Printrbot Talk Forum

by **plexus** » 2013-Mar-Thu-20-Mar

Placeholder for a thread for posting firmware files.

**Sponsor**

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Mar-Thu-21-Mar

The hex file with the build limit change commands, ie what they did for the big Z mod, is all I'm after.
I've got longer rods and want a larger Z to start.
I've also got a 8" heated bed so I can expand X & Y too, but that doesn't need the firmware.
Also considering a double deep Y with two beds.

by **PxT** » 2013-Mar-Fri-10-Mar

I have posted the firmware for the PB Jr which Brook provided to me.
See my github at https://github.com/PxT/Marlin or direct link: https://raw.github.com/PxT/Marlin/maste ... re.cpp.hex

I am working on getting the corresponding source branch as well and I will post it when I have it.

by **PxT** » 2013-Mar-Fri-10-Mar

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jun-Thu-21-Jun

A while ago lwalkera produced a few iterations of the firmware which I tested for him.

He got to one which I thought had the right settings for the printrbot and with the new G codes to set the build limits. e.g. for extended Z axis

I was hoping it would get posted on the printrbot.com site, but... <stops holding breath>

So, see attached Zipped .hex file. Insert NOT-My-Fault Legal waiver here...

To load:

Download and install FLIP with JRE (http://www.atmel.com/tools/FLIP.aspx)
Connect Printrboard USB (Windows [at least my W7/64] will not find a driver)
Remove Bootloader Jumper in centre of board (for Rev A-C, for Rev D add jumper)
Push Reset
Windows will fail to load a driver
Use Device Manager to load drivers from Program Files(x86)\AMTEL\Flip 3.4.7\usb (took longer than I expected)
Windows recognises board
Run Flip
Device/Select AT90USB1286
Setting/Communication/USB - Click Open
Check Blank Check box (Erase, Program, Verify should already be checked)
Click Run
(a few dialogue boxes later)
Close FLIP
Replace Boot Jumper (or remove for Rev D)
Press Reset

by **drawcut** » 2013-Jun-Fri-17-Jun

Glad to see people are still working on the firmware. I was going to try compiling Laine's limitsaving source but I wasn't so sure when I looked at one of the source files it had the board type set for something other than the Printrboard. Since I wasn't sure what else might be different, I decided to edit the default Printrboard source for larger build area and compile and flash that. It worked fine (after a couple of stumbles with the instructions).

Michael@oz: does your .hex file have the board type set for Printrboard or does that even matter?

ETA:
And to be clear: in Laine's limitsaving firmware: M210 sets the minimum axis values and M211 set the maximum axis values in the same format as M208 in standard (non-Marlin) G-code works? Right? I've never seen that directly stated but I think that's how it works from looking a Laine's source code.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jun-Sun-01-Jun

by **FherraZ** » 2013-Jul-Mon-22-Jul

Hi there guys, I did a self made Z tall mod and loaded this firmware, but Z does not go beyond it's original limit and now my X does not work right, it does not home or goes left, it only goes right.

Any advice?

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Mon-22-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Mon-22-Jul

also, was your Printrboard from printbot.com or elsewhere?

by **FherraZ** » 2013-Jul-Mon-22-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Tue-02-Jul

That is the file I have on my Printboard and it works OK.

Did you unplug stuff to load the firmware? Check plugs/polarity.

Try resetting the board after manually homing (or unhoming?) the Y-axis, I seem to recall some issues there (but not for me).

Also you may need to re-do the steps/mm calibration g-codes if you don't have that in g-code in your slicer.

The old Firmware is on the printrbot.com support page if you want to revert.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Tue-02-Jul

Oops overlap with your last post.

M210 AFAIK should not be needed if you home to 0,0,0.
I think some people have a purge cutout for extruding pre-printing (eg reprap mendal), hence want the printable area to be > 0 home spot, (I think...)

by **FherraZ** » 2013-Jul-Tue-12-Jul

OK, thank you for clarifying that, about the steps, I changed the original threaded rods for 5mm ones, so I don't have to make so much calculations

by **JonS** » 2013-Jul-Tue-14-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Tue-22-Jul

by **lwalkera** » 2013-Jul-Tue-23-Jul

Those of us who mainly work on the firmware (myself, PxT, and Caleb) all have day jobs or school to contend with. We don't work for PB full time, and would appreciate a little understanding before bringing out the pitch-forks and torches.

We're working on it as fast as we can and should have something out soon that should support all bots and accessories like the LCD and Extrudrboard. We wanted to fix some of the bugs and get everything at least a little tested before putting it all out there so that we minimize the chance the firmware will cause your bot to burst into flames. Over the past two to three weeks, I've probably exchanged 20 or 30 e-mails between Brook and Caleb trying to get the firmware situation situated. It may not look like anything is happening, but it is.
The hex files I've been sending out have been a courtesy to get some of the less technical people printing with their bots. Posts like the previous make me want to revisit that decision.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Tue-23-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Tue-23-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Wed-00-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Wed-20-Jul

by **rswarner** » 2013-Jul-Wed-22-Jul

Well, I am unable to make the new LCD-Extrudr f/w work. I am using Flip in Windows 7. I can get the LCD to display the menu. From the LCD and from Repetier Host, I can command temperatures and the X axis, but the Y and Z axes are unresponsive. Once I try to home either Y or Z, the commands stack up in Repetier, and then Repetier becomes unresponsive. I have flashed back to the Plus+ f/w from the same list on today's News item, and I'm back to full function.

This is with a Plus V1 kit, Printrboard Rev D, only one extruder installed.

by **lwalkera** » 2013-Jul-Thu-00-Jul

Here's a draft of the unified firmware that I've been working on. It should have support for the LCD, Extrudrboard, and EEPROM limit saving. Let me know if there are any issues and I'll try to fix them before I push them up to Github. The hex is at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i49obd1d99ka7 ... ied-v1.hex The files used for this hex are here: https://github.com/Printrbot/Marlin

by **drawcut** » 2013-Jul-Thu-17-Jul

Glad to see the updates. Thanks.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Thu-20-Jul

by **rswarner** » 2013-Jul-Thu-21-Jul

Yes, thank you! I'll give it a try tonight as well.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Thu-21-Jul

Results - for Printrbot Original

edit/

moved to keep this thread a bit pure to topic.

/edit

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Fri-16-Jul

by **Makenificent** » 2013-Jul-Fri-19-Jul

Hello,

I've had great success using the Marlin-Limitsave-v4 posted by Michael with my Printrbot Jr. I modded my jr to increase the x axis by another 30mm or so, but was unable to move beyond 145mm.

The only issue was the Y-axis was inverted. So, I simply switched the wiring to reverse step a/b order. (orange,black,red,yellow ---> yellow, red, black,orange). The forum won't let me post urls yet, but you can search for Teensylu-0.6.pdf to find the pinout.

Everything else was in order. Thanks so much for posting this hex. I think my printer works better than ever!

by **Marco L** » 2013-Jul-Mon-14-Jul

Hi i'm quite new to 3d printing but not to SW engineering (15yrs). I have been fooling around with the firmware for my "auto bed leveling" hack on my JR.
But I have some questions to the developers in this thread like lwalkera.
Why is it that in every firmware out there I see the "DISABLE_Z = true" is there a specific reason? Because my gut feeling says that would actually be a bad
idea but, maybe i'm missing something?
And did i read correctly that you said there is a mayor problem in the printrboard firmware? Can you please tell me what the problem is, maybe i can help...
I am quite experienced in trouble shooting i work on embedded hard-realtime systems (i'm not trying to imply i can fix anything

.

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Mon-17-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Mon-17-Jul

by **Marco L** » 2013-Jul-Mon-18-Jul

by **Michael@Oz** » 2013-Jul-Mon-19-Jul

by **elkniwt** » 2013-Jul-Wed-14-Jul

I've been unable to work the kinks out of the limitsaving firmware, plus I've noticed that it seems based on an older version of the main firmware. Instead, I forked the official (as of 7/31/13) printrbot firmware here: https://github.com/Elkniwt/Marlin

and have recompiled a modded version (here: https://github.com/Elkniwt/Marlin/blob/ ... wt.cpp.hex ) that adds the M208 command (set axis max travel), as opposed to the M210 and M211 commands that limitsaving had. The limits should save and restore from EEPROM properly. I've seen some quirks using repetierHost's GUI option for saving to EEPROM, but I think its mostly usable.

Don't forget to record the results of M503 before flashing firmware, to save all your calibration preferences (which can then be written back later once you reapply them manually and do a M500).

The format of the M208 command is (e.g.,):

M208 X392 Y92 Z75

where the X, Y, and Z arguments are all optional.

by **bjao1** » 2013-Aug-Mon-20-Aug

hello elkniwt

I have a simple prinrboard rev D. I was wondering if your recompiled modded version that adds the M208 command, will work on my board. I have built a printer that has 16"x16"x16", and just found out the my simple printrboard will not go more the 100mm in all directions. I surely hope you can help me in this.

Thank you,
Robert

by **bjao1** » 2013-Aug-Tue-01-Aug

hello elkniwt

thank you
i loaded your mod hex file into my printrboard and it works

sincerly,
robert

by **IanY57** » 2013-Aug-Wed-20-Aug

by **REPRAP SQUAD** » 2013-Aug-Fri-18-Aug

Just marking for updates. Good stuff.

by **elkniwt** » 2013-Aug-Sun-16-Aug

by **JonS** » 2013-Aug-Mon-00-Aug

Basic question: how to I derive the values for the M208 command (convert from mm, or whatever)?

by **elkniwt** » 2013-Aug-Thu-09-Aug

by **JonS** » 2013-Aug-Thu-11-Aug

Strange. It's not doing anything. Even when I put it silly values like Y0.01 I still get unbounded movement.

by **satovey** » 2013-Dec-Mon-23-Dec

I would like to know the following regarding this discussion:

1. Which of the two links to the firmware update on this thread is the correct one?
There is one to printrbot/marlin and one to just marlin.

2. What language is the firmware written in?

3. Considering the fact that flashing a bios can kill a motherboard: does your firmware download contain sufficient instructions to insure I don't do something wrong and cause my printrbot to need a new board or is the board designed with a fail safe so this doesn't happen?

For the life of me, I can not figure out why anyone would design and sell a board that can be killed from a power outage during a firmware update. (input Homer Simpsons favorite exclamation here)

4. Does the firmware upgrade the file format from 8.3 to long file names?

I was seriously upset when I discovered that if I use longer file names than 8 characters the characters are truncated with the traditional tilde. Seriously, in the age long file names some genious and I use that term with extreme light headednes, decided to go to the old dos 8.3 standard and no one, not the geeks who designed the printrbot and sold it or anyone else bothered the mention that little tidbit of need to know information.

Thanks for the respose.

by **PxT** » 2013-Dec-Tue-16-Dec

There are lots of different firmwares floating around. The latest official Printrbot-supported one can always be found at https://github.com/Printrbot/Marlin/releases/latest

The firmware is primarily in C/C++. You can find the source at https://github.com/Printrbot/Marlin

Flashing the firmware is pretty safe, I've done it a bunch of times and have yet to have a problem. The flash software does some verifications to prevent writing a bad image. If for some strange reason it does get corrupted, it's still possible to recover with an ISP programming cable which you can buy for a few dollars.

I don't use an SD card for printing so I don't know for sure but from a quick glance at the source it looks like long file names are supported. Did you format your card as FAT32?

by **satovey** » 2013-Dec-Wed-15-Dec

Thanks for responding.

Just checked the micro SD card and yes, it is formated as FAT32.
If I remember correctly, what was and is the required drive format for the original firmware.
It (the firmware) just doesn't read more than the 8.3 format. Even odder, if more than 3
characters are entered as the file extention, it will truncate the file name.

The problem is in the firmware not the drive format which is why I would like to update the firmware.

Thanks for reposting the correct links, I'll bookmark them so I don't get confused again.

by **thawkins** » 2013-Dec-Thu-01-Dec

by **daewootech** » 2014-Feb-Wed-03-Feb

I did everything successful, firmware update with unified V3, sent the code "M211 X130 Y219 Z200" to my printrbot LCv2 and X works, Y works but Z is capped out at 150, anyone get around this?

by **elkniwt** » 2014-Mar-Wed-12-Mar

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