ramps not working

Hi I have a problem. I finished my Prusa i3 printer but ramps seems not to work. I connected the power supply and arduino and uploaded the test code from reprap wiki but the only two thigs that work are hotend and heatbed. I tried to meassure if anything is going on on the output for stepper motors but theres no voltage at all. Another problem is i am not sure if i have my nema 17 motors wired corectly. They came along with 6 pin conectors so i meassured the resistance and found that biggest is between 1st and 3rd pin and 4th and 6th so that should be my pairs and 2nd and 5th wont be connected at all right ? Any idea is apreciated.

So you uploaded preconfigured firmware but did not actually configure it to your specific setup? If so that is why it did not work, there are a lot of settings you need to configure to get you up and running off the stock firmware. Is this firware marlin, sprinter etc.?

First I tried merlin and configured it according to this website [www.instructables.com]. That worked to some extend i was able to conect the pronterface and control the hotend and powersupply but that was all. So i decided to try the test code (http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4 at the bottom of the page) to see if my wiring is right. With this code the hotend and heatbed started to heat up slowly. But none of the steppers moved. So i tried to measure the output voltage for the steppers on the ramps but there was none. I dont know what to do next.

Have you connected 12v to the 5A socket (outer one) on the Ramps board?

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Thanks for the tip I actually have a 300w atx power supply and to the 11A port I connected the 12V line and to the 5A port 5V line. Ill try to connect the 12v line to the 5A port and see if it works.

Hi Stalker,

I'm having almost the same problem than you.
I started yesterday with the electronics and the Repetier software is able to connect to the Mega 2560, I see the temperature evolution, but the motors are not responding at all.
What I realized is that when I try to adjust the potentiometer in the stepper drivers there are no response in the current lecture. I read somewhere how to adjust the potentiometer, screwing counterclockwise to the end, but there is no end at all... As far as I know, when the power supply is on, Marlin should activate the motors for a while, and then, when detecting no signal, turn off. Mine are not turning on.
When I turn on the power supply, just LED 1 in RAMPS blinks for a few seconds, I think there are no lights on the Mega board. I don't know if this is the appropiate behavior.

The fact that Repetier can connect with the board seems to me that Marlin have been updated correctly.

In my case I have the 4-wire NEMA 17 stepper motors everybody uses.

Any update on the issue will be appreciated.

Thanks everybody.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2014 04:26AM by Arquit3D.

that is exactly the same. What potentiometr are you talking about ? The one thats on the LCD board ? And if so is it the biger one or the smaller one that has to be adjusted with a screw driver ?

I guess he's talking about the pololu's potentiometer. Get a nice step by step manual for a proper Ramps wiring and configuration, then a pololu's calibration manual, and follow them step by step. Software and moves comes next.

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Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

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Stalker
that is exactly the same. What potentiometr are you talking about ? The one thats on the LCD board ? And if so is it the biger one or the smaller one that has to be adjusted with a screw driver ?

As Zavashier says, I'm talking about the Pololu's (A4988) potentiometer.

Could anyone advice about the minimum components needed to run the motors with RAMPS? I mean, obviously, you have to connect the power supply unit and the motor. In addition, I've read that the temperature sensor of the extruder and the endstop of the testing axis is also needed.

Thanks Zavashier about the manuals, I'll take a look.

BOTH the power inputs on the Ramps board must be 12v

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Hi,

As waitiki suggested, I connected BOTH power inputs to the PSU. I didn't solved the problem doing this, but I finally moved my first motor. The problem was in Marlin configuration. The logic of the endstops were inverted, well, literally it was "not inverted". I tried before activating the endstops by hand but Marlin was detecting the max endstop also, so when I connected min and max endstops and were activated by hand I have been able to move the motors.
So, by now, my problem is solved. Thanks everybody. Good luck Stalker!

Its a given that you must have polulo or stepstick driver boards plugged in and they have to be installed the right way around, they are not keyed, so it is possible to get them in the wrong way around.

Hi guys I found time to get back to my printer and it turned out that the problem was the power supply. Now i mannaged to move all the motors but the problem is that when i conect it to pronterface it moves only one way and i can not make them move the other all the motors are conected exactly the same way and only y axis moves both ways. Another thing is that some motors stop moving and start to vibrate once in a while and then continue to move freely. Any ideas ?

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Stalker
Hi guys I found time to get back to my printer and it turned out that the problem was the power supply. Now i mannaged to move all the motors but the problem is that when i conect it to pronterface it moves only one way and i can not make them move the other all the motors are conected exactly the same way and only y axis moves both ways. Another thing is that some motors stop moving and start to vibrate once in a while and then continue to move freely. Any ideas ?

Have you setup your end stops? You need then setup correctly to make the motors work in both directions.
Have you checked the voltage on the stepper motors are tried adjusting the pots on the drivers?

Steve

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My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

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Stalker
Hi guys I found time to get back to my printer and it turned out that the problem was the power supply. Now i mannaged to move all the motors but the problem is that when i conect it to pronterface it moves only one way and i can not make them move the other all the motors are conected exactly the same way and only y axis moves both ways. Another thing is that some motors stop moving and start to vibrate once in a while and then continue to move freely. Any ideas ?

I don't know the sfotware you are using. I'm working with Repetier and there you can send G-code commands individually. I supose there is a similar option in every control software. Then, you can send the code M119 and it will answer you with the status of every endstop. In my case it helped to determine that min and max endstops were active and so the motor couldn't be moved.
In the case of the not running motors, I still have to try but you must connect your multimeter in series with one of the wires of the motor, and set it to read A (not mA, which usually have a maximum of 200 mA). Then you must adjust X and Y axis to 200 mA. I'm not sure about Z axis and extruder but one of them needs to be set to 0,2 A and the other one to 0,4. But it could depend on the printer and the configuration used. So better wait for the experts to answer.

Good luck!

Hi the end stops helped me with moving my y and z axis but i still cant move x axis properly. The vibrations turned out to be loose timing belt. Now im trying to fix the heatbed i get no readings from the bed termistor and the heatbed wont heat up even though it is both configured in merlin. How do i properly set up a min point for the motors as i only have three endstops ?