none of the stepper motors move

I have ramps 1.3 in my mendel prusa and I have no idea how to make it work.
Tried lots of firmwares with no succes tried 2 different computers and two different operating systems (windows 7 and ubuntu)

both of them made my machine only silently whine(uploading firmware) and when I tried to move x,y or z axis all I got was noise and little bit of vibration.

I tried to turn potentiometer from the stepper driver, but only got x-axis move a little bit. Towards x-axis minus. And it really didn't matter what x-axis button I tried to press (replicatorG).

In repsnapper my printer doesn't connect... well for about 5seconds it tries to connect.

COM-port should be correct and baud is 115200

OptoEndStops leds are on constantly. Is it normal.

firmwares i have tried Tonokip, Sprinter, Klimentkip

Getting tired of all this.

Repsnapper and sprinter is a successful combination for me. Repsnapper is fussy about connecting. I find that it won't connect if anything else (including a previous session of Repsnapper) has been connected to the controller. I'm in the habit now of disconnecting the USB and plugging it in again just before telling Repsnapper to connect. Sometimes it takes more than one try. Pronterface and Pronsole have been much more reliable about connecting. This is all on XP32.

The Pololu current setting can fool you. Mine are mostly at 25-30%. There seems to be a thermal protection function. They will shut down if they get too warm, and they can heat up when nothing is moving. Start low and increase current until it stops squealing and starts moving.

X axis moving only in one direction makes me think you're having end stop troubles. Try disabling them in the firmware until you have the steppers working, then you can start diagnosing direction, end stops, etc.

Thanks for response.

I'll try to change pololu settings... Is it ok to change it while power is on?

Hmm... maybe I should check my board if there is any shorts. Hmm..

I made it. Managed to connect my printer to repsnapper... but... my axes are still moving very weirdly.

For example I push "+1" button in repsnapper controls. Extruder moves a little bit left. Then I push that same button again and it goes right! All of the axes seem like they are not moving at all. Just vibrating.
I have tried to tweak my pololus potentiometer, but it hasn't helped.

Jarmol Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I made it. Managed to connect my printer to
> repsnapper... but... my axes are still moving very
> weirdly.
>
> For example I push "+1" button in repsnapper
> controls. Extruder moves a little bit left. Then I
> push that same button again and it goes right! All
> of the axes seem like they are not moving at all.
> Just vibrating.
> I have tried to tweak my pololus potentiometer,
> but it hasn't helped.

Reduce your maximum speed settings.

You can adjust the current setting on the Pololus while they are connected and powered up. Just don't disconnect them while powered.

The steppers just vibrating means they are not getting enough current to move at the programmed speed. Slow down or increase the current. Default speed in Repsnapper should be OK. At least the version I'm still using had very slow defaults. You seems to be getting limited success with X, so you might want to focus your efforts there until you get a sense of where things should be. The other axes will follow quickly.

Someone should ask if all the axes move freely when the power is off.

Thanks for all replies!

I just found out where the problem was.

For some reason I had stepper motor wires installed wrong. Not sure about them now either, but probably it is OK for now. Now I just need to make those OptoEnd Stops working, but that whole new story.

For the motors there are pairs of wires. Check the continuity on them, when they are shorted, those two are a pair. The pairs go side by side in the socket, as long as the pairs are not mixed it should work. Reversing the location of the pairs should reverse the direction of the motor.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2011 12:47PM by a kungfu mastah.