FilaWinder Documentation (Page 14 of 16)

Does anyone still support the filawinder? I sent an email to [email protected] but havent got a reply.

Im having trouble with my filawinder. It will be working fine spooling up my filament then all the sudden it will turn on full speed and noy turn off pulling the filament out of the filastruder.  Anyone have any ideas?

I just sorted out an issue that I thought was worth sharing with the community...

My filawinder started functioning erratically. I turned it on one day, and the left/right buttons didn't set the limits of the guide anymore. The center/calibrate button would intermittently let me move the guide, but wouldn't start a calibration in manual mode, etc...

I reloaded the V11 firmware, and it behaved exactly the same way, so I ordered a new Arduino... While I waited on it to arrive, a buddy suggested that I try loading the EEPROM clearing example sketch to it, and then reloading the V11 firmware. That did the trick, and I'm back up and running!

So, if anyone sees buggy behavior that reloading the firmware doesn't fix, try zeroing out the EEPROM and then loading the firmware again.

It has been a week and i can't figure it out. everything seems to be built and wired correctly. Im not 100% sure if my magnet if facing correct orientation but im more concern with not getting the laser to turn on as well as spool motor doesn't seem to respond. i was able to control servo with no issues at all.

Apologies on the printout quality. We can send another, or it can be downloaded.

There are only two hardware bags, one is for the Filastruder and one is for the Filawinder. It should be clear which is which from the parts list that is in each set of instructions. If you want to check what was included, just check the parts list.

It should be apparent which power supply goes to which machine - the Filawinder power supply is shipped in the bag with the Filawinder parts. Also the Filastruder gets the bigger power supply, as it has a much bigger motor than the Filawinder + a heater. But if you were confused which is which, would be happy to answer if asked.

If the PID controller is not turning on, most likely it is not wired properly. But you can connect the power supply directly to pins 9 and 10 of the PID controller if you'd like to test it.

I worked it out Arduino IDE placed the file FilaWinder_v11.ino together with the library files using the option Add ZIP Library... By moving the file FilaWinder_v11.ino to the Sketch folder it verified without errors.

Just finished assembling my filawinder and for some reason, the calibration will not work at all. The sensor doesn't seem to be recognizing the filament at all. I double and triple checked all the connections and went over all the videos and guides, not sure what else could be wrong!

Hello! My name is Andrei, I'm from Moldova!
For more than half a year I have been studying and introducing into the technology of 3D printing, and recently I was thought of having my own production of a filament. That's why I got to this post. Huge respect to the author for his work, everything is very simple and ingenious! Unfortunately, due to the fact that I live in Moldova, I will not be able to buy such a set, the cost of delivery will probably be more expensive than the set itself. So I decided to try to assemble a similar set myself. While I am only collecting information electronically, and immediately a question arose - is the board on which ARDUINO Nano is located - is it the author’s development, or can this board be bought on the Internet?

Thank you for your quick response! I will study the link you sent! Best regards!

Tony,
You will need Arduino software.

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

-os3dp

There is no such thing as a continuous rotation pot. A pot is designed to reach a max level and a minimum level and anywhere in between. Being continuous would mean the max or minimum would never be reached. They do have multi turn pots that can be turned up to 4 times before reaching max but will stop at that point.

What you are probably thinking of is a rotary encoder. Those can be turned continuously but requires some sort of software and hardware mod to monitor and count the pulses they generate and do whatever needs to be done when the count is reached.

I have been an electronic tech and parts buyer for 20 years so I would think I have a bit of knowledge in parts. But if you would like another source here you go or just Google the question "continuous rotation potentiometer"..

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q … entiometer

A pot works by having a voltage applied to one of it pins and then as the wiper which is attached to the center pin travels through it's arc the voltage is reduced or increased. it essentially a variable resistor.

The device you are talking about being a continuous turn is an encoder. It works by having a IR LED and and IR transistor paired with a disk that has tiny slots cut in it that is connected to a shaft as the shaft turns those slots align so that the IR light can pass through and strike the transistor generating a signal that is a set voltage but variable frequency depending on shaft rotation speed.

It generates a pulse train as the shaft turns. With the correct firmware and hardware that pulse train can be used to control speed, direction and so on based on the pulse count and the time between pulses. It essentially converts or encodes analog data into digital data.

Again though these are not pots and do not function like one nor can they be used to replace one without serious hardware and firmware changes. You need hardware that can receive and count those pulse and relay that data to the microcontroller. You would then need firmware to tell the microcontroller to run the arm in run direction until x amount of pulses are received and then reverse the direction until x amount of pulses are received.

In addition you would need error traps in the firmware in case there was a filament jam or break and the system would stop after X time with no pulses. Or in the event something cause too many pulses.

In short you would have to create a board that could capture the pulse train from the encoder then send that train or data to the microprocessor. You would also have to create a complete plug in module/sketch in the firmware to support the interface and data exchange between it and the processor and then have the support to control the stepper on the arm and change its direction based on pulse count from the encoder. you would also have to figure out how many pulses where in a full stroke of the arm.

You could probably do it with a Pi3 or Pi4 but you will need to write the sketch or code for it from scratch to interface between the encoder and the controller for the motor. You could probably make a dedicated board but it would still require extensive code writing.

What you want to do sounds simple but actual implementation is not that simple. You are better off just replacing the parts that are bad or may be bad and using the design as intended. There are many using the Filawinder and Filastruder with no issues so they seem to be reliable.