Hit print, nothing happens

taliesan

Hi All,

A newbie issue, perhaps, but...

Bought and assembled the bot. I downloaded and ran (what I believe to be) the right software. It detects the bot. Loaded an example image and hit print. Then nothing happens.

Robopaint runs through what I assume to be it's drawing program, but very quickly. While it's doing it, nothing happens on the bot.

Basically, I hit print and nothing happens with the device, though the software looks to be working.

Have I done something wrong?

Thanks! Excited to get this going.

Tal.

taliesan

I should add that the green wire on what is now motor #2 was broken when I unpacked the kit. I stripped and twisted the wire back together at the break before I assembled it.

I'm pretty sure the machine is getting power, as when I connect the power cord the brush raises or lowers automatically, depending on its last state.

But motor #2 never feels 'in gear'. Meaning that when the power is connected motor #1 resists manual adjustment. Motor #2 never does.

Windell Oskay

Hmmm... maybe more than one issue here. 

First off: I'm sorry to hear about the damaged wire-- do you think that the wire is possibly broken other than just the loose end being broken off?  (If necessary, we can send you a new motor, but you'll be up and running much sooner if the problem can get sorted out with the motor that you already have.)

In any case, it sounds like you're still not getting a good connection on one or more of your motor wires. The two motors should give identical resistance when they're hooked up correctly and energized.  I'd suggest removing all four wires from the terminal block and inspecting the ends.  Make sure that the metal are cleanly exposed on each, and inserted to such a degree that the terminal block will make a good connection.  Once inserted, pull gently on each wire, to make sure that they're held in place.

If you still can't get a good connection, you might try (A) stripping that green wire a little further back and trying again and/or (B) swapping the wires between the two motors.  If the problem moves with the motor, then that would confirm that it's some sort of an issue with the wires (or less likely, the motor itself). If it does not move, then that would indicate that it's actually a problem with the EBB.

Separately, I would have expected that if you were trying to print, you should still have one motor moving, even if the second were disconnected.  So, there may still be something amiss.  If Robopaint appears to be moving *very quickly,* it may be in "simulation mode," which is what it does when it does not have a connection to the WaterColorBot. (When you launch RoboPaint, it will indicate very clearly if it cannot find the WaterColorBot-- if you haven't seen this, disconnect the WaterColorBot's USB cable and restart RoboPaint, so you can see how it reacts to this situation.)  You can also test this by asking it to lower and raise the brush. If it has a good connection and power, it will comply.

taliesan

Thanks! The brush raise/lower doesn't work, either, so that suggests that connection isn't working. Though the software states that it's seeing it.

We'll also play with the power supply.

I've brought it into work to try to loop some more technically skilled friends to help.

taliesan

We got it working off a Windows box. So it's probably a driver or software issue on the Mac. More shortly.

Windell Oskay

Well, that's partial progress at least.

This is the first report that we've had of this kind of a problem on a Mac; we've heard one similar report on a Windows machine, apparently due to a bug in the underlying library that RoboPaint uses to connect to the serial port. I have added this report to our bug tracker ( https://github.com/evil-mad/robopaint/issues/127 ), and may possibly have some ways to follow up a little later in terms of gathering additional logging data. Can I ask what Mac OS version you're using?

In the mean time, I'd suggest trying

* A different USB port on your computer. 

* The other two WaterColorBot control programs, RoboPaint RT and our Inkscape extensions. 

taliesan

Jlin (a technically skilled guy) and I played with it. We couldn't get it to work on the Mac. 10.8.4, Mac Air.

Could be many reasons on our end.

But I have a Windows box at home, so able to play with it through there.

Windell Oskay

Were you not able to get any of the programs working, or is this still in RoboPaint?

taliesan

This is RoboPaint. TBH, given that I have it working in Windows, I've stopped playing with it in the Mac for now. My daughter is using it. I'll be happy to provide more info on the bug, however, if you have any questions!

Windell Oskay

The new version of RoboPaint, version 0.7.5 has been posted, and you can give it a try if you like:

https://github.com/evil-mad/robopaint/releases/tag/v0.7.5-2014.03.08