Driver not working?

Pianojungle

Driver not working?
December 13, 2014 07:54PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

Hey,

quick troubleshooting question. My prusa i3 Z axis motors are suddenly not working anymore. I did the ramps test and tried attaching other motor to the Z-driver but they wouldn't work either. Should I conclude that the stepper driver is broken or are there other things I should look into?

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regpye

Re: Driver not working?
December 13, 2014 10:29PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 791

Quote
Pianojungle
Hey,

quick troubleshooting question. My prusa i3 Z axis motors are suddenly not working anymore. I did the ramps test and tried attaching other motor to the Z-driver but they wouldn't work either. Should I conclude that the stepper driver is broken or are there other things I should look into?

Look for a broken wire connection first on your plug. It has happened to me a few times, the wires sometimes come loose.

[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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enif

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 06:11AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 590

Why not try to switch the Z-axis stepper driver with the one of the X- or Y-axis to see whether the problem stays at Z or moves with the driver.

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Pianojungle

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 07:04AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

Yep I tried it and the motors are running fine on other drivers so it must be the driver then I guess

Edit: I replaced the driver and it is still not working sad smiley

? I'm really out of ideas. This means the problem must be on the board no?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2014 07:17AM by Pianojungle.

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enif

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 07:39AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 590

Are the Z-motors wired in parallel or in series?

"...not working...": you mean like dead, or do they give any sound when you try to move Z?

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Pianojungle

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 07:44AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

no sound or movement at all. I don't really know if they are in parallel or series since I connected there are two rows of four pins to connect them to. If I only connect one motor it doesn't do anything either so I don't thing it is a lack of current. It's just weir that the day before everything was working without a problem.

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enif

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 11:03AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 590

If you use the two Z-connectors then it's parallel.

Have you checked with an Ohm-meter (no power connected to RAMPS!) if the Z-Enable and Z-Step of the Z-stepstick have good connection to the corresponding Mega2560 pins A8 and D46 ?

Also visually check the ceramic base of the trimpot on the stepstick - I had some that were broken apart.

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Pianojungle

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 11:43AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

I checked the pins and they give good contact. I checked the potmeter too and it looks fine sad smiley

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enif

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 12:00PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 590

I'm out of ideas... sad smiley

You sure haven't changed anything in the setup or in the firmware that could be the reason for the problem?

Is your Z-endstop is working correctly? (M119)

The only thing I can think of trying to circumvent the problem, is to try to use the E1 stepstick socket to see if you can get the Z-axis to work from there. But for this, you'd need to modify pins.h (and rewire the 2 Z-motors to a single connector)...

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Pianojungle

Re: Driver not working?
December 14, 2014 12:07PM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

I first thought of a software issue myself. I first cleared the whole eeprom of the arduino and then installed the ramps test so that way i could exclude the software as an issue.

I will try rewiring it to the socket of the second extruder and hope that this way I does work. Fingers crossed winking smiley

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Pianojungle

Re: Driver not working?
December 15, 2014 08:38AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 7

Today I wanted to rewire the electronics but before I started my ramps up one more time and it worked. I haven't touched the printer since I last tested it so now I'm even more confused. Anyway it works for now so fingers crossed it stays that way :p

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