Z axis not moving

Greetings, I am assembling a prusa i3 and I have run into a problem. After a bad Ramps 1.4 board I have a shinny new sainsmart RAMPS 1.4 that I can get all systems functional except the z axis steppers. I feel it is something I'm missing. If I move the steppers to different axis they work, if I move the step drivers into the z axis it still doesn't work.what am I missing? I borrowed another RAMPS and I get the same issue... Terribly frustrated. I've done searches but I might not be getting the correct keywords.

Thanks.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2014 12:29AM by Mdmoore00.

What is your:
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE numbers in Marlin?
I found I had to resuce the Z from 5 to 1 to stop motor chatter - though 2 wil probably work.

Steve

Thanks SteveRoy, for the advice. Changeling the feed rate didn't help. I'm not getting chattering motors or anything, the motors are silent. If it is the RAMPS board then both boards would be not functional on the z axis. When installing the stepper driver did I screw something up? I installed it with the pot at the top.

All the stepper drivers have the same orientation on the Ramps board - typically the pots are to the right (away from the yellow fuses).
What happens if you plug the X or Y axis motors into the Z pins?

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_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

Thanks for the response, when i plug in the x, y, or extruder into the z pins i still get no movenent. When i try the z steppers in any other possition they move fine. when I move the stepper drivers around they work in any position but the Z axis... I ordered another Mega, the thought is to rule out the mega. I should have another RAMPS coming soon, I just feel it is outside the likely hood of conincidence that I would get three bad RAMPS boards. I hope it is the Mega and I can get to printing.

Well, if you have tried different drivers in different positions on multiple Ramps boards, then I too would assume its not the Ramps or driver boards. (Do you have 3 jumpers under all the steppers?)
So, it seems the likely culprit is, maybe, the Mega or the firmware? Can you post your firmware config file?

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_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

Quote
waitaki
Well, if you have tried different drivers in different positions on multiple Ramps boards, then I too would assume its not the Ramps or driver boards. (Do you have 3 jumpers under all the steppers?)
So, it seems the likely culprit is, maybe, the Mega or the firmware? Can you post your firmware config file?

Or possibly the Z Endstop is triggered stopping any movement try operating your z Endstops (Bit of tape or rubber bands to hold them closed or disconnect them if they are wired to NC) and see what happens then

The gcode M119 will get your endstop status. That's an easy double check without having to do anything with any wiring or connectors.

With RAMPS both z-axis headers are tied together. If you have a bad board such as a broken trace, it could have an effect on both headers. You could reconfigure things to use the 2nd extruder header to test a motor. Once configured if one works there but not on the z-header, then that could indicate a bad board.

Thanks all, I've tried checked the end stops status and also ran the end stops open and closed. I tried the test sketch in the wiki. as follows:

#define X_STEP_PIN         54
#define X_DIR_PIN          55
#define X_ENABLE_PIN       38
#define X_MIN_PIN           3
#define X_MAX_PIN           2

#define Y_STEP_PIN         60
#define Y_DIR_PIN          61
#define Y_ENABLE_PIN       56
#define Y_MIN_PIN          14
#define Y_MAX_PIN          15

#define Z_STEP_PIN         46
#define Z_DIR_PIN          48
#define Z_ENABLE_PIN       62
#define Z_MIN_PIN          18
#define Z_MAX_PIN          19

#define E_STEP_PIN         26
#define E_DIR_PIN          28
#define E_ENABLE_PIN       24

#define Q_STEP_PIN         36
#define Q_DIR_PIN          34
#define Q_ENABLE_PIN       30

#define SDPOWER            -1
#define SDSS               53
#define LED_PIN            13

#define FAN_PIN            9

#define PS_ON_PIN          12
#define KILL_PIN           -1

#define HEATER_0_PIN       10
#define HEATER_1_PIN       8
#define TEMP_0_PIN          13   // ANALOG NUMBERING
#define TEMP_1_PIN          14   // ANALOG NUMBERING

void setup() {
  pinMode(FAN_PIN , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(HEATER_0_PIN , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(HEATER_1_PIN , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(X_STEP_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(X_DIR_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(X_ENABLE_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(Y_STEP_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Y_DIR_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Y_ENABLE_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(Z_STEP_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Z_DIR_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Z_ENABLE_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(E_STEP_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(E_DIR_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(E_ENABLE_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(Q_STEP_PIN  , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Q_DIR_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  pinMode(Q_ENABLE_PIN    , OUTPUT);
  
   digitalWrite(X_ENABLE_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Y_ENABLE_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Z_ENABLE_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(E_ENABLE_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Q_ENABLE_PIN    , LOW);
}





void loop () {
  
  if (millis() %1000 <500) 
    digitalWrite(LED_PIN, HIGH);
  else
   digitalWrite(LED_PIN, LOW);
  
  if (millis() %1000 <300) {
    digitalWrite(HEATER_0_PIN, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(HEATER_1_PIN, LOW);
    digitalWrite(FAN_PIN, LOW);
  } else if (millis() %1000 <600) {
    digitalWrite(HEATER_0_PIN, LOW);
    digitalWrite(HEATER_1_PIN, HIGH);
    digitalWrite(FAN_PIN, LOW);
  } else  {
    digitalWrite(HEATER_0_PIN, LOW);
    digitalWrite(HEATER_1_PIN, LOW);
    digitalWrite(FAN_PIN, HIGH);
  }
  
  if (millis() %10000 <5000) {
    digitalWrite(X_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Y_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Z_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(E_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Q_DIR_PIN    , HIGH);
  }
  else {
    digitalWrite(X_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Y_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Z_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(E_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Q_DIR_PIN    , LOW);
  }
  
  
    digitalWrite(X_STEP_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Y_STEP_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Z_STEP_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(E_STEP_PIN    , HIGH);
    digitalWrite(Q_STEP_PIN    , HIGH); 
  delay(1);
    
    digitalWrite(X_STEP_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Y_STEP_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Z_STEP_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(E_STEP_PIN    , LOW);
    digitalWrite(Q_STEP_PIN    , LOW); 
  
}

From this it looks like if i probe pins 46,48, and 62 and look for the high signal on the mega, i can determine if the mega the issue.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 07:56PM by Mdmoore00.

Quote
dougal1957

Quote
waitaki
Well, if you have tried different drivers in different positions on multiple Ramps boards, then I too would assume its not the Ramps or driver boards. (Do you have 3 jumpers under all the steppers?)
So, it seems the likely culprit is, maybe, the Mega or the firmware? Can you post your firmware config file?

Or possibly the Z Endstop is triggered stopping any movement try operating your z Endstops (Bit of tape or rubber bands to hold them closed or disconnect them if they are wired to NC) and see what happens then

If the end-stop was triggered, the motor should still be able to move away from it. End-stops are a common theme on the forums usually due to them being incorrectly wired, fitted badly or placed in the wrong location. The thing is, it doesn't matter if they are triggered, not triggered or even disconnected - the motor should still move in at least one direction (assuming everything is in order).

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_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

Have you had any luck with that?

I'm having the exact same problem you described, except I don't have another RAMPS to to test.

I swapped the motors and the stepper drivers and everything seems to be working fine, but something is wrong either with the RAMPS, the Mega or the firmware. The z motors don't even make a noise, but anyway I also tested the end stops with the M119 just in case and everything looks fine. I don't want to buy another RAMPS just to end up having the same problem again.

I was using the latest 1.1.x Marlin version and now I'm trying the 1.0.2-2 but it throws a M999 error, so I have to sort that out first.