Out of Filament Sensor Monitor for FlashForge Dreamer

[DenPrint]

Hello,
Great job making Marlin running on FlashForge Dreamer finally i can use Cura.

My FF Dreamer does have filament detection on the Z(-) limit switch with the original FlashForge firmware.
Original on the FF Dreamer there is nothing connected to the Z(-).
Some people put a sensor on there selfs because the option is in the original FF firmware, like this : https://www.ebay.com/itm/281999747282

I solderd 4 pins on the open Z(-) connections.
and i have purchased a extra original FF limit switch + FF cable and connected it to open Z(-) on the board.
The new switch do i have connected to a industrial 24Volt timer that gives one shot pulse of ± 1 second when running out of filament.
For the original FF firmware this has to be oneshot pulse, otherwise the z axis will not move down when pause the print.

Thanks,

!!! the Z(-) most be Z(+) see discussion below !!!

[moonglow]

@DenPrint Hi !

Are you sure what they use Z(-) switch ? because Dreamer firmware use Z(-) for homing purpose. I think we can use Z(+) or X(-) Y(-) limit switch for that. As example Dreamer motherboard uses for homing: X max, Y max, Z min all other input is unused and we can use one of them. It be OK if i build test version what will use X(-) switch as example ?

Old Dreamer motherboard:

New Dreamer motherboard ( the same, but also has a dedicated pin for filament detect ):

[moonglow]

Do i have to use the FlashForge firmware tool? where to find the .exe and how to use it?

Yep ! You are right ! You need to encrypt your firmware before flash it to printer ( printer bootloader accept only encrypted firmwares and try to decrypt it first, if you provide raw binary it will decrypted to shuffled binary data )

I found the tool #18 but how do i use it with Windows10?

Official repo here: LINK, to build encryption tool you can use any C compiler ( as example freeware Pelles C compiler ), but if you need prebuild version here is it: ff_fw_tool.zip

i use it with Windows10?

You need to encrypt firmware.bin file, for FF Dreamer you can omit encryption key option ( -k ) and use it like that, ( i assume your firmware file in same folder where is ff tool was located ):

ff_fw_tool -e -i firmware.bin -o dreamer.bin

[DenPrint]

Thanks i going to try.

[DenPrint]

i did try to download the ff_fw_tool.zip but Windows Defender does not like the file inside the zip. and blocks it right away.
instead i compiled the file with Pelles C.

But is this the right way to start it?

[moonglow]

but Windows Defender does not like the file inside the zip

o_O you can try to upload to virustotal ( VT report LINK ) looks like only paranoiac Microsoft interpreted it like Trojan, but i never publish here ( and in other places too ) viruses or other software for destruction ^_^

But is this the right way to start it?

You can use example from my previous message, but i think i need to change description.... [] - mean what you can omit this parameter, <key> mean key value, no need to use <>.. Some examples ( both of them correct ):

ff_fw_tool -e -i firmware.bin -o dreamer.bin - key option omitted
ff_fw_tool -k flashforge790315 -e -i firmware.bin -o dreamer.bin - with key option provided

[DenPrint]

That did the trick.
Now i can do some more testing.

Thanks,