DLP Print Controller and Wanhao D7

#1

I’m evaluating the FormWare slicer and also want to use the print controller with my Wanhao D7 (not plus).

The controller works nearly perfect controlling the printer except the UV light won’t turn on. I’ve tried other slicers as well and the outcome is the same. However, everything works with fine and prints with Wanhao CWS - just need something better.

Is there a setting inside the slicer that needs enabling, extra gcode to add somewhere, or is this a firmware issue?

Thanks in advance,

Kent

#2

Hi Kent,

It’s been a while we looked at the D7; might be it changed.

Can you figure out what the GCode is in the working version ?

If it’s all closed you should be able to use a software tool like ‘serial monitor’ to monitor what goes over the line i think.

Elco

#3

Thanks Elco - I’ll grab a serial monitor and see specifically what is being sent.

However, I did look at cws slicer output and FormWare slicer output and see the commands per layer. So manually in your print controller I can send M106 S255 and S0 and see the light going on and off. I can send M106 S255 and then hit print and see the images on the LCD including going to the next layer. But, it does not go off between layers nor when I cancel the print. Manually I can then turn it off with M106 S255.

Regards,

Kent

#4

mm i’m checking the default settings for the wanhao gcode; it’s currently at this:

;-------slice start--------
M106; UV on
;PROJECT($SliceNr < $BtmLyrs?$ExTimeBottom:$ExTime)
M107; UV off
G1 Z(-1 * $ZLiftDistance * $ZDir) F($SliceNr < $BtmLyrs?$ZBottomSpeed:$ZLiftSpeed)
G1 Z(($ZLiftDistance-$LayerThickness) * $ZDir) F$ZRetractSpeed
;DELAY$AutoDelay
;-------slice end--------

I notice there is no S0 or S255 and the second one if M107 instead of M106… did you try to change that into M106 S0 and M106 S255?

#5

Ok Elco - perhaps my newbie-ness.

I assumed the gcode included all codes/operations and the print controller uses it. But, The Advanced portion of the Print Settings in the controller took precedence and they did not have M106 on/off steps:

;-------slice start--------
;PROJECT($SliceNr < $BtmLyrs?$ExTimeBottom:$ExTime)
G1 Z(-1 * $ZLiftDistance * $ZDir) F($SliceNr < $BtmLyrs?$ZBottomSpeed:$ZLiftSpeed)
G1 Z(($ZLiftDistance-$LayerThickness) * $ZDir) F$ZRetractSpeed
;DELAY$AutoDelay
;-------slice end--------

So, it works with adding M106 on/off into that advanced setting (above) in the controller.

Given this, how does this work with the printer/resin profile in your slicer which have bottom thickness and layer timings? There are also layer thickness and timings in the print controller. Do these in the controller take precedence as well? I’d rather see it driven by the slicer as I create and choose a resin profile per project and adjust in the controller as needed if the outcome is not as expected/needs adjustment.

Thanks and Regards,

Kent

#6

Hi Kent,

The printcontroller should give you the question when you open a slicejob if you want to import the print profile settings. If you answer yes then it will read the machine.xml and print_profile.xml that are exported to your slicejob.

image

Please also check you have this correctly setup in the slicer under ‘slice setup’ in the machine config.

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image.png757x573 22.7 KB

These .xml files contain al parameters about timing, gcode etc. Basically everything that you can override in the printcontroller.

Elco

#7

Ok, all makes sense now. The machine config I was using (for D7 from the forum) did not have the extra files so the print controller never asked. Easy fix…thanks!