What can damage stepper drivers?

Hi guys!
I just got started playing with my new ramps and arduino boards. Super stoked. ^ ^

Just a question: does it matter which order I turn the power on and off for the arduino and the ramps board?
Will doing it in any weird order be able to damage the stepper drivers or anything else?
Unplugging the stepper motors while they are running will destroy the drivers right?



I want to be sure I won't destroy my dear precious boards you see

the order you turn on the RAMPS and the Arduino shouldn't make any difference. Some people have noticed that the Arduino may reset when you power up the RAMPS board.

As for disconnecting the drivers while running, yes it's a possibility. Some people have been lucky, others haven't. I suspect that if you click the "Motors off" button in Pronterface (or send the equivalent G-code), wait a few seconds then disconnect the motors you will be fine, but considering the cost of stepper drivers, it makes sense simply to power it down properly.

FWIW: If anyone is building a machine, I recommend you test the steppers before connecting them to any board. I helped someone who fried a stepper driver - turns out that one of their steppers (was one of the Z steppers) was a dead short on one coil, and he ended up with a small hole in his stepper driver and a bit of smoke. Had he tested the coils on the stepper first with a multimeter he'd have found that one of the coils was bad and saved himself the price of a new stepper driver + shipping (and the wait for the thing to arrive).

Thanks!
That answers my question. Good point about checking for shorts. I'll check them before I fire it up. Cheers

There is a diode (D1) on the Ramps board that powers up the Mega board. If it's still in place, the Mega will come on whenever the Ramps is powered. If you have removed it then you can indeed power them one at a time.