nanoDLP

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

My printer is not assembled yet. I am testing the workings a little at a time to ensure everything's doing what it's supposed to do before I permanently mount anything. I am running my setup on a MAC computer, which shouldn't matter because I'm only using my computer to run the nanodlp on my pi through a browser window.

My current set up is:

Build 1778 of nanodlp
Arduino MEGA2560
Ramps 1.4
Marlin version: "Marlin-mUVe1DLP-Running-master"

After many hours and days of installing and testing this and that I have gotten to the point where I am finally able to connect to the Ramps board and I am trying to manually run my Z-axis stepper motor. Here is what is happening:

Go to Z-axis calibration window and select FLOOR 10mm and the stepper motor turns CCW. Select TOP 10mm and the stepper motor turns CCW as well! - same direction either way.

I ran a test print to my monitor and watched the motor and the log to see what would happen. No stepper motor movement at all and no motor commands sent to the Ramps.
What am I doing wrong? I feel like I'm really close to getting everything working...

I'm really struggling to get this project going. The tutorial videos on the nanodlp site are great. Unfortunately, the videos cover the installation and use of nanodlp on a GRBL board - not a Ramps board.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Share debug file after moving up and down. (setup page/tools tab/debug file)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Can't get to debug file for stepper motor issue. Now I can't connect to Ramps!

Getting error message "serial port could not be activated no such file or directory"

I've checked and rechecked serial port; tried different USB ports; shut down and restarted nanodlp; no go.

Here is the debug file for this issue.

nanodlp.debug.-1396522880.zip

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Since I was having z motor problems I decided to reload nanodlp and ended up with this new issue. This is what I did to reload nanodlp:

Downloaded "nanodlp" from the nanodlp website
Unzipped the zip file to an .img file
Flashed the "nanodlp.img" file to my microSD card
Inserted microSD card into raspberry Pi3 and turned on Pi
Attached Pi to computer through ethernet cable and ran PiFinder program to set WiFi address and connect to Pi through terminal
Ran "sudo raspi-config" from terminal and expanded file system
Exit back out to terminal and do the following steps:

1. Key in "(wget http://www.nanodlp.com/nanodlp.tar.gz -O - | tar -C /home/pi -xz);cd /home/pi/printer;sudo ./setup.sh"
    (NOTE: The "|" vertical line character is created using the Shift + \ key)
2. "After this operation, 559 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue?[Y/n]"   --->  "Y"
3. "Do you want to optimize Raspberry Pi settings for nanoDLP automatically?[Y/n]"   ---->  "Y"
4. "Do you see black border around display output? (DISABLE OVERSCAN)"  --->  "Y"
5. "Do you want to enable i2c to enable communication with LCD and other hardware with i2c connectivity?[Y/n]"    ---> "n"
6. "Do you want to add nanoDLP to startup by replacing rc.local? [Y/n]"   --->  "Y"
7. "Do you want to update raspberry firmware? (It required for Raspbian Stretch) [Y/N]"   --->"Y"
8. "Would you like to proceed? (y/N)?"   --->"Y"

Rebooted Pi and connected to nanodlp through browser and made sure USB serial port was set to /dev/ttyUSB0
Changed distribution to mUVe3D and then restored to default machine settings
Rebooted nanodlp once more

Loaded "Marlin-mUVe1DLP-Running-master" to Arduino MEGA2560 board and connected to Pi3 via USB

Tried to connect to Ramps board but now getting "serial port could not be activated no such file or directory"

Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Last edited by psneddon (2018-03-05 00:56:12)

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

the first
all that is related to arduino and ramps, tune to the straight from the computer
from windows versions
and then only connect to the pi when everything will work correctly
the second
Connect the screen to hdmi  straight to the computer as the second screen and check
and then to pi when everything will work correctly
all settings and profiles from the windows version is simple
export and then import into pi

Last edited by elshad66 (2018-03-05 13:54:36)

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I did everything from the beginning of the Windows version
after all the settings, calibration, printing and so on
when the printer worked as it should
I moved all the settings to pi
now open the pi in the browser and run nanodlp.exe

Last edited by elshad66 (2018-03-05 15:11:15)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

elshad66

Thanks for the info. I am using a MAC computer and I don't think the nanodlp.mac64 version is working right. I can't figure out how to send the plate images to the projector/monitor in preview or printing modes.

Guess I have to struggle with getting the raspberry pi method working.

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

elshad66

Thanks for the info. I am using a MAC computer and I don't think the nanodlp.mac64 version is working right. I can't figure out how to send the plate images to the projector/monitor in preview or printing modes.

Guess I have to struggle with getting the raspberry pi method working.

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

no difference ,, install Mac 64bit version.

the first
connect to the screen the computer and select the option duplicate the monitor
and check image is there or not

the second
If there is an image select the option to expand the screen
run  nanodlp.exe 
Click on the start display  and  go projector calibration
and check if there are images of a red, white grid, and full white

If everything works, it means everything is normal
you just need to configure everything

Last edited by elshad66 (2018-03-06 00:10:56)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Not sure if the MAC version works the same way...

I assume you mean the mirror option which duplicates my existing desktop? Yes I can duplicate my desktop on the second monitor.

Not sure what option you are referring to - expand the screen??

No matter what I do I cannot get anything from nanodlp to show up on the screens - no calibration screens, no plates...

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I reloaded nanodlp onto my raspberry pi and after setting it up for the mUVe3D style I ran an object through the plater and now I'm getting non-solid white layers as shown here

Last edited by psneddon (2018-03-06 01:36:57)

elshad66

Member

Registered: 2017-03-31

Posts: 118

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

that's where you turned on duplication
there there is option to expand the screen

all there where the properties of the screen

choice to expand the screen
and move your mouse
it should appear on the second display

sometimes you need to reboot your computer

Last edited by elshad66 (2018-03-06 02:25:51)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I appreciate the help,  but it's not working.

I managed to expand the desktop using the second monitor and my cursor can move between the two monitors.

Initially I had a tool bar along the top of both monitors. I searched for how to remove the tool bar from the top of the second monitor and was able to end up with a blank/blue screen.

Still can't get the calibration screen to show up on either screen. Going to have to try and get nanodlp working via raspberry pi I guess. It's too bad there aren't any other videos out there that cover the installation and set up procedures. I'm determined to get this working one way or the other.

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I have nanodlp running from my Pi3 with the mUVe3D settings and my layers are not solid white as they were before. The calibration plate is the same way. It goes from solid white at the top and gradually goes to striped at the bottom.

I've deleted the files and resliced them but it still looks like this.

I've tried so many different ways and versions of nanodlp and I can't seem to get it completely right. The layers were looking perfect in a previous version. Does anyone else see this happening to them? I'm on build 1778

It's not being caused by the second monitor. The slices look the same on my computer when I preview the layers from the nandlp website.

Last edited by psneddon (2018-03-06 12:23:08)

Shahin

Administrator

Registered: 2016-02-17

Posts: 3,541

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I believe you are using mask file which cause this effect. Remove mask file and try again.

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Shahin,

Thank you very much! That was it. The slices look good now.

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Couldn't get z axis stepper motor to work properly when trying to connect to Ramps, so I decided to give GRBL shield a try since the video tutorials are all based on GRBL connection

Still can't get motor to turn/turn properly. I loaded my Arduino UNO board with GRBL Servo Master and am able to communicate with the GRBL shield fine. I setup nanodlp as follows:

Bootup Gcode

G21
G91
M17
M9
F200

Start of Part Gcode

G21
G91
M17
M9

Print Stop Gcode

G1 Z10 F200
M19
M8

Manual Movement Gcode Template

G1 Z[[Position]]

I update nanodlp with these settings and try to test stepper motor movement through the GRBL shield via the nano dlp z-axis control panel and the stepper motor does not move.

I can hear the power supply when it attempts to move the stepper motor and checking the stepper motor itself the shaft is locked and won't move at all until the attempted movement is over. I check the nanodlp terminal window and it shows that the commands were sent successfully, but nothing else.

Also, on a side note. Whenever I disconnect and reconnect the USB cable to the GRBL the USB serial port address increases?? It used to be /dev/ttyUSB0 - I am now connected through /dev/ttyUSB7 even though it's the same USB port on the Pi3.....

I have attached the debug file here:

nanodlp.debug.535242148.zip

I don't think it will show any problem though. Any ideas?

Last edited by psneddon (2018-03-07 19:20:16)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

Making progress. I can now move the stepper motor via the nano dlp z-axis control panel. It was a stupid mistake on my part. I had the stepper motor connected to the wrong driver axis - it was connected to the X axis not the Z axis. That explains the locked up motor reaction.

After connecting to the proper Z axis driver I was able to manually step the motor up/down.

I tried to create a test plate to check the stepper motor movement during printing. I set the stepper motor movement in a test resin profile but I cannot upload it here on the forum.

I set it to lift 10mm after each layer after the initial burn in layers of 10 micrometers. I ran the print and watched the stepper motor and there was no platform movement except at the end of the print where the platform would return to the home position.

Last edited by psneddon (2018-03-07 22:50:08)

psneddon

Member

Registered: 2018-02-27

Posts: 28

Re: Z axis Manual Control Not Working Right

I went back to ramps board with same result - can move the z axis manually, but when I try to print the printer is stuck waiting on a reply from the ramps board.

I loaded "Marlin-mUVe1DLP-Running-master" onto my Arduino Mega2560 board and can connect fine. Here's the debug file:

nanodlp.debug.-128786273.zip