Hi guys,
to test the forum's functionality I'll add something Ultimaker related :-)
After assembling the Ultimaker on the Fablab Utrecht workshop I encountered a problem during the software configuration steps. I started with Replicator V26 for Ultimaker on my Windows 7 64-bits machine. After making the connection to the machine and setting the limit switches I struggled on the step where the first bits of material are to be extruded.
My extruder head was not heated yet so the software comes up with a warning to check if you're really sure to start the extruder motor. Since I had no material in the tube I clicked yes to test if the motor is working anyway. The motor started running after a short time (not directly after clicking but with only a little lag). When I clicked "stop" in Replicator the motor didn't stop right away but stopped after 2-3 seconds... I tried it out a couple of times more with the same results. I even tried restarting Replicator/ Ultimaker connection/ PC.
Although I felt this was probably not as it was meant to be I decided to heat the head up to 250 degrees Celsius. That worked fine but when the final temperature was reached the extruder motor didn't react anymore no respons at all. I let the head cool down to somewhere below 170 degrees and tried it again. Now it started running again although the lag was still there.
At home I connected the Ultimaker to my iMac with Replicator V25 installed. The same problems showed up... After trying all sorts of things I found a post on Google Groups. He solved the problem by going back to V24. I installed that to my Mac afterwards and now the extruder motor reacts just fine!
My conclusion:
Windows 7 64-bit - Replicator 26: Extruder motor problem
Mac OS Leopard - Replicator 25: Extruder motor problem
Mac OS Leopard - Replicator 24: Extruder problem solved
I'll try my Windows 7 machine with V24 later this week. For now I'll just try to get my first print out through my Mac ;-)
I hope this problem will be tackled in new updates for Replicator and that this was helpfull to anyone encountering the same problem.
Michael
