Z-axis troubles.

Alright, my z axis wont home and i dont know what the hell the problem is this time. Brand new opto endstops, freshly made wiring, firmware re-uploaded. Both reprap host and repsnapper do the same thing, trying to home the z-axis makes it move upwards slightly then freeze the program. Reprap host gives me the error "linenr is not the last linenr+1", repsnapper doesnt tell me jack shit.
Anyway i figure this is typical for someone who has a dead endstop or bad wiring, but seeing as ive got new endstops and wiring i dont know what the problem is. The z-axis has worked in the past and im not doing anything different with it.
Oh and these endstops, fuck them, they are overpriced and dont give you any indication that they are working. They are expensive too, for me to have any sort of chance of making this work i need to buy about 5 at a time, which means if i fuck up now it will take me another 2 months and $60 to try again.

5 x $5 = $25.

There is an LED on the standard opto endstop that is either lit when blocked or lit when not blocked depending on which version you have. Does the LED light when blocked/not blocked?

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Do your X and Y axis home?

If so, try connecting your z-motor to one of those axis's driver board and see what happens.

Also, try pluggin the communication line coming from your motherboard to a proper working axis into the z axis board and see what happens.

The other possibility is you have bought optos from [ mendel-parts.com ]? I have 'old' optos, rather than 'new' ones. The difference is how the opto informs the chip it has been triggered. Upon trigger, some optos send a signal, some stop sending their signal. They're the inverse of each other if you like. I recently upgraded my firmware and had the same trouble as you just described, mechanically speaking at least: My Z axis (all of them in fact) would make a small suggestion it would move, then it stopped. It might be that your newly installed opto is signalling 'clear' and the new firmware is receiving 'blocked', so the Z axis stays right where it is. There is a more thorough explanation at [ mendel-parts.com ]. There is a simple fix, I believe, through altering the configuration component of your firmware and uploading it again.

Admittedly I haven't seen that error message before, so perhaps your problem is something else.

Woodsmoke
r:-7

To clarify; i get my stuff from Techzonecom and while each endstop costs $5, the postage is the most expensive part, around $30. I also got my electronics from them and i dont think any other endstops will work.
Now, after switching up my electronics like Ageing Hippy suggested i came to the conclusion that the z axis endstop is just flat out broken, so i started plugging in my new endstops. 4 out of the 5 were dead on arrival, so now my z axis works but for how long? My z axis had worked in the past and suddenly died so im inclined to believe its going to happen again. I dont think Techzonecom is a bad company, but the endstops they supply are HORRENDOUS.

While im on the topic of endstops; can someone please tell me why we cant just use a push button type switch as an endstop? I mean, it would be 100% more reliable, cheaper and easier to source. Why not?

The Techzone electronics is Gen3 compatible.
If you hook up the opto endstops wrong (reversed) you will destroy them every time!

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

rhmorrison Wrote:
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> If you hook up the opto endstops wrong (reversed)
> you will destroy them every time!

Then its a good thing I've always had it wired correctly.

Nophead uses a pushbutton or contact switch for his endstops.

I have had a few crashes due to inadvertantly bending the tin flag on my X axis while maintaining the extruder - This makes me think a contact or push button type switch might be better...

On the other hand, an opto switch with a flag might be easier to adjust.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2011 08:30AM by AgeingHippy.

... on my CNC-mill (which i'm actually repstrapping) i have pushbuttons fixed in the motor-housings and adjustable pins on the moving axes that triggers the switches.

For my next machine with higher accuracy needed i have three inductive sensors capable of sensing/switching resolution of 0.6 microns over 2mm sensing range.

I have some other (more common) inductive switches with a repeatable resolution around 2 or 3 microns and hysteresis of 50 or 75 microns for two types i've measured.

So switches are much cheaper (Cents to Euros), but with inductive sensors/switches you can have much higher accuracy if needed ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I typed this yesterday but didn't press post

You could use a mechanical micro-switch if you have a problem with Opto signals. It should just be high or low, as Bob stated the LED should tell you everything you need to know.
You can even change it's active state in the firmware.

What Electronics do you have RAMPS or Gen3? (or Gen6) RAMPS is wired differently to GEN3...

Or you may have damaged the micro input pin from the Z axis Opto? try routing it to another spare pin or swap the X and Z in firmware and try again, if that's the problem hard-wire it to a new pin and change the firmware permanently (or get a new Main-board if you don't fancy doing that)

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[richrap.blogspot.com]