Unresolved Apparently losing connection to printer when I hit print.

The printer seems to be freezing up when asked to print a file.

I have the current firmware (Marlin 6_10) installed on a Beta-PLA-only printer and am using MatterControl 1.2 on Mac. I am able to
1) connect to the printer
2) manually control x,y,z, nozzle temp, and extruder
3) load a STL file

then, when I hit print it does nothing. Here are a few clues:
A) the printer is shown connected (or at least is reads "DISCONNECT" in the top left corner, which I assume means it is connected)
B) at this point, I no longer have manual control over the movement controls until I disconnect and connect again in MC.
C) however, the nozzle temp will cool when cancelled, and then heat again if asked to print.

So the movement controls appear to be freezing up on the print command and cannot communicate with MC after that. It doesn't seem to be affecting the nozzle temp, though.

This same thing was happening on another linux machine it was connected to, which led me to flash the firmware and install MC on a separate machine. So it seems to be an issue within the electronics or the firmware, since it translates across platforms and software. Any ideas?

(For the record, I'm not particularly tech savvy, but today I learned to flash firmware, I think. So keep that in mind before you have me open Terminal or something crazy like that. Thanks)

 

You use linux but opening terminal in matter control is crazy? Does not compute.

What firmware exactly did you install? Sounds like you installed the wrong one.

Watch terminal and see what happens. Never heard of something like this before. Possibly a linux thing

 

Thanks for the quick reply, Mike, I probably wasn't clear:

I have tried this twice, first on a Linux machine using Repetier 1.0.6 (someone else set it up); and then again (today) on my Mac using Matter Control and the firmware update following the instructions in this link: http://help.robo3dprinter.com/Answers/View/260/What+is+the+latest+Firmware.

Both produced the same effect. The nozzle heats up, but after the print command is sent, the mechanical controls freeze up.

I'm assuming the comment about watching the Terminal is a joke based on my post. If you are serious, then tell me how to watch Terminal and what I'm supposed to be looking for.

 

I linked it in my previous post.



Number 1 and 2 respectively are what you're looking for but they're in different positions.

I think you kinda need the basic fundamentals explained to further understand just how simple this all is.

CNC printers of every type are controlled by a basic language called G-code. Regardless of machine they all use this fundamental system, because it's so very simple.

The simplest and most used function is called G1.

G1 is referred to as a controlled movement

If you add an axis followed by a coordinate you will move to this position.

Ex

Code:

G1 Z10.0

This will raise the Z axis 10mm in the air.

With this understanding we can expand on this basic command with more coordinates

Code:

G1 Z10.0 Y10.0 Z10.0 E10.0

This will move the X, Y, and Z axis 10mm in a controlled manner. It will also extrude 10mm of filament through the extruder, based on the filament diameter and that the extruder is hot.

These are the fundamental core of 3d printing. It's 99% this command over and over with changing these position.

The other command you'll see often is M105.

M105 is a request from the computer for the temperatures. This is how the computer knows it's ok to start prints. If you open terminal you will see this command being called often. Most software lets you hide these requests.

There's other tools you use in Gcode like
G28 ;Home all axs
G29 ;Autolevel routine
M119 ;Get endstop status



Terminal is very useful because it lets you see the errors. If it disconnects it will say so in the terminal window. If it just keeps getting M105's it's still running.

M999 means there's a temperature error and the printer was shut off. Maybe you're seeing this error. What you need to find is a line like "Extruder Switched off. MINTEMP Triggered"

If it just says it's reset that's not useful for diagnosing.

I strive to teach people the benefit of learning things, and hope to help those interested in doing so.