I've finished the mechanical and electronic assembly to upgrade to a Mk6 3mm, put everything back together and downloaded RepG25. I guess I should have known this, but following the instructions step by step, I'm now told to update firmware —- Does this mean (as I suspect it does) that I need to DISASSEMBLE things enough to get to do the firmware upgrade as detailed in the instructions??? Do I need to upgrade my motherboard firmware and my extruder controller firmware? Do I need to unplug everything from these boards to do this? And if not, what can I leave plugged in ???? AAAHHHH!!!!! I am going through serious bot withdrawal and am a little steamed at not having the firmware upgrade not listed as a FIRST step, instead of basically a LAST step.
No, on a T-O-M you can skip the extruder update, it doesn't matter but you need to update the motherboard to the latest and you can do that anytime wihtout unplugging anything. The big step is choosing a driver in rep-g for a MK6 stepper extruder so it shows up in the control panel and then using a skienforge 35 profile for MK6 when generating gcode. Those are the important things!!!
Let's clear the air on this so people understand.
The extruder controller now only controls the heaters but it must talk to the motherboard via the ethernet cable. If that doesn't work, one of the few ways we can tell if the extruder is working is updating the firmware on it. There simply is no other way to test without a know good motherboard which the average user doesn't have. Updating the firmware shows us the microcontroller is working on the board. To date, there have been very few, if any bad extruder controller boards, but there have been a fair number of bad motherboards. Kinda silly since the motherboard has 1 chip on it and the extruder controller is very complicated-but hey, that's just how it is. Since people are having problems, we've resorted back to basic microcontrollers 101 and have people unplug everything since we have no idea what they could have connected wiring wise. It gives me a clean state in which I know I can troubleshoot the extruder controller.
I know people are upset, but most of them need a crash course in Arduino as they have probably never touched a microcontroller and even firmware updates on a normal PC was a challenge for them. That's not to put people down-just a reality check on skillsets. Most people don't do this level of messing with electronics and flashing firmware. Once people get this skillset-it's not a big deal. Makerbot's are about learning and there is plenty of room for all of us. I never touched a MakerBot until last November, so I was a noob too.
Again, no need to update the EC if it works. you just must ensure you setup your new profile (calibration script!!!!!) or else you will be printing 20cm above the platform.
Thanks. That's clear and I think I've got it done right. (I may have other issues, but I'm gritting my teeth and trying to be systematic and take things slowly.)
As always, Jetguy, you're answers are clear and helpful.
