Home JGAurora A5 & A3S Modifications & Upgrades

A5 doesn't start printing, seems to freeze on start

Hi folks,
first of all a Happy New Year 2019 to you all!
Second, I'm new here and want to introduce myself real quick:
I live in Southern Germany, nearby Ulm, I'm 58 and new in 3D-Printing. The reason I bought a 3D-Printer is, every now and then I'm constructing different devices and machines for toolmaking, grinding, milling, lathwork and so on. Often I have to try things, and the 3D-printing is a great help and it could save me a lot of time.

And finally third:
Well, I got me a JGAurora A5 and started, at least I tried to, printing.
The first time I turned it on, I was able to do homing in all axes, complete or 1 by 1, The bed and the extruder heated up, but starting a print is quite difficult:
I turn on the printer, do a homing in all axes, plug in the USB-Stick and select the g-code. after the selection, the screen changes and the temperature off bed and extruder are shown as 0/60 and 0/200. If i leave the printer on it's own, it will stay for days like this. After turning it off and on several times, every time I give the printer a little time to react, it catches up and the printing will start.
How do I solve this problem? I read about flashing firmware would be a deal, but I don't know what version is running on my printer, how do I find out? Should I flash the LCD firmware too?
The printing itself looks fairly well, the layers stay good together, the noise of the printer is very calm and the extrusion works, eye approved, also as it should.
Only the accuracy is a little off. But this will be solved later.
My first printing was not the classic cat, it was the 20 mm test cube. In X I measure 20,37 mm, in Y it is 20,19 mm and in Z it's 20,31 mm.
Checking the web for calibration gave me a few tips and videos showing hot to, but I always end up that I don't know, how many steps my printer does for 1 mm...
From where do I get this information? Is there a possibility to get the version number of mainboard and LCD?
The warranty card says it's tested somewhen in 09/ 2017 (!)

Does it make sense to flash all firmware before I start doing anything else? What is the actual version number for the JGAurora A5 right now?

Greetings

Freddie

Comments

  • Samuel PinchesSamuel Pinches Posts: 2,997Administrator
    Welcome Freddie :smile:  ( @Badger1875 )
    I do recommend flashing the firmware both for the LCD and the mainboard. Can you please post a few photos of your printer? From photos I can tell you which "version" it is:

    - Is the bed top glass glued on, or is it held down with clips?
    - are the x-axis components all metal, or are they plastic?
    - the wires for the heated bed, are there 4 wires or 6?

    There is no official version history, I have documented the changes I have heard about over time on the wiki here.

    To check the LCD firmware version there is an option in the menu.

    The main motherboard firmware version can be displayed by connecting to the the printer in pronterface.

    Kind regards - and a happy new year!
    Sam
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Hi Sam,

    thank you for your very fast reply!
    Right now I have no possibility to connect my printer with pronterface... Therefor I have to move to much stuff around, I will try tomorrow...
    The glass is clipped on the bed, the X axis is as far I can tell completely metal and the bed is connected with 6 wires.
    The LCD is 3.0.2

    Sorry about the poor quality pictres, but them where made onehanded with a cell phone and shrinked to be sent via email....
    If you need more details, let me know, I will try to cover.
    What is the newest functional firmware for both, and where do I get the files from?
    Would this address:


    be the chosen one for the mainboard? If yes, which folder/ files is/ are the needed?
    Where do I get the LCD-stuff from?
    Sorry for the mass of my questions, but I'm kind of addleheaded after all the websites I read today to solve my problem...

    Regards

    Freddie

  • Samuel PinchesSamuel Pinches Posts: 2,997Administrator
    edited January 2019
    The printer was manufactured 17th Aug. 2018. - looks like you got all the good stuff!! :smiley: lucky duck.
    For firmware, follow the wiki instructions on how to flash. The latest files you want are:


    Thanked by 1Badger1875
    Post edited by Samuel Pinches on
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Hi Sam,

    OUTSTANDING!!!

    Thank you for the fastest reply I ever had from a forum!
    I will try tomorrow and will let you know in here...
    ...if these firmware updates will solve my problems, you made me a very happy 3D-printing-Newbie!

    Adjusting the printing size will be the next step, but therefor I first will take care of the starting/ booting problems.

    Regards


    Freddie
  • netzmarknetzmark Posts: 107🌟 Super Member 🌟
    17th Sept.2018.
    I have 06092018 and the holders of the x axis are plastic. So it is some break time when they mix it and probably future is probably plastic unfortunately.
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Hi netzmark,
    a possibility might be, that JGAurora is produced in different sites, so the one use the new and the others use the old stuff...
    Like Sam said, I'm very happy about the year of build, because the warranty card of my printer says 20-some of September 2017...

    Regards

    Freddie
  • netzmarknetzmark Posts: 107🌟 Super Member 🌟
    Hi Freddie
    Yes, it can be so! Your metal are more friendly to service when needed to replace these shity bearings...
    brgds
    Marek
  • Samuel PinchesSamuel Pinches Posts: 2,997Administrator
    Are you sure that the year is 2017? From that serial number it looks like 2018.
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    H Sam,

    the stamp on the warranty card:
    How to read the manufacturing date out of the serial# was not common to me...
    ...if it is YYMMDD-format you should be right with the 17th September 2018.

    Regards


    Freddie
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Hi folks,

    the flashing of the frimware and the LCD worked out good, everything is back working!

    Thank you Sam for your kind help and advice!


    I leveled the bed and tried to do a test printing of a 20 mm cube, the problem now is, that it won't stick to the bed.

    Temperature of the bed is set to 60° and the extruder to 200°. I cleaned the bed with isopropyl alcohol as recommended and I started the print several times the first line printed looks like beads on a string...
    after 4 circles or so, the inner side of the ground layer starts lifting off the bed.

    You got some ideas?

    Thanks in advance


    Regards


    Freddie
  • Der_MuckDer_Muck Posts: 265🌟 Super Member 🌟
    Check the first layer high and the first layer settings in your slicer, something is wrong there.
    Thanked by 1Samuel Pinches
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Tx Muck

    I'll try later, I'm just drawing a flange to print, will try with this ...

    Regards

    Freddie

  • Der_MuckDer_Muck Posts: 265🌟 Super Member 🌟
    Try to level about 0,18mm that produce a very nice first layer. 
    For me, there was a problem that I leveled 0,18 and my slicers Z0 was on this 0,18.
    The first layer in the slicer started at about 0,18 and all together it was 0,36mm on the machine. Took me a wile till I knew whats going on. So I set the Z.Offset in the slicer to Z -0,18  after that all was perfect.
    Maybe it helps.
    Thanked by 1Samuel Pinches
  • Badger1875Badger1875 Posts: 13Member
    Hi there,

    This morning I had to get up pretty early, so I used the time, to level my bed new, using mesh and tried again. Still the same...
    Till I found out, that the problem was not the not sticking bed, not the leveling, but a damaged nozzle! It took me Minutes to change it and receive an excellent printing....
    Sometimes its the little things what makes men happy!

    Thank you so far for your help!

    Freddie



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