Easy questions.....

[Jules]

Okay....and first really embarrassingly basic question - do i have the machine turned on and attached when i flash the firmware? Or does it flash whether the M2 is on or off? (I want to turn it off.)

Second question - the fans have powered up so i guess I got at least part of it wired correctly - But they are LOUD, and there is a really annoying hum! (Like ten times louder than the setup with the single.) The main culprit is the extruder fan - probably because of the ducting. Or maybe it's the metal motor vibrating against the metal motor mount.

Any way around that before i have to shoot myself?

(Update: Okay - never mind the fan question - I need to add a couple of screws at the open corners. Gaaahhhhhhhh!)

And it really helps if you remove the washer than was hiding inside of the fan.
(So that's where it was - I thought they'd forgotten to include it. )

[Tim]

Okay....and first really embarrassingly basic question - do i have the machine turned on and attached when i flash the firmware? Or does it flash whether the M2 is on or off? (I want to turn it off.)

For the RAMBo with the Marlin firmware, you want to have the machine turned on and attached, because it only flashes from the host computer. It's not such a basic question, though. The Smoothieboard knows how to flash itself from a file placed on the SD card, and will do so on power-up independently of the host computer. It's one of several such neat features that simplifies the whole process of flashing and updating.

[Jules]

Okay....and first really embarrassingly basic question - do i have the machine turned on and attached when i flash the firmware? Or does it flash whether the M2 is on or off? (I want to turn it off.)

For the RAMBo with the Marlin firmware, you want to have the machine turned on and attached, because it only flashes from the host computer. It's not such a basic question, though. The Smoothieboard knows how to flash itself from a file placed on the SD card, and will do so on power-up independently of the host computer. It's one of several such neat features that simplifies the whole process of flashing and updating.

Perfect, thanks! Going to go try that now that i have extracted the extraneous noisy parts......

[Tim]

S3D's is getting better, but as Tim said, it still does a lot of boneheaded things that it's annoying to have to workaround. If you're just going to use the second extruder for support, the situation's a lot better.

Actually getting that simple sequence to happen in the correct order in S3D is what is annoying. It's been a while since I've tried it, but from what I recall, it's fine after the first layer, but if you just flip all the switches on and tell it to go, it will leave the non-printing extruder primed while doing the first layer.

One reason I haven't updated to the most recent version of S3D is because of this issue---if they fix it, then my workaround may no longer work right, and I'd have to go back and investigate the problem all over again. But if I'm presenting information to the community at large, then I guess that it's best that I update to the latest, and then try to keep track of bug fix releases.

It's true that dual extrusion increases the complexity of everything much more than twofold. For example, I've concentrated on the start, stop, and tool change scripts, and I have not even tried using a wipe tower or trying to add the little rubber wiper that came with the dual extruder kit or think about problems such as whether one is better than the other or whether you would want to use both at the same time. I have not used Cura because it's another entire system to learn, and I was holding out the hope that I could get it all running under Simplify3D, which I did, more or less.

[jsc]

Jules, c) is pretty easy, where you just load up different materials and use one at a time, at least since the latest S3Ds. Just add an extruder to your profile, then configure everything with the auto-configure drop downs set correctly for material, speed, and extruder. You want to use Left (/Right) Extruder Only. For the right extruder, I have as startup:

Code: Select all

M201 X1000 Y1000
T0
G28 X Y
G1 X50 F9600
G28 Z
T1
...

Which selects tool 0 (left), just to be sure, homes X and Y, moves off the left a little before homing Z (because I have dangly wires that I don't want caught up in the knob), then selects tool 1 before doing the prime sequence. The startup for the left extruder just omits the T1 switch. Purge position is X215 (for me). Remember that you will lose about an inch of access to the left side of the bed with tool 1, so preferentially load up whatever filament you like to do whole-bed prints with on the left.

You have to be aware that some settings go with the filament, others go with the quality setting, and yet others go with the extruder selection. Mouse over each selector drop down and the tool tip will say which settings it affects. G-code offset goes with nothing at all, so you will have to manually adjust that when you switch heads.

[Jules]

Okay, I'm going to go mess around with the S3D software. I read through what they had written up on it, and it is quite minimal.

First thing i need to do is extrude a bit from each nozzle to see if i can (potential alignment issue with the drives).

Then I'll start messing around with the slicer software. Jin, I'll keep that startup code in mind for when i get past the first test.

(Cause if that don't fly - I'll be disassembling for a while.)
Update: Whew! Nothing looks quite as sweet as a couple of globs of plastic hanging off the ends of nozzles!

Now i've got some drive screw tensions to set, a Z-stop to reset, and a Z-Offset or two to measure....Tim and Jin, thanks so very much for the help so far. I might take the rest of the afternoon off and catch a movie; it's past time to give my poor abused skull a break! (Tough to keep up with you boys, sometimes!) ROFL!