1 Topic by pabloidiaz

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Topic: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Hello all!

I am new to this forum and also about a couple of months in to my first 3d printing experience with the Duo 2.0A. I hadn't done any prior research into the whole "not upgrading to new version" thing when I first set it up so my printer is currently on version 2.0.0 firmware while my software is on version 2.1.3.2.

I've been searching around for the past few hours online trying to find out how to get around the proprietary filament settings on this printer and so far I see only one viable option; XYZEROCART. (http://www.wctek.com/shop/home/28-xyzerocart.html).
To use this, I would almost certainly have to downgrade my XYZ software as well as my Duo itself. The problem I am having is that all the info I find online mostly shows you ways to do it for the 1.0's, and not the Duo 2.0's.

Has anyone had success in downgrading firmware to use XYZEROCART? If not by using that, has there been any other way to achieve control of bed temps/extruder temps/ and cartridge bypass?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, more than you know!

2 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

You could also flash to Repetier firmware and be free to do whatever you want.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

3 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Thanks for your reply!

Is there any writeups you know of that explain how to do that? Have you done that?

4 Reply by Dominick

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

I have done it to my 2.0 without any problems.

Go to luc's github here and follow the readme when you scroll down --> https://github.com/luc-github/Repetier-Firmware-0.92
So you don't get any problems just make sure you understand each step and do it correctly.

Reply if you need help

Da Vinci 2.0 with Repetier Firmware (Printing in ABS/PLA/Exotics)
12 Years PC Experience
16 years old

5 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Dominick, thank you so much for your reply and letting me know it works on the 2.0 DUO.

I just followed the instructions on that link you provided (while also simultaneously watching the youtube video on doing the same thing on a 1.0) and I have successfully flashed my DaVinci Duo 2.0 with Repetier! Just going through all of the different setting menus, I can tell this will be a much more fun experience than it had been for me on XYZ firmware. I absolutely LOVE how hot the bed gets now (and its ability to be controlled component).

Now that I have it properly flashed, I have a couple of questions about the set up. I already leveled the bed (actually, this process "squares" the bed to the axis) as per the last few instructions on github by homing all axis and shutting the printer off, lowering the bed until its just under the nozzle, and then moving the head around to the exact locations of the adjusting screws and using a .30 mm feeler gauge to make sure i get the same amount of (slight) drag from each of the 3 points. Now I know this doesn't set the "first layer" print height like it used to do for me on the XYZ firmware. It simple gives the print head a flat plane to work with.

I'm guessing I just follow the instructions on the printer in the MAINTENANCE -> MANUAL LEVELING option in order to properly set the correct print height? Or will the manual adjustment I already gave it be enough? I just really don't want the nozzle smashing into the glass at any point.

6 Reply by Dominick (edited by Dominick 2015-10-14 19:02:31)

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

pabloidiaz wrote:

Dominick, thank you so much for your reply and letting me know it works on the 2.0 DUO.

I'm guessing I just follow the instructions on the printer in the MAINTENANCE -> MANUAL LEVELING option in order to properly set the correct print height? Or will the manual adjustment I already gave it be enough? I just really don't want the nozzle smashing into the glass at any point.

Not a problem!

Doing what you did is perfect,
all that I did when calibrating the bed after the flash, was actually tighten the bed down almost all the way, and then started a print.
Right when it started with the first layer I turned the printer off to stop the print, then turned it back on to let the fans cool the hotend (afraid that it might overheat).  Now the bed was at it's true homed position, so I leveled the bed with a piece of paper and manually moved the extruder around. cool

Now I am sure that the hotend won't kill the glass.

Da Vinci 2.0 with Repetier Firmware (Printing in ABS/PLA/Exotics)
12 Years PC Experience
16 years old

7 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

You really should calibrate the bed level while the extruder and bed are hot. The reason being is thermal expansion. If you calibrate cold then when the bed and extruder gets hot the gap could actually be too close and cause jamming.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

8 Reply by Dominick (edited by Dominick 2015-10-14 19:18:00)

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

carl_m1968 wrote:

You really should calibrate the bed level while the extruder and bed are hot. The reason being is thermal expansion. If you calibrate cold then when the bed and extruder gets hot the gap could actually be too close and cause jamming.

Good call carl. big_smile
I calibrate during the first layer of almost every print, so I didn't think of that.

Da Vinci 2.0 with Repetier Firmware (Printing in ABS/PLA/Exotics)
12 Years PC Experience
16 years old

9 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Not a problem!

Doing what you did is perfect,
all that I did when calibrating the bed after the flash, was actually tighten the bed down almost all the way, and then started a print.
Right when it started with the first layer I turned the printer off to stop the print, then turned it back on to let the fans cool the hotend (afraid that it might overheat).  Now the bed was at it's true homed position, so I leveled the bed with a piece of paper and manually moved the extruder around. cool

Now I am sure that the hotend won't kill the glass.


I figured my initial calibration would have been enough but I went ahead and followed the firmware's instructions to do it manually just to be sure.

You really should calibrate the bed level while the extruder and bed are hot. The reason being is thermal expansion. If you calibrate cold then when the bed and extruder gets hot the gap could actually be too close and cause jamming.

I did it the second time with the firmware's Manual Calibration utility which does heat the bed and the extruders first. Thanks for the tip though carl_m1968!


Now I'm just having trouble getting my printer to connect with the Repetier software. I triple checked which port it's actually connected to and I know for sure it is COM7. I go into the printer configuration on Repetier and it shows COM7 as the chosen port, however I still can't connect to my daVinci. Did anyone ever have this problem?

10 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Here is the error message I get.

http://soliforum.com/i/?5s0a8Pw.jpg

11 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Does the port speed set in the firmware match what is set in the software?

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

12 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Are you referring to the "BaudRate" number? If so, I already matched them up. My daVinci says BaudRate: 230400 and so does the Baudrate setting under printer config. in Repetier. It still wont connect. I tried disconnecting/reconnecting the usb and shutting the printer on and off too.

13 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

I'm not crazy lol

http://soliforum.com/i/?thYkvK3.jpg

14 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Figured it out, Disconnected the USB, switched it to the one next to it and BINGO. Its connected now.
Now I have a couple more questions about setting the print are in the repetier configuration that would pertain specifically to the 2.0 Duo. Dominick do you want me to PM you the questions or can i just keep typing them in this thread? I don't want to be a bother and you guys have helped me more than enough as it is.

15 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

You might consider keeping the discussion public for others benefit should they decide to do this as well and have your problems.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

16 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Okay well I set up my print bed settings and got it so that the printer will never crash into its own axis. I also told it exactly where the parameters of the print bed are. However I can't get the printer to actually extrude any filament from the nozzle when I start a print. The extruder and bed heat up to the temperature I set it to in the g code and stay there, however i dont think the motors are pushing the filament out when they need to be.

I thought maybe somehow the software wasn't connecting to the filament motors but since I have full use of the manual control window in Repiteir. I can manually move the print head, the print bed, and extrude filament out of both extruders.

Hopefully Dominick can chime back in today sometime to give his input on how he got his set up and working.

17 Reply by Dominick

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

pabloidiaz wrote:

However I can't get the printer to actually extrude any filament from the nozzle when I start a print. The extruder and bed heat up to the temperature I set it to in the g code and stay there, however i dont think the motors are pushing the filament out when they need to be.

Did you setup the extruders in the Printer Settings?(if you are using slic3r)
You just need to basically add the second extruder so the software knows which one is which.
That's all I can think of for now.

Can you give us screenshots of your setup?

Thanks pabloidiaz

Da Vinci 2.0 with Repetier Firmware (Printing in ABS/PLA/Exotics)
12 Years PC Experience
16 years old

18 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

When it wasn't extruding for me before I was slicing with Cura by default, I switched over to Slic3r and now it started to extrude filament like normal upon starting a print. The first print I did once it worked I had to kill almost half way through because I noticed a blob of filament that was accumulating in the middle of the print. In this area the print head was in a way building a circular tower and it needed to keep spinning around in a circle adding filament each layer. I'm guessing what was happening was that .02 mm layer height was making the outer parts of the nozzle hit the surrounding already layed filament and melting it again. hmm. I'm trying it again with .3mm layer height and watching it the whole way through to see if it happens again/what causes it.

19 Reply by Dominick (edited by Dominick 2015-10-15 00:06:46)

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Let me just go ahead and give you guys my settings for my 2.0. tongue

http://postimg.org/gallery/iet5y09i/

And I just realized I still have the installation folder for XYZcrapware on my hard drive. lol

Edit: I know I know the speed is a little high but it works for me

Da Vinci 2.0 with Repetier Firmware (Printing in ABS/PLA/Exotics)
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20 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Here's the graph of the temperatures. Is there a way to show both extruder temperatures? I know I'm only using one right now but before when I was slicing with Cura and having the "no print" problem, it would only show me the extruder temp of the extruder that wasn't being used.

http://soliforum.com/i/?HCpxbGI.jpg

21 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Let me just go ahead and give you guys my settings for my 2.0. tongue

http://postimg.org/gallery/iet5y09i/

You da man! lol thanks!

22 Reply by Sunra

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Great post i also have the Duo and was curious about the firmware hack .. But mine is still under warranty and not sure if i should smile

23 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2015-10-16 02:17:13)

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Sunra wrote:

Great post i also have the Duo and was curious about the firmware hack .. But mine is still under warranty and not sure if i should smile

Unless you have no issue with packing and shipping the machine back to XYZ in Taiwan at your expense, your warranty is worthless. They don't send very many parts without an act of congress and usually ask or require you to ship it to them at your cost. So I would go for it myself.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

24 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

That is exactly what I'd figured they would do and so I went right ahead and hacked it. I absolutely love the repetier interface and how much didferent it is from xyzcrap. This hack puts YOU in control to have YOUR printer print exactly how you want it to!

25 Reply by pabloidiaz

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Re: Hacking the Duo 2.0A to print 3rd party filament??

Just an FYI for everyone but I will be posting a new topic soon about how to get your 2.0 Duo running to your liking after a repetier 0.92 flash. There will be info on printer configuration, bed leveling tricks, a few other things as well. Of course I will try to include as many pictures as physically possible that way beginners like myself in the future can have a guideline to go off of.