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z motors stopped

blazedforever

z motors stopped
July 22, 2014 09:52AM

Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 3

Printer was working fine (ordbot, ramps 1.4) but one day i go to use it and the two z motors just make a quiet knocking noise when i jog them, x and y work fine. I tried plugging the x motor into the z spot but could not get x to move. I plugged z into x and it did move slightly. what broke? I havent touched the machine and last print was fine, would it be the stepper driver? why?

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waitaki

Re: z motors stopped
July 23, 2014 04:35AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 1,592

Possibly the stepper driver. Try unplugging it then re-installing just to rule out a poor pin contact. Power OFF of course.

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Waitaki 3D Printer

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blazedforever

Re: z motors stopped
July 27, 2014 06:36PM

Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 3

I swapped the drivers with working y axis and no difference, y axis is working as well. Also i noticed bit of oil dripped down the screw and pooled on the top of the motor do you think that could harm the z steppers?

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blazedforever

Re: z motors stopped
July 27, 2014 09:40PM

Registered: 9 years ago
Posts: 3

-Tested each motor separately , all good.
-Tried higher and lower current settings , no change.
-Swapped wires.
-fresh firmware with same old working step/mm settings.

It seems like all the drivers are good but any motor or driver I plug into the z position on the ramps board wont work. motors are energized and have holding torque, they just wont move , but occasionally make light jerking noises.

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Traumflug

Re: z motors stopped
July 28, 2014 06:50AM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 7,616

Perhaps too much friction on the Z axis? With power off you should be able to turn these M8 rods with two fingers, almost as easily as if you'd turn a bare bolt into a nut.

Else it looks like Steps and/or Dir signal no longer reach the Pololu. Dir can be measured with a multimeter, should be close ot 0V or 5V depending on direction. Step is a bit more difficult, you need a logic probe or an oscilloscope.

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