That's interesting, I brought my MacBook Pro last year and I definitely could not see the FDTI ports until I loaded the drivers. I have searched but can't find any reference to them being pre-installed in OSX, do you have any more details?

As I said I had problems with Repsnapper just crashing every time I pressed 'Connect to Printer'.

For ReplicatorG I copied the machine xml file for ultimaker.xml tp prusa.xml, edited to change to baud rate, and waitforstart timeout to 12000, then had to edit the java source to fix a bug. If you want to go down the ReplicatorG route I can send you the details of what to change. I have submitted it to the ReplicatorG project, but they have not incorporated it yet.

cheers
Geoff

Geoff:

Yes, I think I'd definitely like to give those changes to ReplicatorG a shot. I'm just hoping I'll be able to understand the changes enough to implement them!

I have a patch version of ReplicatorG at: https://geoffd123@github.com/geoffd123/ReplicatorG.git

You will need GIT installed to clone it then just use 'ant run' to run it. There are details on the ReplicatorG site : http://replicat.org/building-from-source

Don't clone the makerbot/ReplicatorG, use my link above.

You will need to create your own machine xml file, set the waitforstart time out to 12000 and whatever baud rate you are using, I copied the ultimake.xml file and editied it.

Cheers
Geoff

Hi Geoff,

I just finished building my Mendel with Gen 6, and I'm trying to get ReplicatorG 24 on my Mac to talk to it. I followed your link to github, and I see a bunch of folders and files listed... what do I do now? Sorry, I know nothing about software! I think I got the steps on modifying the XML file done correctly. At least ReplicatorG is 'green' and seems to see the 3D printer.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Andres

Try to do the same without your heater and extrudermotor connected. You could have a short circuit in your heater, which can reset the board when powering up.

What resistance do you measure over your heater connections? And what kind of power supply are you using (voltage, amps)

Hello ElmarJongerius,

I don't have the heater part built yet, so that's unplugged.

As far as power supply, it's 12v, 10A. I got it from a hobby shop.

By the way, I bought the 4 stepper motors from Camiel, and I just noticed that one of the motors had 2 wires (colors) switched as they went in the Molex connectors: the red and blue were switched compared with the other 3 motors. Was this on purpose? Or was that supposed to be like that? And if so... where do I use that motor?

I don't think I have an electrical problem. I think I have a software setup problem. At this point, ReplicatorG sees the 3D printer, but I can't run the "Generate GCode" button. An error window pops up, asking for Python. I installed Python already (both 2.7 and then 3.2), but I still get that message. I've rebooted, etc., but still get the same message. Any help, please?

Thank you!

-Andres

Your motor was not wired that way on purpose. With a tiny screwdriver you can press the little hooks to switch the wires.

For your software problem I cannot help you...

I don't know where you found that info, but that is not my experience at all. I would be very surprised if Apple took the retrograde step of adding a serial port driver to OSX! If you copied all your documents and applications to your new laptop from your old machine using Apple's Migration Assistant, it may have copied the driver to your new Mac automatically.
FYI I'm running OS X 10.6.7 and had to install the FTDI drivers on both my Macs (well, one 8 month old MacBook Pro and a ... er ... hackintosh!). They are both running 64-bit.
Look at this page if you want to determine if you are running 32- or 64-bit, though it's not important: http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/07/how-to-t ... w-leopard/

There are three steps to getting your Gen6 board working in OS X.
1. Power up your Gen6 board and plug in a USB lead. Select 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu and then 'More info...' to open the system profiler. On the USB tab, the board will show up as 'FTDI product' if the driver is not installed, and something like 'FT232R USB UART' if it is.

2. Install the driver - http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm - I installed the latest version (2.2.16 - same dmg for OS X 32bit/64bit and PPC). It also did NOT require a restart for me.
Once installed, check the driver is functioning by powering up and connecting your Gen6 board. Open Terminal and type:
ls /dev/tty.*

You should see something like:
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem /dev/tty.usbserial-xxxxxxxx
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-PDA-Sync
where xxxxxxxx is either the device's serial number. You can also check to see if /System/Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext exists, which is where the driver is installed. If you don't see the /dev/tty.usbserial-xxxxxxxx entry, check the troubleshooting section of http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documen ... AC_OSX.pdf

3. Install repsnapper
I installed the 28-10-2010 Mac version of repsnapper from the bottom of this page: https://sites.google.com/site/davidbuzz ... x-binaries
This version of repsnapper does have a blank menu palette on the right hand side at start up for me. If I 'hide' the application, then click on the dock icon again, it draws correctly.
You should get three entries in the drop down list of printers to connect to; choose the one that says /dev/tty.usbserial-xxxxxxxx
Mine has worked reliably from this point, though I have only tested motors and endstops, as my reprap is not completed yet.

I have also run the Gen6 board using repsnapper running on a VirtualBox Windows XP VM.

Hi droftarts

It is strange, no matter what I try when I click on the 'connect to printer' button, my repsnapper crashes

At the moment I have ReplicatorG working but it keeps getting communications errors and not recovering.

Glad someone is having success with the mac version of repsnapper.

cheers
Geoff

Dear Ostowe,

Maybe your communications line is not the fault, but your hardware is.

Is your machine reacting OK on movement commands? (eg. G1 X100 Y10 F1000)?

If this is so, try to disconnect your extruder motor and heater and try again.