free for anyone to prove me wrong and we're here to learn too.
 
#18
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
Thanks Julia,

It's worth noting that many of these settings are already defined in the firmware and changing them in the LCD screen or slicer doesn't have an affect. For an example, I've learned that I can set the slic3r speed to 1000mm/sec but that doesn't matter if the firmware restricts it to 100mm/sec (just an example as i forgot the exact numbers). Despite that, I've actually played much more with the slic3r settings than the LCD software settings so if you find any great tweaks in the LCD screen (which is basically the firmware settings) feel free to post them. What specifically are you looking to improve? Try the speed improvements I suggested as we've had good luck lately.

I can upload the firmware if you think it will help but honestly the changes are minimal to the original marlin firmware.

I've found the 3d model design has a HUGE impact on the print quality. I have a lot of experience in 3d modeling and the models I produce, which have clean high poly surfaces, print much better than many downloaded models. I've also found producing models which result in clean (2) wall thickness prints are much much cleaner than models with (2) walls plus garbage gap infill. On that note, I typically set "gap" speed to zero on models with thin walls. This dramatically speeds up print and produces finer results.

Keep playing and we will too. part of our problem of being a small startup is the lack of resources to experiment but we assure you all we want to do is experiment to get the best results too.
Hey Gordon, thanks for uploading the firmware! I was having issues with over extruding, but after I uploaded the firmware you posted, its extruding the exact amount.
Thanks!
 

GORDON.LAPLANTE

Administrator
Staff member
#19
cweed21 said:
GORDON.LAPLANTE said:
Thanks Julia,

It's worth noting that many of these settings are already defined in the firmware and changing them in the LCD screen or slicer doesn't have an affect. For an example, I've learned that I can set the slic3r speed to 1000mm/sec but that doesn't matter if the firmware restricts it to 100mm/sec (just an example as i forgot the exact numbers). Despite that, I've actually played much more with the slic3r settings than the LCD software settings so if you find any great tweaks in the LCD screen (which is basically the firmware settings) feel free to post them. What specifically are you looking to improve? Try the speed improvements I suggested as we've had good luck lately.

I can upload the firmware if you think it will help but honestly the changes are minimal to the original marlin firmware.

I've found the 3d model design has a HUGE impact on the print quality. I have a lot of experience in 3d modeling and the models I produce, which have clean high poly surfaces, print much better than many downloaded models. I've also found producing models which result in clean (2) wall thickness prints are much much cleaner than models with (2) walls plus garbage gap infill. On that note, I typically set "gap" speed to zero on models with thin walls. This dramatically speeds up print and produces finer results.

Keep playing and we will too. part of our problem of being a small startup is the lack of resources to experiment but we assure you all we want to do is experiment to get the best results too.
Hey Gordon, thanks for uploading the firmware! I was having issues with over extruding, but after I uploaded the firmware you posted, its extruding the exact amount.
Thanks!
Great. We've changed the firmware between November and December kickstarter orders and a few people may have seen issues. I take it installing the firmware was fairly straightforward?

For anyone else with over/under extrusion problems, try changing the slic3r extrusion rate (under the filament settings tab) from 1.05 to 0.85 or vice versa.
 
#20
Hi G,

That config worked! Printing is really close I printed at 225C and it looks to be a bit hot. I will do some more testing. I had a little curling on the base. Might be the room temp. I will try it with room temp at 72 and turn the printer temp down to 220C and see.

THANK YOU SIR! FINALLY SOMETHING THAT IS REALLY CLOSE!!! :) :) :) :) :)