Re: Total Novice trying to setup and having trouble prusa 2020 i3

Ok guys a little data first, I am not an engineer, mechanically inclined or even heavy into hardware tech (anymore). I know more about PC technology than the average layman and thats about it, so please go easy on me, and slowly.

I recently bought a reprap prusa i3 2020 complete kit from folgertech.com via ebay. The kit arrived and to be honest I had some trouble getting it together, took about a week. I did however and it looked ok. I hook the unit up and no fires. So far so good. The unit is powered and I, still using the guides from folgertech, began the setup process. The unit is flashed/sketched with the settings suggested, and I start the software "repetier". I do the top to bottom entering the data as instructed. (on a personal note, I do wish I knew what I was doing and what everything means and as I go I intend to learn but right now...) I start the process of what the guide now says. I hit the home X button the extruder moves but not much. I hit Y and the extruder moves all the way back and begins to convulse as it hits the stop switch and does not stop. it eventually does after shaking very hard. I begin to do research as to why. I learn about checking the stops with M119, new problem. the left/right switch is not showing a "triggered" state, the up and down does, and the back and forth does, which oddly is what is not stopping the unit.

I am as I said no great shakes at this so if anyone can help I would appreciate it.
DC

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2015 03:04PM by darkechibi.

So... to summarize:

The X axis isn't moving.
The Y axis is moving, but it's not stopping at the end stop.

I'm going to assume you're using the ATmega boards and RAMPS 1.4 or so. If this is not true let me know.

There's a few things that could do this.

The first, and probably the most obvious is the endstops need to be messed with. I'll detail some bits for mechanical endstops.

How are the endstops wired?
Are they Normal Closed or Normal open?
You can tell which of these states is the default state by looking at the endstop and noting where the wires attached to the end stop attach on the endstop.
If it says NO, they're wired for normal open.
If it's NC it's normal closed.
Normal closed are a bit better for preventing damage to the printer. Normal open is slightly less energy intensive.

Regardless of which way you choose, make sure all endstops are wired the same. All normal closed or all normal open. not both. Not one wired for normal open and the others wired for normal close.
You do need to have the firmware configured for the proper state.
Inverting endstops needs to be put to either true or false depending on whether it's normal open or normal closed.

Next, make sure your endstops are connected to the proper pins on the board it's self.
This should be common or ground and the + pin. The third pin (-) is not used for mechanical endstops, and can actually cause some serious issues if you try to use it in conjunction with them (it can allow things to short through the current regulator of the board if it's triggered while current is running through the motor shields).

Second, make sure that the endstops that it catches are defined correctly. Meaning if you hit home, the endstop sitting in the direction is 'home'. You can change this in the firmware by flipping the end stop Min/Max setting, or by physically moving the endstop to sit in the correct position, although this may cause weirdness later.

After hearing your printers behaviour, I think that one endstop is either shorted or not wired to be in the same state as the other endstops.
The second issue is that the Y axis end stop is not the one being triggered. The y axis is going to the max position, but the min endstop is what's being triggered.

These are the easier fixes. it's possible that there's some issue with motor wiring, but if things are moving, rather then vibratin, singing, and making noise, it's probably an endstop.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 06:00PM by Qcks_.

Use M119 to read your endstop status, and close them one at a time with your finger and verify that they all behave as expected - IE only showing 'triggered' when pressed.

And if you got Folgers endstop boards, the request to check pins won't be possible . . . since the switches are hard attached to the PCB . . . but the good new is that you can't get them wrong, they are built one way!

- Tim

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2015 08:05PM by tadawson.

Oh wow thank you for the help, I was working on it and I finally got the end stops working. I did in fact get the all in one kit from folger, so that is the end stops that I have. I have finally gotten the end stops working I have no idea why they are, but after just switching them around a little bit and just trying and trying, they work. So I was hoping maybe that was why the unit was jsut smashing against the base end stop (y axis), sort of hoping I had something in the wrong place. but I have doubel and triple checked that the guide said to put what where. So now that is the problem now. Whenever I hit home Y in Repetier the carriage goes all the way back smashing the stop, not stopping and actually pulls the rod out of the holder, the tension screw is tight, I even had my husband tighten it to make sure and it still drives it out. I am tryiing to solve this one step at a time so I appreciate all the help.
DC

If the stops report status correctly, then the next question is: Do you have them plugged into the right place? There are max and min endstop connections on the ramps, and if it is ignoring the Y endstop, perhaps you have it connected to the wrong one? Does Y home to max or min?

- Tim

Hmmmm... Odd I jsut tried holding the the endstop and homing at the same time. planning to get my hand out of the way in time I thought, but it di not move. so I think maybe I have a totally diffirent problem. I am going to check the bearings, but a new problem is occuring.
11:25:26.673 : Printer stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after restarting)
I have had to do some "tapping" to get the bar back into place... if I understand correctly this could be the temp gauge wire. I suppose it may have come loose. but before I go do anything could it be something else?
DC

The shutdown and M999 message I have only see with temp errors, but it could be other things. Did it not give you the actual error in the few lines above that message? If thermistor, it's typically MINTEMP or MAXTEMP . . .

- Tim

you are correct, it did.
13:18:44.496 : : Extruder switched off. MINTEMP triggered !
13:18:44.500 : Error : Printer stopped due to errors. Fix the error and use M999 to restart. (Temperature is reset. Set it after restarting)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2015 01:55PM by darkechibi.

That pretty much confirms a thermistor issue . . .

- Tim

well I will be trying to replace what I think is a bearing issue this evening, so I will trace the thermistor and make sure nothing has come loose. I hope it's not a solder issue, it was not doing it before but still, I hate soldering. thanks again I will probably be back up again tonight witht he next issue.

Ah ha. It was a thermistor issue, when all the wires were being moved around to fix the end stops it must have gotten somehow "wonky" replugged and it is working again. so except for the bearing issue, which I hope I can fix myself. Let me go over what is happening when I try to move a axis.

whenever I hit move it jsut says endstop hit. but it will not move away from the endstop either it still says the same thing. the numbers appear in red and change in the info boxes but the machinery does not move. this all axis except the z which i am not moving at this time since I believe a bearing is damaged, but it was similar if not the same.
DC

Right, so last night after doing a whole bunch of stuff, I think I have sorted the issues of the stoppers and the bearings. just an aside, the bearings seem the same so not sure all that work was needed but still. The unit now stops when it hits a stopper switch, I assume thats what it is supposeds to do .

So now I am going to try and figure out what I am doing and going to catalogue it here as I do it, descriptively, both following the guide I have and guessing some.
The unit is connected and powered. It is facing away from me but I will be describing from the fore position as if sitting in front of it. I am in repetier host 1.0.6 manual controls.

So now on to it:
At this time the unit is static, all the stoppers are triggered. The extruder carriage is all the way to the right and down. the bed is all the way back.
I am hitting;
X right -50 - no reaction. values did not change
X Left 50 - no reaction. values increase by 50
X right -50 - mechanical grinding, values decrease by 50
X left 50 - extruder moves left appx. 4 inches, value increases 50
Repeat - same reaction
X right -50 - moves appx. 4 inches right value decreases 50
repeat - same reaction unit has struck x stop and stopped
X right -1 no movement, value decreases 1
hmmmmmm... why did it not move to begin with? why did it start moving?
Homing x - value changes to 0 unit is still at the stopper. it did not move though at the moment it would have been at a no tens value. 49 I think
What did homing do?
for testing sake I will home Y first
Home Y - no reaction
Y 50 fore - carriage moved front maybe 4 inches (little hard to say) value increased 50
Y aft -50 - carriage returns to stopper value is 0
repeat - no reaction
disconnecting
Y 50 fore - no reaction
Y 50 aft - value decreased 0.01
x right and left no reaction
repeat - no reaction
y 50 fore - value increase to 0
y 50 aft - value decreases to 0.01
homing Y - Y value set 0
Y 50 fore - unit moves
X right 50 unit moves
Leaving unit is postions - appx. 4inches from back on y carriage and x carriage 4 inches from right, disconnecting then connecting
y fore 50 - no reaction
y aft 50 - movement
x right 50 - movement
x left - no reaction
y fore - no reaction
-getting endstops hit

OKAY I am no clearer on what to do than before.

any advice?
I would appreciate it alot thanks.
DC

Alright
Let me clear up what I am asking, I cannot get home X to move more than the tiniest bit. Home Y moves to stop and stops. I am at the part of the guide that is for HOMING X and Y. I, to be honest, don't understand what it is asking me to do. The fact that the X enstop is not working as I expect is just making the question harder. So can someone guide me through the setup that has some idea or can at least look at the guide and explain it a little better.
here is the guide itself.
[drive.google.com]
I am at step home X and Y. So let me be clear. What defines home settings? Is it the endstops or something else?
when I home X and Y what should be happening. where should the base be in relation to the extruder? where should the base be in relation to the stops? Is it important?
DC

forums.reprap.org/read.php?4,512329,519624#msg-519624 Firmware issue that most of us ran into following the guide.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2015 02:58AM by Agedashi.

I think I am right at the end, but I seem to have hit one final wall. my extruder will not heat. I hit the button to turn on the extruder and it says heating, but the temp does not rise. Any idea's anybody?

EDIT: We tried changing the bed, which heated, and the extruder, which did not, power leads. The extruder heated now but the bed did not. that indicates a physical problem, could it be something else?

EDIT: well FRAK, Now the X is acting up in a alternative way. it now only moves a small amount and moves the other way from what it was. It had been working and now its not. this is becoming really disheartening.

EDIT: I think we have a bad board. I am not sure, but its the only thing I can think of.
DC

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2015 08:38PM by darkechibi.

Quote
darkechibi
I think I am right at the end, but I seem to have hit one final wall. my extruder will not heat. I hit the button to turn on the extruder and it says heating, but the temp does not rise. Any idea's anybody?

EDIT: We tried changing the bed, which heated, and the extruder, which did not, power leads. The extruder heated now but the bed did not. that indicates a physical problem, could it be something else?

EDIT: well FRAK, Now the X is acting up in a alternative way. it now only moves a small amount and moves the other way from what it was. It had been working and now its not. this is becoming really disheartening.

EDIT: I think we have a bad board. I am not sure, but its the only thing I can think of.
DC

Not sure about the heating issue, but remember - you have to "home" the axis (once since being turned on) before it will move when you press the arrow buttons. Thinks of it this way - that's the only way it knows where it is, and how far it is allowed to move (200mm). Didn't you say you had the movement/direction thing worked out? As someone mentioned, we all had to deal with that.

Would you mind taking a good picture of your ramps wiring? Maybe we can see an issue.

@madmike - I hope you can see what I don't, thanks for looking. one quick thing. I do have 4 red wires on the green power supply connector. but I marked the wires with black marker to seperate. the 16 awg wire I need I could not find so I had to buy some. here is pics:
[twitter.com]
[twitter.com]

On that second - Whatever is plugged into the top (2 positions) will heat, and whatever is plugged into the bottom (2 postitions) will not.

@markts - I thought I had. The thing is now doing the same thing, only backwards, when I hit home it is moving away from the home position in small bursts and eventually reaching the left hand side, and not being able to move back. actually we tracked that the X position is not reacting at all to its closed stop command at all. I am really at a loss. I am intending to try moving the wires around again and then I cannot but assume that something else is wrong. I was really unsure why the thing started to react just by moving the wires around. I have tried the spare switch but that did the same thing.

I am really sorry for all the trouble, yours and mine and thanks for taking the time to help.

EDIT: if better/more pictures are needed, let me know where and what.
EDIT: well I ordered a new ramps 14 board. Should be here by wednesday. Hopefully that will fix it, and if it does not... Guess I will look keep looking. At least I will have a spare then if I did something wrong.
DC

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2015 06:57PM by darkechibi.