G2 Troubleshooting ideas?

[trathier]

Help! I have finally been able to flash my G2 board for my Metal Plus and got it connected to cura. I have checked and double checked all cable/wire connections. When power is applied to the printer the LEDs light up on the G2 which is good.

I have the following working:
USB connection is recognized on Cura
Heated bed will preheat and can be set via Cura
The LED upgrade comes on when the printer power is applied

What isn’t working:
The extruder is not heating up and there is no pre-heat button in Cura for it.

I have a Metal Plus/heated bed with the following upgrades:
G2 Board
Z Lead Screw 4-Start Upgrade
Gear Head Extruder v2
LED Lights
13S Hot End
50mm fan and Hot End cooling fan

My Start g-code is this:
M100.1 ({{g55z:0.0}}) ;Z-probe offset
M100.1 ({{2tr:8}}) ;Z Lead Screw 4-Start Upgrade
M100.1 ({{ara:4.28394}}) ;Gear Head Extruder
M100.1 ({{afr:16050}})
M100.1 ({{ajm:162000}})
M100.1 ({he3e:t}) ;Enable Heated Bed for G2
M140 S{material_bed_temperature}
M104 S{material_print_temperature}
G21 ;metric values
G90 ;absolute positioning
M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode
M107 ;start with the fan off
G28 X0 Y0 ;home X/Y
G28 Z0 ;home Z
G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length
M100 ({{"_leds":3}})
G1 X0 Y245 Z6 F20000
G38.2 Z-10 F200
G1 Z5 F20000
M100 ({{"_leds":5}})
G1 X225 Y125 F20000
G38.2 Z-10 F200
G1 Z5 F20000
M100 ({{"_leds":6}})
G1 X0 Y5 F20000
G38.2 Z-10 F200
G1 Z5 F20000
M100 ({{"_leds":3}})
M100 ({{"tram":1}})
G55 ;apply z-offset value
G1 Z15.0 F9000
M109 S{material_print_temperature}
M100 ({{_leds:1}})
G92 E0
G1 F9000
M117 Printing...

The End G-code is this:
M104 S0 ;extruder heater off
M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it)
M106 S0 ;fan off
G91 ;relative positioning
G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit
G1 Z+1 E-5 F9000 ;move Z up a bit and retract even more
G28 X0 Y0 ;home X/Y, so the head is out of the way
M84 ;steppers off
G90 ;absolute positioning
M355 S0 ;LED Off

[RetireeJay]

I don't know anything about the G2 board, or the version of Cura that works with it. Does it allow you to send commands to the board from a text box? If so, then try entering M104 S200 and see what happens.

[trathier]

There is this bit of g-code in the startup g-code:
M104 S{material_print_temperature}

This should accomplish the same thing but with a user specified temperature from the interface?

Later in the code it executes: M109 S{material_print_temperature}

[RetireeJay]

Yes, I saw that in the start-up code.

But for troubleshooting, the manual entry could be a good check.

I don't really know how the G2 system with its version of Cura works.

But if in your example file, there is a problem filling in that setpoint temperature due to a syntax error (or if the setpoint temperature is room temperature or below) then issuing the manual command (if that is possible) would test for you whether the hardware is working (the power output from the board to the heater, the wiring from the board to the heater, and the heater itself). In other words, issuing the manual command is a step in the direction of distinguishing a hardware problem from a software problem.

[Mooselake]

My first thought is that the command substitution is wrong. Slic3r allows substitutions in commands, and the variable's have been stable for the 5+ years I've used it. I searched for "Cura gcode substitution" (you can also try keyword instead of substitution) and found a reference that said that Cura did also, but that (at that time) the list of variables wasn't published. The reference is quite old.

I also found another list, but with no description of how to use it.

Cura's in a semi-continuous state of flux, things that work change, and as only an occasional user I don't keep up with them. Perhaps you want to track it down and post what you found. Taking a look at the default startup gcode should provide a clue as to what they're using now. My guess is that they've changed the keyword for the configured extruder temperature value. It might be trickier than that, there could be an initial print temp to get the first layer or few layers to stick better, then a different temperature for the remaining layers. Remember Ultimaker maintains Cura for their own products, and while graciously attempting to keep it comparable with other printers regularly states they only have ultimakers and that's all they can test against. There was a kerfuffle a while back when they broke delta printer support, for example. No idea why Printrbot is so big on Cura, but that's their decision. What do they say about slicers, startup gcode, and their G2 equipped models?

Second guess is that Printrbot's G2 firmware requires another command (M100.1?) to enable the extruder heater and that you need to add it. The M100.1 values you show are exceedingly weird and must require a secret decoder ring. This firmware seems to have been developed by a talented young hotshot with minimal prior experience (we've all been there...) who likes JSON rather than the 50ish year old current RS-274X style that nearly all the rest of the 3D printer industry uses. Probably has some great advantages, but...

And there's always the loose/broken wire problem and it's trying to heat but not working.

A few years back I'd have jumped on a G2 and been all eager to try it; today I just stick with the one that works in my (admittedly ancient, but it still works the same way as the new cartesian bots) V1 and spend the head banging against the wall time elsewhere. Good luck, please let us know how it all works out.

Kirk