3D Printer not working after changing ramps and arduino

Hello,

I've got a 3D Printer a few weeks ago, it worked pretty good but needed some adjustments. One of these was tightening a bit more the timing belts. On this adjustment however I removed one of the power cables from the heated bed and had to resolder it. Dumb as I am, I burnt a little bit of the insulation of both power cables, a short circuit occured and my printer couldn't detect the temperature of the heated bed anymore. I tought the ramps board was fried so I bought a new one and...it didn't work. I bought a new arduino mega. The 3D printer isn't working now.

When I connect all except the motors and the motor drivers, the LCD flickers ( alternates between black and dark blue ). However, if I connect the arduino to the pc, the LCD works and the temperatures are shown correctly and the hotend and heated bed can be heated up.

When I connect the motors and drivers, the LCD stays black. When I connect the arduino to the pc, the LCD turns on for a half second and then turns off. My pc won't detect the arduino after the LCD shuts off, be it in Simplify3D or in the Arduino IDE.


Please help me ! I'm becoming desperate with this issue.

Thanks in advance.

My bet is you fried your 5v regulator on your new board. This would explain the lcd, which runs on 5v power not working as the arduino needs to make its own 5v power from the 12v power provided to it. But it does work when the USB provides 5v power. Probably plugged in your endstops incorrectly, grounding a 5v rail. I did the same thing.

If you fried the insulation, this is most likely the cause of the temperature issue.

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If you need some help, or don't understand what I just said, feel free to send me a PM anytime

Printer: Prusa i3, 2 E3D v6 Hotends, Arduino + RAMPS 1.4 with a Bypassed 5V Regulator, 400w Insignia ATX PSU, Custom Designed Bowden Extruders

Hello,

Thank you very much for your quick reply ! How can I fix this issue please ? Why isn't the LCD working at all when the motor drivers are connected , even with USB ?

you can remove one transistor on the ramps board to bypass the regulator, but then you need to provide a new source of 5v power. In my case it was a simple matter of using a 5v rail from my ATX psu. Before I go and do anthing like that, I would do some poking around on your ramps with a multimeter to check your 12v rail and 5v rail, with no usb plugged in.

So, measure
PSU 12v rail no load:
PSU 12v rail under load (if you can even turn on heaters or steppers):
Ramps 5v rail no load:
Ramps 5v rail under load:

Thank you very much ! My PSU also has a 5V rail. I will try your solution tomorrow ! Thank you very much for the answer already, I'll report the results of course.

Hello,

Ok I tought my PSU has a 5V rail but after checking it with my voltmeter, I knew that it was another 12V rail in fact. I removed a transistor (the left one if you turn the ramps board so that the LCD connectors are at the top). I connected my Arduino power supply (9V;0.6A), connected to the Arduino while all the ramps connectors were connected. The same result occured as before : the LCD stayed dark. The endstops were connected right but I'm not sure if the drivers are (I tried to just use one that I turned 180° but it didn't work too), maybe they can be fried but I don't know if this would create the described error. Will it only work with a 5V power supply ? Do I need to connect it directly to the ramps and, if yes, where ? I'm really sorry for my poor knowledge about the 3D printer hardware. Please help me !

programmer you got a copy of the firmware for the ramps ?.. unplug the RAMPS from the mega "confirm the arduino mega still working by uploading the blink sketch but only if you got a copy of the original firmware,

a blank/flickering screen doesn't necessarily mean you a fried voltage reg, suggestive the headers were in the wrong socket when swapping over. and the fact you could see the screen info with USB plugged in would say it was working,
the drivers caused the screen to go blank sounds like the driver was incorrectly inserted which caused a short (I tried to just use one that I turned 180° but it didn't work too) now that's a sure way to kill a driver!
Incorrectly inserting stepper drivers will destroy your electronics and cause a fire risk. Always make sure power and USB is disconnected when removing or adjusting stepper drivers. Always make sure to insert drivers in correct orientation and in the socket correctly. its in the manual RAMPS

am confused about your powering: you say added a 9v to the mega as well as the two 12v rails?. needs both 1 rail powers the bed the other powers hotend, motors, screen and arduino. you don't power both at the same time as the arduino drawing power from the RAMPS.

"I removed a transistor (the left one if you turn the ramps board so that the LCD connectors are at the top). if I understand that correctly you removed the mosfet for switching the hotend or fan " pic could help

Dagameface
" transistor on the ramps board to bypass the regulator" where is this tranny on the RAMPS? the only place I see to add external 5v source is the three pins by the reset button " what we use to switch an ATX PSU IO. thou you follow the traces it extends to the aux + line TRACES

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2016 06:23PM by jinx.

Hello,

Thank you very much jinx ! I now chose to rebuy ramps, arduino, lcd and drivers. As I waited each time I bought from ebay it took one and a half weaks (even if it should have been sended from the same country as it should be delivered), I decided to buy from china and got the whole kit for 25 dollars
Thank you very much for your answers !

which one you getting "gotta link" once you have it in hand ready to install give a shout, be happy to work through it with you one evening,
but it be helpful to have pronteface install "I use it to test the printer" but all you need is a serial interface not used Simplify3D but am sure its there...
before the drivers are installed, configure the ENDSTOPS use the serial to send M119 " reports the statues". Gcodes you gonna get familiar with a few of those soon enough .

DRIVERS: require a little prep work before running of cubes!!!. "hate cubes" , you need a multi meter before starting TUNING " reason am asking which you getting , but just make sure you match the grounds of driver and ramps.

look at MARLIN it is practically setup for the ramps and I3 "peek at the config.h page" once you got your axis moving you only got to run the PID tuning on the hotend M303 and tune the AXIS getting the LCD working requires you installing U8 into the IDE but am assuming you got that far already.
keep the faith we get you printing
what you using to power the ramps "dual 12v 20A led psu"

Thank you ! The kit I bought is [www.aliexpress.com] . The drivers are A4988, I will try to get the whole thing working but it will take some time. I'm using Simplify3D and it has a really good control panel ^^
"keep the faith we get you printing" : thank you very much ! I'm sure I can do it with you guys on my side

just adding this for reference


observe the position of the pots,
see the red and black spots those are the position of the meter probes " maybe tape of the rest by ground all to easy to slip and damage the driver first time round". practice on the old board and remember the direction of the pot to alter the reading, you may want to adjust the pots later on.

the RULE:
take a reading with the USB plugged in BUT before adjusting the pots, unplug USB.

brit humour!!!
not gonna lie those red boards are cursed there just seem more prone to failure than any other!!! but least you now got couple of spare fets, watch the heatbed wiring you clamp only the wire and not the sleeving, a better,cleaner safer way is to use some wire connectors !!!!! damned if I can recall what they called.

Thanks ! I do not understand one thing : the order for the colors of the motor wires : is your setup special or do I also have to make them like this (you've got black,green blue, red and for the other red,blue,green,red) please ?
Haha I'm feeling more cursed than the red cards

IGNORE IT was being lazy, I home the Y to the Max and couldn't be arsed setting stepper direction in marlin, so I flipped the connector.