Rostock Mini Pro Issues
Posted by andychang28
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Rostock Mini Pro Issues February 20, 2015 09:33PM |
Hi everyone,
Before I begin, this is my first post, so please correct me in any violation of protocols. I am building a Rostock Mini Pro, which I purchased several weeks ago from 3dPrinterCzar. I have finished the mechanical and electrical parts, and the only issues that remain are in the software.
My priority target for now is the fact that my printer does not seem to know when its hot end has reached the print bed. I have tried lowering the z axis length in my Configuration.h file, even going so far as to set it at 114 mm, but nothing seems to work. I have checked the EEPROM settings as well, and they are all set to 114 mm. However, the motors keep on pushing the hot end down into the print bed.
Aside from that problem, whenever I try to home my printer, the carriages move up as they are supposed to, but once they have all reached the top endstops, they suddenly turn around and move down slowly for a centimeter or two. Then, they come back up at the same slow speed, and this time they stop when they hit the tops.
Finally, whenever the motors stop, (this includes homing, moving through manual control in Repetier, etc) they make a very high-pitched whining noise. I feel like they're still running but stopped at the same time.
Please help!
Thanks, Andrew
Before I begin, this is my first post, so please correct me in any violation of protocols. I am building a Rostock Mini Pro, which I purchased several weeks ago from 3dPrinterCzar. I have finished the mechanical and electrical parts, and the only issues that remain are in the software.
My priority target for now is the fact that my printer does not seem to know when its hot end has reached the print bed. I have tried lowering the z axis length in my Configuration.h file, even going so far as to set it at 114 mm, but nothing seems to work. I have checked the EEPROM settings as well, and they are all set to 114 mm. However, the motors keep on pushing the hot end down into the print bed.
Aside from that problem, whenever I try to home my printer, the carriages move up as they are supposed to, but once they have all reached the top endstops, they suddenly turn around and move down slowly for a centimeter or two. Then, they come back up at the same slow speed, and this time they stop when they hit the tops.
Finally, whenever the motors stop, (this includes homing, moving through manual control in Repetier, etc) they make a very high-pitched whining noise. I feel like they're still running but stopped at the same time.
Please help!
Thanks, Andrew
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Re: Rostock Mini Pro Issues February 21, 2015 07:16AM |
I bought a Rostock Mini Pro from 3d Printer Czar last month too. Getting it working well has been a fun adventure. That I've... almost finished! In order from easy to hard: 
That's normal. It's just the Repetier firmware backing off and then rehoming. I kind of like it.
You're probably supplying too much current to your stepper motors. The Mini Pro build instructions are a bit weak when it comes to setting that. You'll probably also notice the stepper motors under the build platform getting very very warm.
I fixed that by following the motor calibration guide in http://reprap.org/wiki/Calibration. It should be a lot quieter afterwards.
I disabled EEPROM settings while calibrating (set EEPROM_MODE to 0), to make sure the printer was running with the settings I'd entered in Configuration.h.
But I'm not too sure what might be wrong in your case. Are you homing the print head first? If so, running a command like G0 F8000 X0 Y0 Z0 will send the head to where it thinks the 0 point is. With your Z height still set at 114mm that should put the head roughly centred, something like 60-70mm above the build platform.
Quote
andychang28
Aside from that problem, whenever I try to home my printer, the carriages move up as they are supposed to, but once they have all reached the top endstops, they suddenly turn around and move down slowly for a centimeter or two. Then, they come back up at the same slow speed, and this time they stop when they hit the tops.
That's normal. It's just the Repetier firmware backing off and then rehoming. I kind of like it.
Quote
Finally, whenever the motors stop, (this includes homing, moving through manual control in Repetier, etc) they make a very high-pitched whining noise. I feel like they're still running but stopped at the same time.
You're probably supplying too much current to your stepper motors. The Mini Pro build instructions are a bit weak when it comes to setting that. You'll probably also notice the stepper motors under the build platform getting very very warm.
I fixed that by following the motor calibration guide in http://reprap.org/wiki/Calibration. It should be a lot quieter afterwards.
Quote
My priority target for now is the fact that my printer does not seem to know when its hot end has reached the print bed. I have tried lowering the z axis length in my Configuration.h file, even going so far as to set it at 114 mm, but nothing seems to work. I have checked the EEPROM settings as well, and they are all set to 114 mm. However, the motors keep on pushing the hot end down into the print bed.
I disabled EEPROM settings while calibrating (set EEPROM_MODE to 0), to make sure the printer was running with the settings I'd entered in Configuration.h.
But I'm not too sure what might be wrong in your case. Are you homing the print head first? If so, running a command like G0 F8000 X0 Y0 Z0 will send the head to where it thinks the 0 point is. With your Z height still set at 114mm that should put the head roughly centred, something like 60-70mm above the build platform.
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Re: Rostock Mini Pro Issues February 22, 2015 11:09AM |
Thanks everyone, I found out why the hot end was crashing into the print bed. It turns out my steps per mm was way too high, and for every 10mm I told the printer to move it actually moved about 23mm. 
Anyway, now I'm trying to get the extruder to push the plastic out the nozzle. I can make plastic melt and come out of the hot end by manually pushing it through, but if the extruder motor tries to do so it doesn't work. The extruder motor runs fine, so the problem must be somewhere between the motor and the hot end. I think calibrating the extruder motor might help this. Any advice?
Andrew
BTW Here's my config file
Anyway, now I'm trying to get the extruder to push the plastic out the nozzle. I can make plastic melt and come out of the hot end by manually pushing it through, but if the extruder motor tries to do so it doesn't work. The extruder motor runs fine, so the problem must be somewhere between the motor and the hot end. I think calibrating the extruder motor might help this. Any advice?
Andrew
BTW Here's my config file
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Re: Rostock Mini Pro Issues March 05, 2015 08:36PM |
Sorry about that, I'm on Repetier Firmware and Host. 
I increased both by double the error measure, and I see major improvement, but there's still a one or two millimeter gap. Is that normal?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2015 08:42PM by andychang28.
I increased both by double the error measure, and I see major improvement, but there's still a one or two millimeter gap. Is that normal?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/2015 08:42PM by andychang28.
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Re: Rostock Mini Pro Issues March 07, 2015 09:17PM |
K, Thanks anyway dc42. I think all i had to do was increase it by more, if any more problems come up i'll post again. 
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