Help with motor wiring and endstops (pics included)

Hi,

I have searched this forum and used google to try to better understand the problem I am having. I am new to reprap so my knowledge is limited but I'm learning as I go.I hope a more seasoned reprapper can tell me where I;m going wrong. I have included hi-res images on imgur.com to help see what my problem may be. [imgur.com]

problem one (motors)

Some motors work, some stutter and others only go one way.

x-axis works very well, I can use pronterface to move the motor in positive and negative positions

y-axis motor stutters a few millimeters backwards and forwards then stops completely.

z-axis motors move up but not down. using pronterface command for negative movement is ignored.

extruder motor doesn;t move at all.

I have plugged in all the motors onto my ramps 1.4 board using the wiring diagram online. I've noticed my wires are different. but every motor is plugged in the same way.

can someone have a look at the images to see if there is a mistake i'm missing? please see gallery [imgur.com]


endstops.

I'm using the endstops from makerbot. As you can see from the images I've plugged in the cables with the colours corresponding to the board pin layout. Ive seen online here [forums.reprap.org] but this is the opposite to my wiring as seen again in the gallery [imgur.com] the forum posts go on to confirm that this drawn image is wrong.

with this config when I enter m119 I get

SENDING:M119
Reporting endstop status
x_min: TRIGGERED
x_max: open
y_min: TRIGGERED
y_max: open
z_min: TRIGGERED
z_max: open
>>>m119

does triggered mean this is good or bad?

I can provide more deatils if needed. This is my first week into buildiing this machine so I'm new to some of the practices that may be commonplace.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome to the family

You'll need to make sure your motherboard is defined in the Configuration.h file in Marlin.

Then, change //#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS to #define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS (remove the // from the beginning of the line)

...and make sure your end stops are configured as negative like this:

// ENDSTOP SETTINGS:
// Sets direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN
#define X_HOME_DIR -1
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

---

-David

Find me online at:
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Instructables.com
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Check out my FolgerTech Prusa i3 (plexi) at MindRealm.net

See my previous post on a Prusa i3 setup
[forums.reprap.org]

Also endstop setup here:
[www.instructables.com]

Steve

---

My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Also with a M119 showing the endstops triggered you probably need to change the logic of them in Marlin:
A normally open (NO) switch set to true a normally closed (NC) set to false

const bool X_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.
const bool Y_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.
const bool Z_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.

Steve

---

My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Thank you both for the details you've given, I'm reading through what you've given and I'm going to take some time to work it on my machine and try to see where I'm making a mistake.

I'll report back on my eventual success or failure.

Hi again,

A quick report. It has been mixed, the good news is I flashed a new config and started from scratch.

I am glad to say that X axis and Z axis are now working very well and can home easily. The x axis endstop should have been set to 1 instead of -1 and the corresponding endstop changed at the ramps 1.4 board.

old

// ENDSTOP SETTINGS:
// Sets direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN
#define X_HOME_DIR -1
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

new

// ENDSTOP SETTINGS:
// Sets direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN
#define X_HOME_DIR 1
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

The extruder works wonderfully also, being able to move both directions.

The bad is that the y axis stepper motor is still stuttering and not moving anywhere.

It's late now so I'll investigate further tomorrow.

Have you adjusted the Vref potentiometer on the stepper driver for your Y axis?

Great news, I've finally managed to get it all working, x,y,z axis now home correctly, no stutter, and work in both directions.

I will save the instructions you gave and I thank you again in aiding my build.

I also found that one of the stepper drivers wasn't working correctly I believe I'm using an A4988 stepper driver. I had an extra one lying around and tried to replace it with the y-axis driver and the carriage works wonderfully after that. I still needed to change the config in marlin and move the endstop jump on the ramps board but it now works.

now my concern is that since I have inverted the axis in the marlin firmware will my prints also become inverted?