X Axis motor stops working intermittently

Hi!

I am about to start printing/calibrating my first 3D printer build. The machine is based an Prusa i3 Rework and build with mainly (cheap) chinese components, wantai motors, E3D hotend, RAMPS 1.4 with DRV8825 steppers and a modified ATX psu. I also have a 80 mm fan attached on top of the electronics. The firmware I am using is Marlin and for host software I am experimenting with both Pronterface and Octoprint.

The build is complete but I have problems when I try to print the calibration objects since the X axis motor freezes in the middle of prints while the other axises (Y and Z) continue to work and I do not understand why. The X axis will usually start working again after a couple of minutes.

I suspect that this has to do with the stepper overheating and I have tried adjusting the voltage pot in several different configurations but the problem remains. I have also tried to swap the stepper driver with the Y stepper board with no success (the problem happened again on the X axis while Y axis works fine). I do not know what symptoms to look for when a stepper driver overheats but I guess that I will not drive the motor if it overheats and that it migth start working again if the temperature falls below a certain threshold?

The next thing I tried was to resolder the under side of the RAMPS board in case the was a cold solder causing this problem but it had no effect.

The X axis moves smoothly when I try to move it by hand so I do not think that it is a mechanical problem.

Attaching some pictures of the build and an example of a failed print where the axis stopped in the middle of the print.

Does anyone have experienced this problem? I am grateful for any help or ideas!

1) Wiring issue.
2) Properly adjust X-axis current (trimpot on driver)
3) Bad stepper (exchange with extruder stepper temporarily)

Thanks for the reply!

I have fiddled around with the stepper drivers a bit by exchanging the X and Y drivers and resoldered the pin headers on the stepper driver boards and that seems to have resolved the issue. At least I managed to print some calibration objects without any of the axis stopping I hope that this problem wont happen again.

I think that you get what you pay for when buying them cheap...

Hi!

I am new in this forum as well as world of 3d printing.

Since couple of days i have been working on Ramps 1.4 controller. I have faced similar problems mentioned by "hal" .

First, When i transfer the the firmware through arduino, the program gets transferred but the motor does not respond properly. The motors (x, y, z, Extruder) jitters and at the end stops completely. I tried couple of time but it did not work.
I am not able to figure out what exactly happened to my ramps controller. As i am a beginner and trying to build my project, i need your help to solve this problem.

Secondly, I tried to control through LCD but the problem remains same. Sometimes the stepper driver ic gets heated and stops responding. There are some vibration in the motor as i switch on the controller.

I tried to swap the driver board but it happens with all the motors. I checked the firmware.

My project is,

I am using leadscrew (5mm pitch) for my 3d printer and Nema 17 stepper motors.
I have merlin hotend.
Controlller ramps 1.4 with arduino
Stepper driver: A4988

So if someone can help me with the firmware and solve the problem, i will grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks.

Have you tried adjusting the voltage on the stepper drivers?

I believe that my problem with the X axis was partially caused by an overheated stepper driver (for the X axis) and the fact that the GT2 wheel on the NEMA 17 motor was not tightened enough which caused the X carriage to slip sometimes.

Hope that you get it to work!

yes i tried to adjust through pot and it worked once, but after then, it remains same.

Is there any trick to rotate pot? i mean any specific position?

Well, the reason for adjusting the stepper driver voltage is to limit the current delivered to the motor. I think that the best way to do this is by calculting a reasonable setting and set the voltage to that value and if it work, perhaps lower the value so that the driver produces less heat. If the motor is not running or is missing steps with the current value, the value might have to be increased.

Some info on how to calibrate the stepper drivers can be found here: Pololu stepper driver board

Hello,
I have built recently a prusa i3 rework edition and I have a little problem. x axis motor, and extruder motor is reaching high temperatures. i mage to print out extruder small gear, but I am afraid off overheating the motors. I have cheeked the kables. i had bipolar nema 17 motors, i took them out from old copy machines. I have adjusted the step stick potenciometer, helped but not as much as i would liked to. I have tried to reduce the feed rate and max acceleration, but nothing helped.
Thanks for your attention.