1 Topic by stein.inge

  • stein.inge
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Topic: Could the main board be broken?

I packed down my 2nd generation printer and moved to a new and better place called “home”. The printer was working before moving. After unpacking it, do not respond.

Windows 7 Enterprise, 32bit OS (new system)
Repetier-Host 2011-2012 repetier (File version 1.0.0.o, Copyright 2011 repetier, size 844 KB)

1)    Clicked the Connect button on the button bar and choose Solidoodle 2 from the drop down menu. See attached picture #1. The red Connect button turn into a green Disconnect button. This all seems god and in my mind it seems like the software has found the printer.
2)    If I click the Printer-menu in the top menu bar, the “Printer Information” from the drop down menu, the software is not able to recognize the printer. The top line in the dialog box says “Machine type: unknown”.  This should indicate that the printer is not connected even if top left button in the button bar shows with green colour.
3)    In the button status bar and in the Manual Control tab page, there is a message showing “5 Command Waiting”. How or where can I see these pending commands, or how to remove them from the queue? It does not help to restart the system.
4)    It is not possible to move the print bed or the extruder head by manually choose x, y or z direction in the Manual Control tab page.

What steps can I do to search for where the fault in my setup is? I really wonder why the software show a green status on the connection button when the printer information shows unknown status. Any help to get the printer up and running again would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards Stein

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2 Reply by shields1.as

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

Some had a red light some a green. My sd3 had a red light. Works perfect. You just don't have it hooked up correctly. Make sure you have the right FTDI driver downloaded then plug in the sub cord. You should get a messege saying it properly installed. If it didn't you'll have to go into device manager and to properties to manually select the FTDI driver for your machine, then check th com port and baud rate. Open RH and add the printer under printer settings making sure you have the correct comport and baud rate selected.

3 Reply by shields1.as

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

Some had a red light some a green. My sd3 had a red light. Works perfect. You just don't have it hooked up correctly. Make sure you have the right FTDI driver downloaded then plug in the sub cord. You should get a messege saying it properly installed. If it didn't you'll have to go into device manager and to properties to manually select the FTDI driver for your machine, then check th com port and baud rate. Open RH and add the printer under printer settings making sure you have the correct comport and baud rate selected.

4 Reply by stein.inge

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

Thank you for valuable input shields1.as

The FTDI driver is installed and working. Attached Picture #3 shows that USB Serial Port (COM3) is active. If I unplug the USB cable from the printer, this entry is removed from the Device Manager. I hope this shows that the OS is able to detect that the USB cable is plugged in.

Picture #4 is attached showing the main board with one red light. Does this looks correct?

Do you have any input to my point 3 – “5 commands waiting”?

Any more input of what steps to take to conduct a good faultfinding? Are there any procedures or something out on the web I could try?


Best regards Stein

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5 Reply by stein.inge

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

My latest update
There is contact with the printer. The problem now is that the Z-axes is going the opposite direction. Down is up and up is down. How to reverse this? The Z cable is plugged in correctly to the board

Regards Stein

6 Reply by shields1.as

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

You can either just turn the plug 180. Or go into your printer settings and swap the min and max for the z axis

stein.inge wrote:

My latest update
There is contact with the printer. The problem now is that the Z-axes is going the opposite direction. Down is up and up is down. How to reverse this? The Z cable is plugged in correctly to the board

Regards Stein

7 Reply by shields1.as

  • shields1.as
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Re: Could the main board be broken?

You can either just turn the plug 180. Or go into your printer settings and swap the min and max for the z axis

stein.inge wrote:

My latest update
There is contact with the printer. The problem now is that the Z-axes is going the opposite direction. Down is up and up is down. How to reverse this? The Z cable is plugged in correctly to the board

Regards Stein

8 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Could the main board be broken?

stein.inge wrote:

My latest update
There is contact with the printer. The problem now is that the Z-axes is going the opposite direction. Down is up and up is down. How to reverse this? The Z cable is plugged in correctly to the board

Regards Stein

In RH the up arrow moves the bed down that is how it is supposed to be.
Think of it as the nozzle moving instead of the bed.

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