Having issues with my Prusa Mendle style printer . . . It was working fine for a long time, but suddenly has started acting up. I am a mechanical guy and don't know much about the electronics end of this . . . so you'll have to let me know what information you need me to find to help troubleshoot . . . I'm using: Slic3r and pronterface. I believe it is an arduino mega board with UltiMachines RAMPS . . . not sure much aditional detail about models and versions, but I could find out if it helps, jsut tell me where to look... . As of last week, the hot end shuts off in the middle of prints. Randomly, print will be going fine, temperature good, then for seemingly no reason, the extruder just cools down. I have sat and watched it: the temp readout on pronterface runs up, and down just as normal, I watch the LED on the RAMPS board that indicates the extruder is on, it goes on and off . . . then, at some random point, as the temp drops to the low end turn on point, the Ramps LED dosen't turn on. . . . and the extruder temp drops. If I then click the "SET" on Pronterface to manually trigger the extruder, the LED comes on and the temp goes back up and all is fine for a while, running up and down as normal, . . . then out of the blue, it happens again . . . . So bottom line, if I babysit the printer, and watch for the heat to drop below the call for heat threashold, I can trigger it manyally and wait again, . . .but that's silly . . . Any advce on what or how to troubleshoot?? -Doug. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413723#msg-413723 Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:06:40 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,414205#msg-414205 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,414205#msg-414205
THANKS!!! :)
Back in business for now!!

-Doug.]]> DougB Printing Wed, 01 Oct 2014 12:07:53 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,414122#msg-414122 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,414122#msg-414122 Wich type of PSU are you using ?]]> LousyJohnny Printing Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:52:05 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413954#msg-413954 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413954#msg-413954
Any other Ideas I'm all ears while I check out this possibility!!

-Doug.]]> DougB Printing Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:08:54 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413901#msg-413901 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413901#msg-413901
I replaced my MOSFET, I replaced my ramps board, but what finally gave me the clue was that I noticed that it was only happening on the right side of the print bed. I was able to verify this by manually moving the carriage back and forth. As soon as the carriage pulled the wire into a certain position, the connection broke. If I moved back to home position, everything worked and it would heat up again.

Check your connections.]]> jbernardis Printing Tue, 30 Sep 2014 15:23:47 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413723#msg-413723 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?262,413723,413723#msg-413723
I'm using: Slic3r and pronterface. I believe it is an arduino mega board with UltiMachines RAMPS . . . not sure much aditional detail about models and versions, but I could find out if it helps, jsut tell me where to look... .

As of last week, the hot end shuts off in the middle of prints. Randomly, print will be going fine, temperature good, then for seemingly no reason, the extruder just cools down. I have sat and watched it: the temp readout on pronterface runs up, and down just as normal, I watch the LED on the RAMPS board that indicates the extruder is on, it goes on and off . . . then, at some random point, as the temp drops to the low end turn on point, the Ramps LED dosen't turn on. . . . and the extruder temp drops.

If I then click the "SET" on Pronterface to manually trigger the extruder, the LED comes on and the temp goes back up and all is fine for a while, running up and down as normal, . . . then out of the blue, it happens again . . . .

So bottom line, if I babysit the printer, and watch for the heat to drop below the call for heat threashold, I can trigger it manyally and wait again, . . .but that's silly . . .

Any advce on what or how to troubleshoot??

-Doug.]]> DougB Printing Tue, 30 Sep 2014 08:36:29 -0400