Smoothie M2

The place to discuss your hardware and software/firmware modifications...
Post Reply
User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by innkeeper » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:50 pm

Got the board today ... looks pretty easy to connect. Waiting on the 24v ps and hbp .. with any luck it will arrive tomorrow.
image1a.JPG
image1a.JPG (231.43 KiB) Viewed 10065 times
image2a.JPG
image2a.JPG (249.14 KiB) Viewed 10065 times
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
jimc
Posts: 2888
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:30 pm
Location: mullica, nj
Contact:

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by jimc » Fri Jul 03, 2015 3:33 am

it is a very nice looking piece

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by Tim » Fri Jul 03, 2015 4:44 am

Yes, nice looking, but quite a different layout from the one I have. It looks much longer front to back, for one thing. It's definitely not going to fit the enclosure I designed.

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by Tim » Fri Jul 03, 2015 5:01 am

innkeeper wrote:I noticed Tim has all current settings to 1.5A - seems like those were the default values and a bit high for at least the extruder.
Tim, was this intentional?
. . .
it would seem .9a is a safe value. (90%) 1.5A seems high unless i am mis-understanding somthing.
No, it was not intentional. Just missed that setting completely. Wasn't thinking about it, really. And I'm not even sure what practical difference it makes. I don't notice any particular difference to the operation of the stepper motors. They run about the same as they did under Marlin, and are running at about the same temperature. They don't show any obvious sign of being over-driven. However, it makes sense to have them set appropriately for the M2 stepper motors, not set to a generic default. Thanks for pointing it out.

User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by innkeeper » Fri Jul 03, 2015 7:40 am

I hit my first snags with this board.
On the wire to board connectors pin depth is about 1/2 as high that of the Rambo. I'm not very comfortable with the amount of connection i am getting when using the existing plugs..

What I may to do is remove the ones off the Rambo board and put them on this board.

EDIT: pulling off the white plastic surrounding the pins makes them the right length... and is a pretty easy fix.

Second issue is noting major. there is only one fan connector. Since the case / stepper fans run all the time anyway, i'll wire them straight to 24v.
i could possibly use the unused second hotend mosfet, but seems like a waste. plus id like to leave open the possibility to add a second hotend.
Last edited by innkeeper on Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by innkeeper » Fri Jul 03, 2015 7:46 am

Tim wrote:Yes, nice looking, but quite a different layout from the one I have. It looks much longer front to back, for one thing. It's definitely not going to fit the enclosure I designed.

it is definitely a different footprint. i've got it mounted inside the old case, but with the back removed with some insulation under the overhanging part.
I'll have to see about tackling a case design once i get it running.
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by innkeeper » Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:41 am

Update: got everything hooked up did some test prints. everything works as expected.
took a little extra time to revert the m2 back to its original state. but electrically, its almost a direct drop in.
only variations from the rambo to the sbase were, needing to reverse the Y axis connector and
the fan needed to be connected to the e1 connector (that is likely a mis print on the board as the config file is defaulted to use that pin as fan)
(i'll post photos on the connections)

print quality was ok, but not exceptional - a lot of dimpling... i'll work on that after i get the stepper currents figured out....
Also i am not running the latest firmware.
everything seems runs soother and quieter . .. but that was kind of expected.

oh and wow.... i actually finished prints.... guess that confirms the rambo board i had was actually bad.

I started to do some speed testing on the steppers, and noticed i started skipping steps on the extruder way before i expected it to.
So i went back and did the reverse math on the current setting in the rambo's firmware.........
regardless of what it says in the comments of the firmware, the stepper currents much higher then the comments indicate.

VRef = ITripMAX * 0.8
Wv = (VRef / 1.66) * 255
so
ITripMAX = (Wv/255)*1.66 / 0.8

#define DIGIPOT_MOTOR_CURRENT
#define X_CURRENT 135 = 1.1A [ (135/255) * 1.66 / 0.8 = 1.0985 ]
#define Y_CURRENT 135 = 1.1A
#define Z_CURRENT 135 = 1.1A
#define E0_CURRENT 165 = 1.34
(Please correct me if my math is off)

i was doing digging on steeper info.. seems ehteres none here and no one replied on the steper models...

Finding a website by edninsly (hi ed if you read this) ... he has a lot of interesting and good information on his site...
Among the information was a note where he upped his servo currents to 1.5a, all except the z access .. where was lowered to .6
http://softsolder.com/2013/04/12/makerg ... ion-tweak/

So with that in mind.... i am going to set my current settings to 1.5 for the extruder. and 1.1 for the steppers - perhaps higher if the speed dictates... (nice to not have to recompile to do these tests).
I don't see the need for pushing the Z Axis current util i play with auto leveling so i will leave that at .7 for now.. it gets hot enough... and i don't plan to be looking for higher z Axis speeds
If i do play with auto leveling i would consider doing what ed did as well which is upgrade the Z servo before upping the current.

I may push the x and y current higher if i can get them to skip also, but.. so far i haven't even at .75 a.
That might be due to a speed limit set in the config i need up increase..

I'll also eventually test 1/32 stepping... used it just real quick to see if it works, and it does...but no prints yet using 1/32

that;s it for now....on with the testing....

(edit: minor spell checks)
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by innkeeper » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:05 am

i did the same ring test print at .3 layer height with abs, just to see if i would similar results to tim, and i did using the latest firmware.
like tim, to even see the ringing i had to get a good reflection.
it looks bad but it really isn't. without a direct reflection, you cant see it.
print-x.jpg
x axis
print-x.jpg (110.41 KiB) Viewed 9981 times
print-y.jpg
y axis
print-y.jpg (113.28 KiB) Viewed 9981 times
i tried 1/32 micro stepping, but got a lot of jittering with the movement. the distance traveled is correct ... so i am assuming it is within the micro steps it would jump.
i've gone back to 1/16 and it is fine..i'm wondering if being off on the current could be causing that.
i really wish i knew what steppers they used in the m2.

my very first test print was at very small abs print at .1 layer height and came out great, ... it was actually a project for a client i was going to print on another printer, but figured why not give it a try since i was testing this printer anyway. it was good enough to hand off as is.

now i need to make up a case for the electronics. and play with the network interface.
i'm very pleased with the sbase board. it seems to do what it needs to, and much cheaper then the real thing.

i'll likely do some dimensional test to be sure things are accurate, and fine tune accordingly if needed.

i do have a glcd on its way, so i'll report how that connects, but supposedly it plug n play to the sbase board (with a config file change) we will see.

Thanks Tim for posting your config file, that was a quick leg up in getting the board running!! The only changes i made were to the current settings.
i'll post my config if anyone is interested.
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
innkeeper
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:56 am
Location: New Windsor, NY

Re: Smoothie M2 - SBASE - GLCD - WEB and Telnet

Post by innkeeper » Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:10 am

OK, so I got the 12864 graphic smart controller working - (connectors were reversed pin 10 is 1 so had to file off the tab to reverse them)
also got it on the network, and successfully accessed it via web and via telnet.
see pics:
I didn't take pictures of all the menus. the settings and controls are quite extensive.
I'm still playing with them all.
image0-800.jpg
image0-800.jpg (159.67 KiB) Viewed 9967 times
image (1)-800.jpg
image (1)-800.jpg (183.17 KiB) Viewed 9967 times
b10198324d679e4cb09a6bf0dc3f1958-800png.png
b10198324d679e4cb09a6bf0dc3f1958-800png.png (161.02 KiB) Viewed 9967 times
b3b67dfa6573f166a1d6f0d1c12076ff.png
b3b67dfa6573f166a1d6f0d1c12076ff.png (22.7 KiB) Viewed 9967 times
M2 - MKS SBase w Smoothieware, GLCD, 24v, Upg Z & extruder stepper - IR bed leveling, Astrosyn dampers X/Y/Z, MIC 6, Zebra, PEI, & glass Build Plates - E3D, V3B Hotends, & more - many other 3d printers - production printing.

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: Smoothie M2

Post by Tim » Fri Jul 10, 2015 4:36 am

So that's what the web interface looks like. It's got a sort of embedded pronterface. . . interesting. I haven't got that working yet, but then I haven't tried too hard. I intend to look into what's really going on with stepper motor currents, but won't be able to get to it until sometime after next Tuesday. I am moving in August, which will put a damper on 3D printer activities. . .

Post Reply