Firmware Upgrade for ABL

[Lou111]

Hello.

I am fairly new to the printer and 3D Printing. I upgraded my I3 Pro B with the 3D Touch ABL Sensor. The Hardware conversion was not a Problem and when I connect the Board to USB, the Sensor also does it's self test.

Now I wanted to upgrade the Firmware, so I downloaded the Arduino 1.8.13 Software as well as the Original Firmware as stated in the 3D Touch Installation manual. I also downoaded the 3D Touch Firmware from the same page.

Whe I open the Marlin.ino and run a Verify/Compile I get a whole bunch of warnings mostly related to redifined Pins. But then it stops compiling with Exit Status 1 and then the Message "using typedef-name 'fpos_t' after 'struct'".

As I never used Arduino before, I am pretty helpless where to go from here. Any tips or hints would be welcome.
I Could also post the complete output but it seems to be very long. I suspect that the firmware I downloaded is not compatible with the newest Arduino Software.

Thank you for your help
Juergen

[jonsag]

Check my post at
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=71932

Alos read the document in my repo:
https://github.com/jonsag/Marlin-3D-Pri ... Pro%20B.md

I've successfully compiled Marlin 2.0.7.2 on Arduino IDE 1.8.13

You don't mention what firmware you're trying to compile, but I seem to remember when I compiled the old(!) firmware from geeetech website you must compile it on Arduino IDE 1.0.x. It will fail on newer versions.

But really, you should go with a new custom Marlin instead!

Good luck
/jon

Edit:
My bad. You did mention what firmware you are using. Dl the older IDE as mentioned above.

[Lou111]

Hello.

Yes you are quite right. I was trying to compile an older version of the firmware.
Now I downloaded the newest version of the marlin firmware and did a test compile and it worked.

I now have to make the changes you mentioned on your github page and hope it will work.

I downloaded all the old versions of the Arduino IDE but non of them worked on my Computer because I am running a mac with Catalina.

I hope I can do the changes next week, but the time before Christmas is so busy.

Thank you for your help

Juergen

[jonsag]

If you clone my repo and use the 2.0.7.2 firmware, all you have to change is two lines.

If you have the original Z-screws comment out line 744 like so:
//#define PRO_B_WITH_LEADSCREW

Change line 997 to match your bltouch offsets
Check the comments in the lines above this.

After this your printer should work.
Look over the rest of the changes if you like to tweak it further.

/jon

[Lou111]

Hello.

After a little bit more research, I found that I have the A+ board with the T8 Z-Axis. I downloaded your repository and compiled it without applying any changes, because I wanted to test just the Z-Axis before I calculate the offsets. Compilation and Upload were successful and after 10 to 20 seconds the display went blank and came back with Marlin 2.0.7.2, so I assume the Upload was successful.
Then I started Cura and manually moved up the Z-Axis by 1mm, but it seem it is moving much more. Same when I move it using the display. So I commented all the IF statements out and and left only #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 81.5, 81.5, 400.69, 108 }. Compiled and uploaded it again, same result. Just for the sake of completing I tried the other values but no change X and Y Axis appear to be correct, but whatever I do it seems I always getting the settings for the M8 screw and not the T8 as long as I haven't fixed this problem I cant even test the rest.
As I was using an unatered clone of your repository I assume the problem must be somewhere else.

P.S. I just went into Configuration - Advanced - Steps/mm and found the Z Value set to 2560, so obviously the firmware is using the wrong values.

Juergen

[jonsag]

I think the Z-steps values are left on the eeprom from your previous firmware.

At first start after the upload of the new firmware you were presented with a question if to keep the old eeprom values or set new ones. Perhaps you answered with keeping the old?

Anyway, check your values, change them and save to eeprom.

Example:
Set steps for Z:

Code: Select all

M92 Z400.69

Write to eeprom

Code: Select all

M500

If you want to see all settings

Code: Select all

M503

However, I've disabled that command to save some space on prom, but this is really not necessary.
Enable it in configuration,h, compile and upload again, and it will be accessible.

Check out https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M092.html for more info

/jon

[Lou111]

Thank you for the G Code command.
I did set it manually with the jog wheel. Took a while, but it worked.

I have now set the X Y and Z offsets and it seems to work fine.

The only remaining problem I have now seems to be the heating. It seems to be less smooth at the Hotend as it used to be.
Bed heating seems to work ok. I set the Hotend to 210 degrees and it starts to heat up to 217-218 switches the heater off and then let it cool down to 204 and starts heating again. This repeats until I get a "E HEATING" in the LCD Display, which I assume means Error Heating.

Any Idea what could cause this and how to fix it?

Thanks

Juergen

[jonsag]

Probably you got a thermal runaway on the hotend.
The bed is (usually) a bang-bang regulator and seldom have any runaway problems.

Do some PID tuning as I explain in the Readme at https://github.com/jonsag/Marlin-3D-Pri ... Pro%20B.md

PID tuning
---------------
Start parts fan at 100% (This refers to your parts cooling fan if you got one. You can try both with and without this. Shut it down afterwards with M106 S0.)

Code: Select all

M106 S255

[...]
Send: M106 S255
Recv: ok
[...]

Start tuning (this will run eight times up and down, so it will take a while

Code: Select all

M303 E0 S205 C8

[...]
Recv: bias: 169 d: 85 min: 202.71 max: 207.81 Ku: 42.41 Tu: 27.20
Recv: Classic PID
Recv: Kp: 25.44 Ki: 1.87 Kd: 86.50
Recv: PID Autotune finished! Put the last Kp, Ki and Kd constants from below into Configuration.h
Recv: #define DEFAULT_Kp 25.44
Recv: #define DEFAULT_Ki 1.87
Recv: #define DEFAULT_Kd 86.50
Recv: ok
[...]

Enter new values (the ones you got above)

Code: Select all

M301 P25.44 I1.87 D86.50

[...]
Send: M301 P25.44 I1.87 D86.50
Recv: echo: p:25.44 i:1.87 d:86.50
Recv: ok
[...]

Save to EEPROM

Code: Select all

M500

[...]
Send: M500
Recv: echo:Settings Stored (657 bytes; crc 43001)
Recv: ok
[...]

This should sort it for you. If you're not happy with the result, run the tuning a few times to see if the PID constanst fluctuate.

Check https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M301.html for more info.

/jon

[Lou111]

Hello.

Thanks for the code.

I would love to try but there I have another problem.
I am using Cura and it is great to control the printer but it doesn't give me any output.
So I tried Repetier-Host which has output. I can connet to the printer but than it says unknown firmware at the bottom and at te top right "5 Commands waiting" And this shows forever.

Is there any other software for Mac Catalina where I can send commands to the printer and see the output?

Edit: I found Pronterface in a 64bit Version which works.
Edit2: I found the reason for the "5 commands waiting". There was a wrong Baud rate set, so the printer response was gibberish.

Thank You
Juergen

[jonsag]

Good you found software that works for you.
But the obvious solution is to use the serial monitor in Arduino IDE.

Myself I got a Raspberry Pi running Octoprint that can do everything you would like it to.
It makes things so much easier and flexible. It connects to your LAN, and handles all printing and communication.
I slice my models in PrusaSlicer and from there send it to Octoprint. Cura also have this function built in.
I have a webcam hooked up to the RPi so I can monitor my prints remotely, even when I'm not at home. Still I have to harvest the prints manually though...

Once you got yourself an RPi it's a real easy install. You should definetely check it out!

Cheers
/jon