Last week one of my stepper drivers died I have been trying to fix my reprap ever since, but stepper driver are hard to get these days it seems.

I have been able to get stepper driver 3.0 pcbs (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:760) version trough someone at ebay though. I have tried to build two, but I am concerned with the results. If I hook up only power, the chip is getting hot pretty quickly. It doesn't even have a stepper motor attached.

I can't imagine messing up the soldering twice, so what might be the problem? Are how am I going to find out without killing another stepper driver?

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

after hooking up the stepper it seems that it is not working at all. I can easily turn the stepper when the power is on, also when I move my y-axis nothing happens.

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

brupje Wrote:
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> I can't imagine messing up the soldering twice, so
> what might be the problem? ...

I can.

This suggests to me that you're not troubleshooting methodically. Be meticulous. Isolate variables. Test individual components. Never think you know something is good unless it's been tested.

Thanks

I fixed the heating problem, I switched the power mosfet. This helps at least a bit.

next is to find out why the stepper is not turning. Is there a difference between the stepper 2.3 and stepper 3.0 tht might cause this? I am using motherboard v1.2

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

after testing every pin on the a3977 there was one pin not connected good enough. Only problem now is that the stepper is not turning, but I might fix that by swapping the stepper cables

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

It was easier than switching the cables, just turning up the torque was enough.

next is to change the amount of steps, as my print is malformed: a big ellipse.

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

Woot! Baby steps! As opposed to micro-steps... On to the next hurdle!

I fixed the last problem with a hardware fix. Just by connecting MS1 to ground and MS2 to vcc. That tells the A3977 to use 1/2 steps, like the other stepper drivers.

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19