No movement from Z axis. February 12, 2016 10:51AM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 12, 2016 11:20AM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 285 |
Quote
chz420
Im using the Folger Tech Prusa i3 acrylic kit.
It uses an arduino mega 2560 and RAMPS 1.4 shield.
Ive been going back and forth through email for the past couple weeks (months) with their tech support trying to figure this out. Ive so far received 2 replacement megas, 3 RAMPS, and an additional set of stepper drivers. So in total I have 3 arduinos, 4 RAMPS shields, and 2 sets of stepper drivers, all of which Im assuming to be totally functional at this point.
So I have everything wired and oriented 100% correctly, according to their manual and multiple sources Ive found on the internet. Im using Marlin_RAMPS_EPCOS_i38 firmware.
In repetier-host I can home the X and the Y, and freely move them with manual control thereafter. The Z doesn't move. I issue the command to home the Z and the status changes to "n Commands Waiting" and just continues to stack them up until I emergency stop. If I plug any of my other motor wires into the Z motors, they turn effortlessly, so I doubt it is getting stuck anywhere. If I plug my Z motor wires into the other motors, the don't move. No surprise there. I've tried swapping in the spare stepper driver and also the known working X driver, with no luck. My Z driver will work for the X motor, however.
I haven't probed but Im almost certain theres no current leaving the Z motor headers of the ramps shield, and I have a really hard time believing that in my pile of hardware there isn't a single working board.
We've tried disabling the endstops, disabling the MAX endstops, inverting the endstops, adjusting Z feed rate, inverting Z motors, swapping drivers all around, swapping boards all around, swapping wires all around. No Z movement, not even a noise or a struggle.
I could probably keep up the email chain for another couple of weeks and be drowning in replacement electronics, but Id rather have a working printer. Anybody have any suggestions?
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 12, 2016 11:52AM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 13, 2016 03:35PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Have you checked z-endstop status? If it is triggered for some reason the motor is not going to move.Quote
chz420
Thanks for the reply, I flashed the firmware you linked and, aside from the axes homing in the wrong direction now, there's no change. My Z still wont respond. "n Commands Waiting"
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 13, 2016 05:28PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 14, 2016 12:24AM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
You shouldn't disable neither min or max endstops to get it to Work. It's good you tested using M119.Quote
chz420
Thanks for your suggestion.
I made the small change in the firmware to disable the max endstops, and running M119 gives me the result I expect, only showing "triggered" when I press the endstops manually. I have also tried swapping out to a spare endstop for the Z.
Is it actually possible for me to have received 3 broken boards in a row? That are specifically broken in moving the Z axis?
The only other thread I found describing my exact problem, (non moving Z, motors turn when plugged into different headers), describes having to buy an arduino and ramps off of Amazon to finally fix the issue. Is it really shoddy soldering that would consistently give me the same problem? The connections all look fine, no bent pins or headers. I mean, out of the 4 ramps some are better than others but nothing that would make me look twice. What are they like sending me replacements out of the trash can or something because I wouldn't be able to tell.
There has to be something I am missing.
Sure it's possible, just not probable.Quote
chz420
Is it actually possible for me to have received 3 broken boards in a row?
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 14, 2016 10:38AM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 14, 2016 03:40PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 14, 2016 06:55PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 15, 2016 04:37AM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 15, 2016 01:07PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 12:37PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 01:58PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 02:41PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 04:13PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
If your drivers are installed for your motherboard, you do not need additional drivers as far as I know. I take it you allready have installed Arduino IDE? [www.arduino.cc]Quote
chz420
I've tried 3 different cables with no success. I've tried different ports both regular and USB 3.0.
Funnily enough, I built a new PC between attempts and I had this problem on both motherboards. My USB driver is the "VIA USB eXtensible Host Controller."
I have only one COM port in the device manager (COM1) which just reads "communications port," but when I plug in the Arduino it comes up as COM4, which Windows 7 auto installed for me.
Should I be using a virtual com port driver? Such as the one found here?
I have tried Pronterface, Cura, and Repetier-host.
I've tried both sets of Z pins and pretty much any and every other 4 pin combo on the ramps via firmware mods, so I doubt its the board giving me issues.
$140 seems a little steep for something that I'm not entirely sure will fix the problem, also everywhere I look seems to be sold out of the Duet .85, and the MKS Sbase 1.2 is listed as "no longer available" from aliexpress.
The LCD screen reads correctly, it displays like it is written in the firmware, but I cant scroll or make selections in the menu, I think the LCD is bad unless it is related to the other problem.
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 04:53PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 16, 2016 05:21PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 17, 2016 01:44PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 18, 2016 04:40AM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Try measuring vref Again, just to be sure on z driver.Quote
chz420
I have it mounted directly to the acrylic frame. The pins are contacting the acrylic, I was told that was fine.
I took a multimeter to my PSU leads and I'm getting exactly 12.30V across the board. Probably one of the most consistent PSUs I've ever tested.
What else can I possibly do? I'm totally at a loss.
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 18, 2016 01:02PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 19, 2016 03:48AM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
I'm not very good at calculating vref/voltage to be honest.Quote
chz420
Okay, my multimeter leads have screw on caps around the probes, so it was super easy to just unscrew them, stick a small wire with a crimp connector on the other end in, and just screw the cap back on.
So, sticking the ground on a GND pin and just going around probing all the 5v pins, I was reading 4.95V on all of them, except for the "servo" section, 0.00 on all of them, but I think they are intentionally disabled in the firmware, perhaps.
Plugging IN the USB raises the voltage of all the pins to 4.97V
My vref is ~0.40V for the X, Z, E0, and E1. ~0.60V for the Y. However, my X and Y pins are giving me 12.60V and my Z, E0, and E1 are giving me 7.05V is this correct?
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 19, 2016 01:20PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 19, 2016 05:18PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 19, 2016 11:28PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 1 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 20, 2016 03:54PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 20, 2016 04:20PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 20, 2016 04:36PM |
Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 14 |
Re: No movement from Z axis. February 20, 2016 07:33PM |
Registered: 9 years ago Posts: 245 |