Connect to printer via COM port. How to check FW etc?

[Blacksheep99]

Hello, I have a Polaroid Modelsmart 250S printer and I plan to upgrade it to a Duet 2 Wifi. However prior to that it would be good if I could interrogate the current control board for information.

I have tried YAT and the COM port which seems to associate with the printer. M115 doesn't return anything. This is an area of very limited knowledge for me. Is there anything I can do to try and access the board or is it likely a closed system and I will just have to accept that?

Thanks.

[theruttmeister]

You are going to be replacing the electronics... there's almost nothing that the firmware could tell you that you can't either measure physically or figure out via testing.

Especially as that printer may well not even use G-code in a conventional format.

That COM port might well be a diagnostic port and of no use at all. For comparison, when tearing down a Makerbot Mini, it was interesting to find that the USB port on the back gave access to the Linux/BusyBox OS, not in any way that let you send g-code though (not helped by Makerbots having switched to using JSON for commands).

Figuring out what is that port is and what you can do with it will probably take longer than just jumping right into configuring RRF with whatever you can measure in the machine.

[dc42]

Have you tried sending M503 to the old electronics? On Marlin-based printers, this returns useful information.

[A Former User]

Was this the same controller board with a hole in the chip, if so I wouldn't expect much response.

If its a different one, maybe try looking at Octoprint's firmware autodetection function?

But as theruttmeister said, might be easier to work it out if its proprietary

[Blacksheep99]

@theruttmeister said in Connect to printer via COM port. How to check FW etc?:

You are going to be replacing the electronics... there's almost nothing that the firmware could tell you that you can't either measure physically or figure out via testing.

Especially as that printer may well not even use G-code in a conventional format.

That COM port might well be a diagnostic port and of no use at all. For comparison, when tearing down a Makerbot Mini, it was interesting to find that the USB port on the back gave access to the Linux/BusyBox OS, not in any way that let you send g-code though (not helped by Makerbots having switched to using JSON for commands).

Figuring out what is that port is and what you can do with it will probably take longer than just jumping right into configuring RRF with whatever you can measure in the machine.

Thanks for the info. It reads gcode when printing as I was able to ditch the original slicer (which used Cura in the background) for Cura. I used the Marlin setting and added some start code found in the files generated by the Polaroid slicer. The files were name .ebp but they were plain text editable gcode.

Example:

ebp@200
pla@1
null@0
version@1_2_36@null@null
T0
M104 TO S215
G21
G90
M107
T0
G28
G29
M109 TO S215
M107
T0
G92 E0
G92 E0
G1 F2100 E-1.75
;LAYER_COUNT:575
;LAYER:0
M107
G0 F2400 X120.91 Y44.688 Z0.2
;TYPE:SKIRT
G1 F2100 E0
G1 F1200 X121.153 Y44.241 E0.01179
G1 X121.578 Y43.716 E0.02745
G1 X121.692 Y43.602 E0.03119
G1 X122.079 Y43.272 E0.04298
G1 X122.513 Y43.006 E0.05478
G1 X122.983 Y42.811 E0.06657
G1 X123.477 Y42.693 E0.07835

I have a good basis for the upgrade as the machine I've just got working with a Maestro is based on the same physical hardware.

[Blacksheep99]

@dc42 said in Connect to printer via COM port. How to check FW etc?:

Have you tried sending M503 to the old electronics? On Marlin-based printers, this returns useful information.

No, not tried that. I'll give it a go. It's not the end of the world if nothing comes back but I'm interested to know if I can communicate with the printer.

[Blacksheep99]

@bearer said in Connect to printer via COM port. How to check FW etc?:

Was this the same controller board with a hole in the chip, if so I wouldn't expect much response.

If its a different one, maybe try looking at Octoprint's firmware autodetection function?

But as theruttmeister said, might be easier to work it out if its proprietary

Hi, no it's a different printer. I got the Polaroid first and was able to find a way to use Cura as my slicer which meant I had a lot more control even if the FW was closed off. It became clear to me that Polaroid took the ST3Di printers and tweaked them a little but in essence they're the same machines. The one I've just repaired was an ST3Di 280 from ebay. As the mechanics are near identical then I have a good basis with my existing config so I feel relatively confident this will be an easier experience in upgrading.

[A Former User]

if its otherwise functional you could look into com2com / socat to setup some virtual serial ports to tap into the communication between whatever software it comes with.