Extruder motor beeping

I have a stepper motor that I am trying to use with my Tech Zone Remix electronics, extruder board v2.2. I turn my power on to the board and the motor starts beeping really fast and sometimes will pretend it is stepping but just click. I have been trying to determine which position the stepper motor wires should be and through my trials I have found a few positions that will make the motor turn, but not always. I had it so it would extrude on command via the host software but once i tried to print something the motor would just beep really fast almost to a constant beeeeeeepp. The wires coming out of the stepper are black, blue, green, and red. I bought the motors off ebay, same auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/Reprap-Mendel-Nema-17-Stepper-Motor-Kit-3-75-oz-in-/190412550604?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5578f1cc) so they should meet the standards.

I have read that i might need to adjust the pot or pwd? how do I go about doing that? I have heard that the motor makes weird noises during operation but should it be beeping and clicking once power is turned on? What should the motor do when I heat up the barrel and hit extrude should it just smoothly turn and spit out some filament? Thanks guys.

You can connect the extruder stepper driver to one of the other stepper driver boards, all motors are exchangeable. This should help you to confirm the wiring.

Then listen to the pitch of the beep. If the beep's frequency is too high, electronics/software tries to move the motor faster than it can accomplish and nothing will move at all. In this case, try to lower extrusion speed.

Regarding the Trimpot: [reprap.org]

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

You don't happen to have the make and model of the stepper motors do you so you can get the data sheet. The colour of the cables does not really provide much indication of the order that they should be connected.

Get a multimeter and and take a wire, measure the resistance between that cable and another one. The matching wire for a coil will be low compared to a non matching one. Once you have the pairs identified you put the the first pair in A1B and the second pair in A2B. You need to adjust the pot on the board to a point where the current for the stepper motor is just right, too low or too high will cause problems with running the stepper. It does always whine slightly, but it should run smoothly if it can get enough current from the extruder board.

(Also make sure you have updated the firmware on the extruder board).

David

Ok thanks for some good tips guys. I wired the motor up the same way that I have my other motors wired up, like I had before. I still get a lot of beeping, the motor does move though. Should the motor try to move once the host software starts up? What I have and would do is this. Techzone remix gen 3 electronics. Have the motherboard hooked up and running, red like blinking as it should, then flip the switch to power all boards, the xyz motors would make a quick click noise as they powered up. Then I would start the host software. When I start the host software the extruder motor would start beeping quickly and loudly, the lights on the extruder board flickering (near the chips that drive the motor). I would then heat the barrel up to 190c and let it sit there for about 20 secs to acclimate. Press the extrude button, the motor would beep faster (it was still beeping when I was heating the barrel) and the motor would turn somewhat jerkily. I would keep pressing the extrude button and eventually it would stop moving and there would be a steady loud beep.

I dont think I have a manually adjustable 10kpot on the extruder board. I am going to try to slow the extruder speed down from the default 3000mm/sec to like 600-800mm/sec tonight when I get home. I am using the stable firmware that gets downloaded with the reprap host software and seems to be working properly for heating and such. I was able to get my reprap to "print" a spring but nothing would extrude, so it more or less just traced the part out. If I am supposed to be using a differnt firmware with the techzone gen 3 electronics a link would be very helpful. Thanks.

3000 mm/s!!! I think that is your problem right there. Try something like 30mm/s. I do outlines at 16 and infill at 32. I have made things at 100mm/s, but 3000 is crazy.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Ok thanks Nophead I thought that sounded extreme, but that is what the default was.

Another problem now! I came home ready to try that fix, didn't change any connections, did my pre flight check to make sure I had no problems and I turn the power onto my board and after a sec or two i hear a fizz, I look at the extruder board and the chip right next to the motor terminal has a little orange cherry burning in it. Chip a3949SLBT. I took the 2A2B wires out and turned the board back on and it didn't start burning. I put another motor's wires in the 2A2B spot and the same thing happened, and I know that motor works so I dont think its my motor. Going to contact TZ now.

If your motor takes more than 2A when 12V is applied and you have the PWM set too high it will fry the chip.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

In the RepRap Host software the setting is by default 1,000 mm/m which is 16,67 mm/s!

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Nophead - where is the PWM set? Host or firmware?

Rhmorrison - I downloaded the host software, installed it, started it, turned 3 extruder tabs into one and enabled comms. I didn't modify anything else. So I am not sure why it was set so high, perhaps we are using different versions or dates of the host software. Maybe I will re-download the host software. Has there been a new release or update recently?

Quote
Steveo290
Has there been a new release or update recently?

A couple in recent weeks...
But my version is several months old.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

steveo290 Wrote:
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> Nophead - where is the PWM set? Host or firmware?

Must be host because it is in an M code in the gcode file. I don't run any of this myself so I am not familiar with it.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

The host can send a G code to set the PWM, or it can also send a G-Code which tells the firmware to use the setting on the pot on the extruder board to set the current for the PWM

(This assumes RepRapHost and the 5D firmware).

M113: Set Extruder PWM

Example: M113

Set the PWM for the currently-selected extruder. On its own this command sets RepRap to use the on-board potentiometer on the extruder controller board to set the PWM for the currently-selected extruder's stepper power. With an S field:

M113 S0.7

it causes the PWM to be set to the S value (70% in this instance). M113 S0 turns the extruder off, until an M113 command other than M113 S0 is sent.

By default I believe the the RepRapHost tells the firmware to use the Pot value to set the PWM value.

David

Update: I ended up going with a 4th motor controller to run my extruder motor. This is a great fix. There is no noise now and no beeping. And no worrying about PWM and pots. Also, the software had the extrusion speed set to 3000mm/min instead of the 3000mm/s I previously reported.

I have got my extruder working and am going through trying to determine the right steps per mm and feedrate. I believe I have the steps per mm figured out though. Now I just need to fine tune it and hope the resolution comes together once I get the speeds figured out. Thanks for you help.

What type of controller did you use? Did you get another Techzone one or a pololu or something else?

I did end up getting another tech zone. Figured I should stick with what I was using already to avoid compatibility issues or anything else. I am happy with this method as well. Still trying to calibrate though. Just can't seem to get it dialed in correctly. I get it close and change one little thing, then suddenly its completely wrong and prints garbage. I go back to the old settings that kind of worked and it prints worse then it did before. But this isn't because of the extruder being run off a separate controller.