MakerGear Forum

Edit: Well, this is awfully queer. It looks like the extruder simply completely reversed the filament out of itself. That's never happened before. Is this an S3D quirk? It looks like it started going off in a random direction, laying down filament at random and crossing everything in its path. What the hell happened here?

It appears that it started traveling perpendicularly to the previous line it traveled in, which could only be possible if it was traveling at a 45 degree angle and then the x and y-travel code got switched during transmission causing it to travel perpendicular to the direction it was supposed to travel. I'm willing to bet that's what it was, now why would the x and y-codes get switched? Or, why would the x and y motors switch? Or, wait, I guess all that's necessary is for the x-motor to get a negative value instead of a positive value, switching the x-motor's direction - or, maybe the x motor's direction never got reversed for some reason and it just continued on at the "turning point"? Man, this is weird.

Oh well, it reinforced the importance of wiping with a damp floursack cloth after an isopropyl alchohol wipe (Doesn't seem like acetone is necessary to promote adhesion). There were miniature streaks imprinted on the glassy bottom layer because I didn't wipe it with a damp floursack cloth afterwards.

Edit: It's doing it again. Reversed the filament and it's in zombie mode, at the exact same spot as last time. That means: There's something wrong with the G-code! Which is weird because it's not showing up in the preview window, whatever the extruder thinks it's doing now.

Hmmmm... the log window says "Firmware is unresponsive." repeatedly. That might have something to do with it. But, why's it suddenly unresponsive at the exact same spot in the print?

Okay, restarted S3D, created a new 'workspace' and put the same pieces down and closed down all other programs that might want to use the port. Also, reconnected the USB. *crosses fingers*

Okay, logs as of 1 minute into the print show no sign of firmware unresponsiveness. This is a good sign.

WTF! It reversed the filament and went into "zombie mode" at nearly the exact same spot into the print, despite starting a new file and recreating it entirely from scratch, guaranteeing a new set of G-codes. The logs also show "firmware unresponsive". WTF IS GOING ON HERE?!!! The utter repeatability of this suggests that it's S3D that's at fault but... how?? This is utterly mind blowing and f*cking ridiculous!!

Screw this, I'm running the G-codes from Cura. I'd hate to believe that the G-code is really at fault, but running from Cura will help prove that it's S3D, not the g-codes, that's at fault. Or vice versa, depending on if it does it again.

Edit: Examined the evidence more closely. Doesn't reoccur at the /exact/ same spot, just the general area. Indicates probable issue of S3D as a g-code host, not necessarily a problem of the g-codes. Executing the G-codes off of cura will prove whether it's an S3D issue - if it reoccurs, then it's possible it's a subtle hardware/software issue of some sort that I'm not likely to solve. Or, if it is a g-code issue, it doesn't seem to have exact repeatability. Anyway, I'm closely watching it now.... something's "shrilling" as the extruder goes back and forth. it's getting really close to the 'crime scene', so 'it' could happen any moment now.

Well, cura just executed the gcode perfectly indicating there's a problem with S3D as a g-code host. I'd almost suspect the developer is playing some sort of trick on me through the internet connection (The software is always connected via internet to its licensing server) given that I would doubt that S3D is really /that/ crappy as a g-code host since it's been working perfectly until /just/ now, tonight, and it's been malfunctioning almost the same, but not identically, between different g-code files. Of course, maybe there's a hacker screwing up my prints. Who knows. I guess that's a possibility since it seems my computer's become part of a botnet given how google keeps asking me for captchas, despite knowing I've never used google in a high volume way to deserve such constant captchas from google. So, I guess 'foul play' is the most probable possibility, even though I guess S3D just being 'bad G-code host software' is plausible. Still, reversing the filament and then going into 'zombie mode' seems absolutely bizarre, even for 'bad software'. That takes particular G codes that can't be 'accidentally' done by a typical software bug.

Cura doesn't have constant internet connectivity, unlike S3D, so that may be its saving grace. Okay, well, I've determined that I'm executing my gcodes from cura from now on a separate, dedicated print server. That absolutely settles that question.

swbluto wrote:Any ideas?