Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

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loiphin
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway

Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by loiphin » Tue Jul 28, 2015 7:08 pm

Hi all,

Had my M2 for a couple of weeks and was wondering if it's worth upgrading from the stock Marlin (1.0.0RC2) firmware to the latest prod release, 1.0.2?

Is it just a matter of updating the newer code with the info from the Makergear wiki? (see bottom of post)

I am still very much a newb to 3D printing, but one of the issues I recently had was a print failed halfway (I believe PC went to sleep - school boy error) and the hot end stayed on all night long. Printer seems to still print okay, but I wonder if the hotend is now clogged?? So that got me thinking about thermal protection in firmware, hence the initial question about firmware upgrade.

Thanks,


loiphin.



Custom Gcode

M108 S* : Sets the PWM frequency of the filament drive and electronics case fans manually. They are set to 155 at boot, but can be controlled manually at anytime by sending M108 S*, where * is a number from 0-255. 155/255=.607~=60% of the MOSFET supply voltage, with M2 that is 19.5V. So .607*19.5=11.83V, very near the 12V rating of the 40mm and 50mm fans that are included with M2. This is a simplistic explanation of PWM speed control, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation has much more detail and precision.

M2 printers with the 24V power supply have their two 40mm fans (electronics case and extruder) connected in parallel, and are set to power them at PWM 255 when the printer starts up.

Custom configuration options in Configuration.h

In the motherboard definition list, RAMBo is called Ardurap, and has motherboard code "301".

Below are the added options for setting stepper motor current in software. Currently, it is necessary to modify Configuration.h and upload the firmware to RAMBo, to change these values. However, the values already in the firmware will work fine for most situations.

Your stepper motors WILL get hot during normal operation, but the fact that they are all bolted to a large heatsink keeps them safe. If, however, you feel that any of them are getting too hot for your preference, change the value in Configuration.h and reupload.

// Motor Current setting (Only functional when motor current pins are connected to digipot)
// Values 0-255
// RAMBO 135 = ~0.75A, 185 = ~1A
#define DIGIPOT_MOTOR_CURRENT
#define X_CURRENT 135
#define Y_CURRENT 135
#define Z_CURRENT 135
#define E0_CURRENT 165 //For MakerGear M2, 165 is a good starting point (~1A)
#define E1_CURRENT 125
Stock Configuration.h values

Below are the standard values for the mechanical settings for M2. By changing these (either in the firmware and reuploading, or via Gcode), you can tweak the way M2 moves, to optimize it for your specific printing environment. For instance, if you have M2 on a table that is less than stable, you can drop the DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION values for X and Y, and the DEFAULT_ACCELERATION in general, so that all moves will accelerate and decelerate more gently.

If you would like the axes to home faster, change the HOMING_FEEDRATE for that axis - they are in mm/min, entered as a value A*60, where A is the desired speed in mm/sec, and *60 corrects that to mm/min for the firmware. X and Y are stock at 50mm/sec, and Z is at 4mm/sec. Taking those up to 70mm/sec and 10mm/sec will get all axes to 0, no matter where they are, in 3 seconds for X, 4 seconds for Y, and 20 seconds for Z. They will also make much scarier noises if the endstop does not engage, so please only change these values once you have all endstops installed correctly, and they are tested good.

//// MOVEMENT SETTINGS
#define NUM_AXIS 4 // The axis order in all axis related arrays is X, Y, Z, E
#define HOMING_FEEDRATE {50*60, 50*60, 4*60, 0} // set the homing speeds (mm/min)

// default settings

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {88.88/2,88.88/2,400/2,471.5/2} // default steps per unit
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE {500, 500, 250, 200000} // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {9000,9000,30,10000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.

#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for r retracts

//
#define DEFAULT_XYJERK 20.0 // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_ZJERK 0.4 // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_EJERK 5.0 // (mm/sec)
Configuration_adv.h

There is only one setting in Configuration_adv.h that is likely to be of interest, and that is:

#define DEFAULT_STEPPER_DEACTIVE_TIME 60

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insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by insta » Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:13 pm

loiphin wrote:Hi all,

Had my M2 for a couple of weeks and was wondering if it's worth upgrading from the stock Marlin (1.0.0RC2) firmware to the latest prod release, 1.0.2?

Is it just a matter of updating the newer code with the info from the Makergear wiki? (see bottom of post)

I am still very much a newb to 3D printing, but one of the issues I recently had was a print failed halfway (I believe PC went to sleep - school boy error) and the hot end stayed on all night long. Printer seems to still print okay, but I wonder if the hotend is now clogged?? So that got me thinking about thermal protection in firmware, hence the initial question about firmware upgrade.

If you were at normal temperatures (190-240C) the plastic in the nozzle itself is ruined, but the hotend will recover with some cold-pulls. Season it with boiled linseed oil and continue using it.

That firmware is applicable to the dual-supply M2. I assume you have a 24v machine (single brick) with the V3b (black plastic) hotend. I'd stick with the firmware on the machine unless you have a reason to change it.
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

loiphin
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by loiphin » Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:41 pm

If you were at normal temperatures (190-240C) the plastic in the nozzle itself is ruined, but the hotend will recover with some cold-pulls. Season it with boiled linseed oil and continue using it.

That firmware is applicable to the dual-supply M2. I assume you have a 24v machine (single brick) with the V3b (black plastic) hotend. I'd stick with the firmware on the machine unless you have a reason to change it.
Thanks insta. I will stick with the original fw for now. I was printing red PLA and after been on all night I noticed a few beads of PLA which had turned almost transparent.

I have ordered some 618 Nylon so will try some cold pulls with that and see if I can clean up the hot end without disassembly.

loiphin.

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by insta » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:08 am

Definitely print from SD from now on though -- you have an SD reader on the M2. SD printing isn't hard, just make sure you yank the USB cable after printing starts (especially if using Simplify3D -- it has very aggressive reconnect logic that will stop even an SD card print midway through).
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

loiphin
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by loiphin » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:28 pm

I was planning on going the Octoprint route with a RPi 2. What I dislike about the SD card printing is that the upload times suck on 115k baud :( So I figured Octoprint with S3D should be dandy... Any experience with this setup, and not uploading to SD?


loiphin.

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by insta » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:31 pm

loiphin wrote:I was planning on going the Octoprint route with a RPi 2. What I dislike about the SD card printing is that the upload times suck on 115k baud :( So I figured Octoprint with S3D should be dandy... Any experience with this setup, and not uploading to SD?


loiphin.
I use Octoprint, and I also use SD/Viki. Octoprint is definitely more convenient, but nothing is as reliable as an SD print straight from the machine.

Also, don't upload the file ... just pop the SD card into your machine (via USB adapter if need-be) and save it directly there.
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

loiphin
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:41 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: Should I upgrade to latest Marlin firmware?

Post by loiphin » Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:45 pm

Okay, I will use SD for any big jobs and Octoprint for the rest. Thanks for the input :))

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