FW 3.0.5 RC  

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I've been having a ton of trouble getting the bed level on my prebuilt MK2, and so I've had to run calibrate Z quite a few times (I've tried both 3.0.3 and 3.0.5 about both have about the same results). On one of the most recent calibrations, it gouged the crap out of my PEI surface. Before even starting probing the 9 points (so as soon as I pressed the button on the screen for it), it lowered too far, and then tried to move all the way to the left, before getting stuck in the bed and finally giving an error on the screen. I had to press the reset button, then raised the Z axis and moved closer to home and re-ran the Z-calibration and this time it went perfectly fine (like it had about ten times previous to this too), so I've got zero clue what happened.

Luckily, the huge gouge in the material is at the very outside of the print area, where the printer does the single line to wipe the nozzle before starting printing, and shouldn't affect my prints. Still, I'm not sure what would have caused it but it is something that happened on this 3.0.5 firmware.

To be absolutely honest though (and this is verging a little off topic from this specific firmware), the main reason I picked the Prusa over others was the auto-leveling, and so far it's been more of a failure for me. To be fair, I'm a complete beginner here (as evidenced by my earlier post 😀 ). But when I lower Z offset so the left side of a print is flatter, the right side is pushed down so low to be transparent. When I raise the Z offset so that the right side of the print is better, the left side is stringy. I'm simplifying my description a little here because it's more that various areas on the bed are different, more than it is a strict left/right, but you get the idea.

Also, the z-offset set when I received the printer was something like -0.967mm. That's around the same ballpark as the better settings that I've found (but again, that ends up making parts of the print look good and parts look bad), but then I also see posts here that say that more than -1mm is generally a sign the probe needs to be adjusted, so I don't know if that's a problem either.

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I also see posts here that say that more than -1mm is generally a sign the probe needs to be adjusted

Joe

That was a suggestion that I made to a couple of users having exactly the problem you describe and it was only to check out the result. Both users have said that they will try the suggestion and report back on whether it helped or not; I have not yet seen any feedback from them.

Peter

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I see FIRMWARE 3.0.6-RC2 is out. Why isn't it called FIRMWARE 3.0.5-RC2 isn't that the second release candidate until the final 3.0.5 is available?

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

Seems as though both 3.0.4 and 3.0.5 have been scrapped.

Have to say I wan't expecting yet another RC; it's been some time since a "final" was released and the previous final (3.0.3) has a good many faults.

Peter

EDIT: It would also be nice to have consistent release notifications and download areas.

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

After resolving my issue with the Y axis in a different thread, I upgraded to 3.0.6 RC2. So far I've done several small prints on this FW and it appears to serve me well. No issues with Z calibration which plagued 3.0.5.

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

Where are you guys downloading FW 3.0.6 RC? I cant find it anywhere in the forms.

Thanks,

*EDIT*
I found it on the firmware main page, where normally it was in the forms somewhere. Here is the link:
http://www.prusa3d.com/drivers/

~Kaizers

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I just installed 3.0.6 and i now have a wierd high pitch noise from the printer in silent mode, its quiet in power mode when idle but when I print power mode is noisy, as it usually is. But my issue is that quiet mode is now unsable.

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

> I just installed 3.0.6 and i now have a wierd high pitch noise from the printer in silent mode, its quiet in power mode when idle but when I print power mode is noisy, as it usually is. But my issue is that quiet mode is now unsable.

Guys, you should make your mind 🙂

I had one customer, who believes that in 3.0.6 now the silent mode is as silent as the power mode and that we made the power mode use a low current by mistake. Now you believe that in 3.0.6 in silent mode produces a high pitch noise.

I am not questioning your observations, they are just not consistent with mine and with the other customers.

I measured the currents into the motors in the silent and power modes for both 3.0.3 and 3.0.6 firmware. 3.0.3 and 3.0.6 behave the same.

Vojtech

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I think the problem here is that the Z motors are continuously powered, even in idle.

When the Z axis is left with the motors in a microstep position, there is a good chance that a sine wave is being sent to the motor to hold it in that position.

Strangely, this could be made worse in low-power mode and will only be heard by younger users (for me, even High Power mode is quite silent...)

Peter

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

Strangely, this could be made worse in low-power mode and will only be heard by younger users (for me, even High Power mode is quite silent...)

Peter

Deafness sometimes has it's advantages! 😆 😀

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I tried downloading and compiling the latest MK2 sourcecode from GitHub and all went OK apart from the following error messages:

WARNING: Category '' in library Wire is not valid. Setting to 'Uncategorized'

Bootloader file specified but missing: C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\marlin\avr\bootloaders\stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex

I know the first 2 should be ignorable, but the last one about the bootloader sounds a bit more serious, but I've only dabled in Arduino so far so don't know for sure.

I followed Ismael.f's tutorial ( http://ifmarkllc.com/Misc/Orig_Prusa_i3_Plus_3D_Printer_Firmware_Build_Process.pdf ) so don't know what's wrong...

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

I followed Ismael.f's tutorial

Yes, deafness is definitely an occasional advantage. But then again, so is following my instructions rather than someone else's 😉 ( http://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/software-f13/how-to-setup-arduino-to-compile-fw-on-a-mac--t1258.html#p9453 et al)

Peter

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

The only difference I can see is you compile and upload, where as I was trying to create a binary hex file... the PC that I can use to compile, etc. is up stairs and the printer is downstairs, I use a cheap and very low power tablet to update the firmware in the printer so need to generate a hex file...

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

USB Extension cable anyone???

Never tried to generate a HEX file. Let's see...

OK I tried "Sketch/Export Compiled Binary" - result:

Sketch uses 182,990 bytes (70%) of program storage space. Maximum is 258,048 bytes.
Global variables use 5,191 bytes of dynamic memory.

Note: Tools/Programmer is set to "AVRISP mkII".

No idea where it put the output though... Or what name the output file is...

OK apparently it is saved in the working folder as "Firmware.cpp.rambo.hex"

File attached (but note I have amended Z_MIN_POS to 0.15mm in firmware).

Peter

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

How odd, I wonder why it's working for you but not me? As far as I can tell everything is installed OK but I keep getting the bootloader missing error?! My hex file (when it does generate one) is called Firmware.ino.rambo as I that's the name of the project...

Not every one wants to run cables everywhere, or wants to upload every version the make, I just want to test if it compiles successfully after making changes...

UPDATE
I found the stk500boot_v2_mega2560.hex file it was looking for here: https://github.com/arduino/Arduino-stk500v2-bootloader/tree/master/goodHexFiles

I still get the two warnings but at least it compiles now. 😀

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

No idea where it put the output though... Or what name the output file is...

OK apparently it is saved in the working folder as "Firmware.cpp.rambo.hex"

File attached (but note I have amended Z_MIN_POS to 0.15mm in firmware).

Peter

Peter,

if you activate the "Show verbose output during compilation" in Arduino preferences, you will see the full path of the generated hex file in the last line before the missing bootloader file warning.

and you can ignore the bootloader warning as it's not needed.

Re: FW 3.0.5 RC

Christophe

Thanks for the heads-up. I won't be doing it though as I never normally build HEX files. Now in "memory" for future reference if ever I need it...

Peter