Printer crash / printer stops mid print

Hi everyone.

I need a little help with my electronics/software setup.

I finished building my mendel Prism a few weeks ago and up untill the last weekend everything was going fine but now when I do a long print or multiple prints one after another, my printer eventualy stops printing in the middle of a print with no apparent reason and wont respond in pronterface. It even crashed after only printing for 15 minutes but only once.

To get it going again I have to disconnect/reconnect the usb cable and restart pronterface.

I'm using RAMPS 1.4 electronics with an up to date Pronterface and Marlin firmware.

Any idea whats going on?

ps.: I also seem to be unable to leave the printer plugged in for a long time without using it. When I come back after leaving it plugged in doing nothing, overnight for example, it doesn't respond to pronterface. So I end up power cycling the printer every time I want to use it.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2012 10:14PM by thecrazy.

You can try -

Change your USB cable - keep it 1M or less

Check your PC is not putting the USB ports into sleep mode

Try another USB port / powered hub

Try another PC.

Print from an SD card - you should do that regardless.

And just as an advice point - Make sure your RAMPS stack is well clamped together - I use long M3 bolts to provide slight pressure to clamp the RAMPS to the Arduino, it's amazing how many issues that resolves - don't underestimate vibration

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

I had a SDRAMPS so I installed that which definitly solved my issues with large prints. My usb cable is about 6 feet long and I just realized that the printer is above my computer tower which is connected via wifi. Could be an issue with RF interference. Will have to try to install ferrites on the cable and maybe shield the electronics.