Uploading Sailfish 3D Printer Software from 64 bit Linux Mint

My God, I've had my 3D printer for a year now and have not been able to upgrade the stock Makerbot firmware to the newer Sailfish firmware until NOW.

My Printer:

CTC 3D Printer (This is a Makerbot Dual Clone) equivalent to a Flashforge Creator)

The control board is a Mightyboard with an AT Mega 1280 Chip (I believe CTC have now updated the chip to the version with more memory)

Print area 220 x 140 x 150



Anyways, after watching video's, reading posts and getting nowhere I had nearly given up.

The problem I and it seems many others have had using Linux (not just Mint) was pressing the upload button to flash the new firmware onto the chip while simultaneously pressing the reset button on the printer.

Nothing was working, however many times I pressed, waited, pressed etc.

Finally I think I have cracked it after reading a post I will link to later for reference.

It seems that the problem on my 64 bit Linux install is avrdude.

So what I did...

1,Made sure I had the last version 7.5 of the Makerbot software.

2, Downloaded and installed all dependencies for ReplicatorG. You need the Sailfish version not the standard version. It can be found on Thingiverse Version 40 r33.

3, I then set up in ReplicatorG from File / Preferences / advanced / the new path to upload the updated firmware Hex files to RepG just as the Sailfish homepage instructions said (the new path is noted on Thingiverse as it has changed since the page was written).

4, I watched as in the command line view at the bottom of RepG uploaded the new software and a list flew by in green text.

5, I followed the instructions again on the main sailfish site until I got to the part where I would be pressing update and the reset button.

(After my previous tries I had opened RepG in Terminal and behind the program in the terminal window I saw the fail was saying something about libusb not working. This new field of enquiry led me to a discussion about Avrdude and the version supplied with sailfish V 40r33 not working correctly on 64 bit Linux Ubuntu systems. A contributor had suggested the OP try calling the newer version installed on their system via the command line to do the flashing and so I followed that advice)

6, I opened up a command line terminal and input:

avrdude -c stk500v1 -P/dev/ttyACM0 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:/home/my_name/.replicatorg/firmware/ff_creator-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex:i  -pm1280

replacing "my_name" with my login of course.

The cursor sat there flashing an underscore. I'm not really sure what I was expecting and I turned, not very fast I admit and pressed the reset button on the back of the printer.

Bang...  The terminal changed

avrdude: stk500_recv(): programmer is not responding
avrdude: stk500_getsync() attempt 1 of 10: not in sync: resp=0x00

avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.01s

avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9703 (probably m1280)
avrdude: reading input file "/home/my_name/.replicatorg/firmware/ff_creator-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (125440 bytes):

Writing | ################################################## | 100% 30.11s

avrdude: 125440 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against /home/my_name/.replicatorg/firmware/ff_creator-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file /home/my_name/.replicatorg/firmware/ff_creator-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex:
avrdude: input file /home/my_name/.replicatorg/firmware/ff_creator-Sailfish-v7.7.0-r1432.hex contains 125440 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:

Reading | ################################################## | 100% 25.80s

avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 125440 bytes of flash verified

avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:00, H:00, L:00)

avrdude done.  Thank you.

So the instructions set the USB port output and Uflash was directed to the Hex file to flash.

As you can see it was set for the flashforge Hex file. I believe this is because this is the same as the Makerbot Sailfish software but allows the heater bed on the printer to heat at the same time as the heating element on the head. Some power supplies on the Makerbot were not powerful enough to do both these things at the same time but apparently the Flashforge and the CTC have bigger power supplies.

I'd like to thank the people on this thread for getting me further than anyone else

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ctc3dprinters/IdgMcZT7zVg


Connections for Repetier Host: (Printing software just for my notes !)

serial connection set serial port to /dev/tty/ACM0 and Baudrate to 115200

GPX plugin - Change setting to Replicator 1 Dual NOT replicator 2

Slic3r - set options to printer settings / general / sailfish (makerbot)

Print area  (x)220 x (y)140 x (z)150 Origin 112 x 72 Centre (important for Octoprint)

Also Octoprint /Slic3r info, Set custom Left Tool (T1) Right Tool(T0) and Dual profiles. When slicing with one loaded filement make sure correct one is selected.

tool1 offset x34 y0

Use scrip section to set start and end gcode, If you want to print in dual color/materials remember to remove the tool1 offset from the slicer or from the printer setting or the software will add both.

More Slic3r info here:
https://3duniverse.org/2014/01/05/using-slic3r-with-a-flashforge-creator/

JST -VH (The Jst connector to the heater bed, just a reminder to myself)