Avatar IV (QiDi Tech)

[Dresch]

Here is a cheap programmer and 6 pin adapters (pick one) that should work for reprogramming the QiDi:

http://www.amazon.com/Downloader-USBASP-USBISP-Programmer-ATMEGA8/dp/B00AX4WQ00/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1451883355&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=avrisp+mkii

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=B00CW80MP6

http://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Board-AVRISP-USBASP-STK500/dp/B00FHHYJ7G/ref=pd_sim_422_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41pifd2wrGL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=10KC1276EAH4J8RX94YW

I bumped up to SF 7.7. SF 7.6 was working fine but thought I would test this out next. I was able to get an external PLA cooling fan working OK also (commands M126/M127) with SailFish. (24V/44mm Fan + Thingiverse

Active Cooling Fan Duct v2 for Replicator 1 / Duplicator 4 / FlashForge / CTC by thruit00 - Thingiverse). Just soldered the leads to the “Extra” connector on the controller board. Turns on and off under software control. Have a different fan on the way, blower style, to see if the PLA cooling works out better.

Let me know if anyone else was able to do the SF upgrade with the ISP fuse changes.

I am going to be posting an Instructable to try and get larger exposure to this hack (umm, correction) to the QiDi controller.

(Thanks again Adam…)

Bill

[MaceyTech3D]

Hi Bill,

I ordered a programmer very similar to the one you linked (except it is a native 6-wire one). Just waiting for it to arrive from China and then I will be programming right away! And I’ll be sure to post my results.

For mods, I also have an active cooling fan (same one as yours), a new filament tube holder above the extruder steppers, dual filament duster/oilers, heatsinks on extruder stepper motors, filament guide on rear of machine, glass bed with corner clips, bed adjustment thumbwheels, rounded bridge top for the upper enclosure, and reversed the power toggle switch (to make it easier to reach from the left side of the printer).

Out of interest, have you tried a dual extrusion with it? It took me a while to get the toolhead offsets to something I’m happy with (-1.19 X and 0.096 Y), but it seems like it could still be a tiny bit better. Looking for someone to share their experience with this and let me know if I’m on track with it.

Adam

[rcleav]

Bill thank you for your investigative work on the Qidi Tech.

I received one of the programmers from Amazon today. I’m going to try the instructions on changing ISP Fuse settings tonight.

Then upgrade Sailfish.

Do I have to do the sailfish upgrade a version at a time or can I just go to the latest one?

Your recommendation should I stay with 7.6 or go all the way to 7.7?

[Dresch]

I haven’t seen any problems with 7.7 so far and that is what is used on the Flashforge Creator Pro we have at work. Of course I don’t know what the advantage is of 7.7 over 7.6 either…

Good luck with the fuse setting. Let us know how things go!

Bill

[Shamez]

Adam please let me know how it goes. I am going to order the programmer as well. Thank you Bill and Adam

[Dresch]

Awesome looking set up. I did print the filament guide also, a truly wonderful thing. I have done a few dual prints but just some dual color figurines and the like. I see that #3DBenchy has a dual color torture test, which I think I will try. I will let you know if I get any results from that. Benchy is a minor obsession.

The cone looks pretty dead on, maybe just a tiny bit of shifting on the top two layers (or that could just be the photo). I have taken to clamping my glass bed (made some little stainless steel clips from old windshield wiper blades) because occasionally it would slip and produce funky print results. I would love to dampen the frame a little bit to reduce the hard jerking of the print head.

Bill

[Dresch]

Sorry did not answer your original question: I believe you can just program whatever SF level you want. I don’t think SF needs to be incremented up. I jumped from 7.1 (via Adam’s instructions) to 7.6 directly after resetting the fuses.

Bill

[Dresch]

Thanks for bringing the dual print up!.

My first couple of tries under SF7.7 were a disaster with the print cartridge trying to drive itself out the left side of the printer. Turns out my extruder X offset had defaulted to 399mm!!!

WARNING! IF YOU UPGRADE TO SF 7.7 DO THE NEXT TWO STEPS…

I found this page:

http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/troubleshooting-common-issues.html

I set both X and Y offsets to ZERO (0.0mm) at the front panel using the submenu:

http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/ui-utilities-menu.html#x17-470003.7.11

Dual prints are no longer trying to take the printer apart. The prints are pretty close but about a mm off between layers it looks like.

Looks like I need to do this next to tune it in:

http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/tuning-dual-extruder-calibration.html

Bill

[rcleav]

My report on a successful upgrade to Sailfish 7.6.

Or why can’t I just leave things alone instead of putting myself into these situations.

I tried using AVRstudio version 4-7 but was unable figure out how to get it to recognize the usbasp programmer http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AX4WQ00?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s02 with http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CW80MP6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 10 to 6 pin adapter.
What I succeeded in doing was totally erasing the programming from the board. (@&$#)

Remember Google is your friend in times like this and I found a thread in the Google group MakerBot Operators. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/makerbot/tBTVx85-hpg
Titled Loading firmware on a new Mightyboard Rev E.

What they do is link you to the hex files and give instructions needed to reload a blank Mightyboard just like mine was.

Using a program called AVRDude google it and a couple command prompts I was able to reload the hex files giving the board back USB functionality and then the bootloader which had the added benefit of setting the correct fuse bits. I’m not going to go in to detail on how to do It. It’s all in the MakerBot Operators thread.

I had to copy and make the hex files usable then modify and run their command lines to fit my programmer and environment.

The command line I used to load the bootloader hex file.

avrdude -p m1280 -F -P usb -c usbasp -U flash:w:bootloader/atmega1280.hex \ -U lfuse:w:0xFF:m -U hfuse:w:0xDA:m -U efuse:w:0xF4:m -U lock:w:0x0F:m

I do not recommend this procedure unless you’re your desperate and have a so called bricked board.

If you do decide to use this method I will not responsible for the results but you should read the MakerBot Operators thread closely.

Ron

[Dresch]

Yikes! And congratulations on getting thru it Ron. Awesome recovery! Glad you are back up and running.

I will see if I can find anything about using AVR studio with these 3rd party vendor ISP programmers. The AVR studio way is obviously easier (and less heart stopping). I had just assumed, incorrectly it seems, that the 3rd party vendors would emulate an ISP programmer Atmel already makes.

(Perhaps just the command line for reprogramming the fuses with AVRDude…)

See my comment below on resetting the extruder offset in SF before doing any dual extruder prints. You will want to do that sooner than later…

Bill

[Dresch]

Ron,

It appears that there is some software out there for this programmer that will allow fuse bit programming.

If you could check this out and see if it works, it may be of help to others trying this (and may prevent the memory erasure and not having to go thru avrdude):

http://extremeelectronics.co.in/software/extreme-burner-avr-1-3-beta-test/

If you watch this video, at 32 seconds they show a fuse bit programming page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-V-jv4jSQw

Appears that you could go in and simply alter the fuse bits.

Bill

[rcleav]

Bill,

I tried the eXtreme Burner AVR program with my usbasp programmer on an old CTC I picked up from Craigslist. Didn’t want to risk the Qidi Tech but it has the same board. The eXtreme burner does not have a ATmega 1280 chip option so you do get an error while reading the fuse bits. The fuse bits I read off the CTC was Low FF, High DA, Ext. FD, Lock CC and Calibration FFFFFFB6. Didn’t try to change anything but it looks like it might work. eXtreme Burner does have a ATmega2560 chip option.

Hope this helps

Ron

[Dresch]

Thanks Ron, that does give us hope we might be able use these programmers.

I put in a request to the eXtreme Tech website to include the Atmega1280.

Hopefully they will consider that, but the Atmega2560 selection may work just fine.

Bill

[lterron65]

I have recently purchased one from Amazon(15 Apr) and have been printing almost daily.

Lots of things on thingiverse to upgrade and very easy to level and use.

[nrombold]

Has anyone gotten the 3p usbasp to connect in studio? I have both models of the Qidi and need assistance in getting the old on a new sailfish.

[MaceyTech3D]

Hi Noah,

It’s been a while since I was able to successfully upgrade my Qidi to the lastest SF, so some of the details are fuzzy now. But I do remember that my programmer wasn’t being accommodated by the Studio software. I think what I ended up doing was following Ron’s post below, and using the command line AVRdude software. As Ron mentions, your command should end up something like this:

avrdude -p m1280 -F -P usb -c usbasp -U flash:w:bootloader/atmega1280.hex \ -U lfuse:w:0xFF:m -U hfuse:w:0xDA:m -U efuse:w:0xF4:m -U lock:w:0x0F:m

Just follow his post to grab the appropriate hex file, and keep us posted on how you get on. If you have any other questions, I’ll do my best to try and remember more. It’s definitely been worthwhile to make the jump to SF 7.7.

Adam

[nrombold]

I managed to get 7.7 on my old qidi runs great. Just recently fished a 30 hr print no issues

[RCONSTRUCT]

{Removed for Update}

[fubarsport]

Hi Adam

In the Pictures is that the Qidi Tech Avatar IV if so

how did you wire up the cooling fan I just don’t want to fry out the board

As far as software using S3D

thanks for your time

jim

[Jim3195]

Continuing the discussion from Avatar IV (QiDi Tech):

I have yet to be able to load a program into the machine, I can only print a sample that was supplied. I have downloaded a few but cant figure out how to get it loaded I show 2 in the menus from the SD card but nothing happens when I click on it