I got a Gen L v2.1 but even though I downloaded the custom firmware from V1, only one motor per axis moves. I’m plugging X2 into E0 and Y2 into E1 but only X1 and Y1 move when given commands.
I’m using TMC 2209s for drivers
What could be the problem?
We do not have a firmware for that board, If you did not modify one of ours none of them will work out of the box.
I tried to modify the RAMPS 1.4 firmware by setting up the drivers for their respective ports, seen that the pins and env are the same but got nowhere
I’ve been told that the Gen L v2.1 is a drop-in replacement for the Ramps 1.4 board. What is the exact firmware you downloaded? Typically, this problem is related to using a serial version of the firmware, but V1 does not have serial versions for the Ramps boards.
As for TMC2209, there are several ways they can be set up. How did you set them up? I’ve read on the forum that setting them up the way V1 has them setup was somewhat involved. You can use a difference tool and compare the Ramps firmware’'s configuration.ini and configuration_adv.ini to a version of the firmware that uses TMC2209 drivers to see the differences. I use Meld as my diff tool.
You might also swap the stepper drivers to see if that makes a difference. You might also try sending an M122 to see debugging information about the TMC2209 drivers.
If you have some A4988 drivers or DRV8825 drivers around, you might try setting things up with these drivers first, and then transition to the TMC2209 drivers. That way you know the firmware is working for dual stepper motors.
Note that none of this is from personal experience…just stuff I’ve read on the forum.
I downloaded the ramps firmware from the Git Hub repository
https://github.com/V1EngineeringInc/MarlinBuilder/releases/download/515/V1CNC_Ramps_Dual-2.1.1.zip
When you open it in VS Code, the X, Y and Z drivers are set up as DRV8825s and E is set up as A4988
The only thing I modified was to change the drivers to TMC2209 and enabled E1 and set it up as TMC2209.
X, Y and Z get signal but E0 and E1 don’t.
I have found this thread:
Since I’m pretty much a beginner and the firmware is not yet set up, I’m contemplating givung GRBL a go.
Any thoughts
Grbl mega 5x doesn’t support tmc, AFAIK. For the people that got it to work, they thought it was great. Others had some trouble getting started.
I’m at a loss, then. I’ll look into it, the TMC compatibility. If they don’t work, could DRVs or A4988 work?
I have an SKR 1.4 (regular, non turbo) and the Gen L 2.1, but none of them seem to have compatible firmware for the MPCNC.
As I said, I’m a total beginner and am still learning everything. And I mean, everything. Do you guys suggest any specific reading or video material I should look into?
Thanks for the support so far.
It is possible the problem is not the firmware. It could be the stepper driver, the stepper motor wiring, or the control board itself.
One way to debug the problem is to buy either a set a set of A4988 drivers ($10) or a set of DRV8825 drivers ($15) and see if everything works. I’ve set up the original Ramps boards with both of the drivers using V1 firmware without issues. If you still have a problem using this configuration, try swapping stepper motors at the control board to verify the wiring is not the issue. Note the V1 Ramps firmware is set up for the DRV8825 drivers, but making the change is simple.
Before buying new stepper drivers, I suggest you swap one of the working stepper drivers with a non-working driver to see if the problem follows the driver. I’ve never set up a board with TMC2209 drivers, but I understand they can be set up so the current can be adjusted manually, or to get current information from the firmware, and I’m not sure how things are set up by just changing the driver designation in the configuration file. As I said before, there may be more changes needed, and looking at a V1 version that uses TMC2209 drivers will help you figure things out. If set up for manual current, you will need to set the vref for the drivers.
Did you try sending am M122 as I suggested? If so, what did you get back?
The Gen L V1.0 is a drop-in replacement for the RAMPS 1.4 board. I don’t know about the Gen L v2.1 but there’s some difference from what I read. I can’t remember the differences, but I from what I remember, I thought the Gen L V1.0 was easier to setup for a CNC with the MarlinBuilder.
My advice for you @brunobalestra is to do “unit testing” like swapping the stepper driver, compile & upload and check and double check the logs from the compile & upload.
Good luck
FWIW, I used a MKS Gen L v1.0 with V1 downloaded firmware for the RAMPS 1.4 / DRV8825 drivers on my Primo for a while before I swapped to the Duet.
The V1 maintained RAMPS firmware worked perfectly. Pretty sure that board still has the Primo firmware on it.
Hello,
Sorry for the long delay, but I’ve had some personal and health issues and couldn’t do anything on the machine yet.
I’ll have free time next weekend and try the codes and motor swapping. Thank you for the feedback!
I will try that, thanks!
I’m getting new drivers if the 2209s don’t work.
The MKS Gen L 2.1 is supposedly a 1.0 that supports it UART and a few other goodies, but, supposedly, basically the same in so far as being a ramps 1.4/mega 2560 replacement.
Thank you!
I have different drivers and plan on swapping them if it proves necessary. Thanks!
The A4988 drivers are fine provided that you get ones with adequate current capability (some aren’t up to 1000mA and some are good to 2000mA.)
The difdeeence is that the A4988 drivers max out at 16× microstepping, but if you change the steps/mm from the LCD, it works the same.