Printing suddenly started to stop mid way through a print ??

I've been successfully printing using Pronterface for several months, but suddenly the printer keeps stopping after 5 to 10 mins of printing.

I thought my PC may be causing the problem, so I completely reloaded windows (XP), and also tried using Cura instead of Pronterface, but its only marginally better, ie it still fails about 1 in every 5 prints.

I tried uploading the firmware (Marlin) to the Arduino again, but it didn't help.

Nothing else has changed so I'm struggling to see why this would have suddenly started to happen.

PS. I have an SD card reader, but seem to have lost my SD card, so I've just ordered another. (I can't get a small SD card from any local store they only now sell 8Gb and above :-(
But even when the new card arrives, it still doesn't get to the bottom of why it would suddenly start to happen.

The only other thing I can think of is that the PSU is getting electrically noisy, but this seems to be a long shot.
Or perhaps i have some slightly loose connections, that are causing electrical noise.

Does anyone have any idea why this would have started ???

Thanks

Roger

I have the same problem with Repetier Host. It is because the usb lead looses the signal. Try a different lead with better screening.

See my post in the Repetier section. I got an explaination direct from Repetier.

Have you tried a new usb cable?

Edit: dave3d beat me to it

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 05:27AM by lazzymonk.

Great minds think alike.

I had this same problem printing over usb with repetier and marlin. I switched to printing from sd and havent had any issues.

I had/have this happen when printing between a computer and the 3D printer when my wife or I switch on some of the electricals in the house.
One of the plug-in lights will do it, a fan and also the washing machine. I found that all of these items are on the same line.
By changing to another electrical line the problem doesn't exist.

I think it must be an electrical spike causes the problem, the print can be working fine and all of a sudden stop.
The computer is still going and the printer is still active, just that it has now lost communication between the computer and the printer.
Not had this happen when printing form an SD card and not using the computer.

---

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

Thanks for the replies.

I have a SD on order which should be here soon (in fact it should have arrived already, but I guess the post is not at its best just after New Year)

Yes. Power spikes may be a problem. I know things like the vacuum cleaner cause the lights in the house to dim for a split second when its turned on, so it could be a power glitch.

Cheers

Roger

Hi! I'm experiencing this same problem. The printing seems to fine until (normaly after 3minuts) it stops! this is happening while conected to the pc or SD card....i've noticed that the PSU becomes noisy and soon after printer stops. Another strange fact is that on the screen the coordinates of the axis are still changing, but any of the motors and extruder are working.

Cheers

João Costa

I'm currently experiencing the same problem (Prusa i3, RAMPS 1.4) and it doesn't matter whether I'm using my Linux Mint machine or the Win 8.1 one. I have seen a couple of clues though...

If I run the command dmesg | tail in linux shortly after a failure I get a message that suggests that static electricity might be the cause (I don't recall the exact wording given by dmesg). I have also had a shutdown when printing from the SD card after touching the printer - the LCD screen also shows corrupted text. Pressing the reset button clears the LED display, and I can start the print all over again.

The weather is very cold just now and the humidity is very low - I'm getting sparks off radiators, metal cupboards (and off my wife!) after I walk across the carpet (man-made fibres).

My current theory is that static is upsetting the Arduino board occasionally, thus losing the connection and stopping the print job. If this is correct, I have no idea how to fix it...

rgds,

David

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2015 05:38PM by David J.

I never really managed to fix this. But it doesnt happen that often, so I live with it.

Somehow there appears to be a failure on the USB communication.

If I go into the windows device manager, and disable then re-enable the Arduino USB device, it normaly fixes it. However I think that whats probably happening is that the Arduino is being reset by this.

Prior to the reset, the heated bed and turns on and off to maintain its temperature and I can hear the extruder heater ticking several times a second as the PID controller continuously turns it on and off to maintain the correct temperature, so the Arduino must still be running, however it doesnt communicate with the PC.