1 Topic by jordanwatson223

  • jordanwatson223
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  • Registered: 2013-07-22
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Topic: FoldaRap.Please Help!

Hello, I've recently started to work on a foldaRap at my work that was built around a year ago. I have no background in 3D printing and it was a task I was suppose to tackle. The 3D printer has a Sanguinololu 1.3 installed and the machine is built to actually be solar powered so it usually runs on batteries. The batteries didn't have a long life unless they were put out in the sun to charge while you were printing so I decided to go with a power supply.

I rigged up a power supply running at 12V @ 10 Amps which I confirmed but unfortunately it was hooked up in reverse polarity. Every since then I get the odd grinding sound from the stepper motor but usually it still works fine. The issue I'm concerned about is when using the power supply now the heaters for the bed and extruder are only getting around 6 V each. When I run the printer off the batteries it can operate and print fine. I'm not sure if there is something wrong with the mother board to make it act strange or if the power supply just isn't producing enough power. The batteries I use are 4 Li-ion 14.8V 6600mAh hooked up in parallel. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

2 Reply by TheBaron

  • TheBaron
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  • Registered: 2013-07-19
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Re: FoldaRap.Please Help!

Have you measured the amp draw that the machine is pulling, or is that just the rating on the power supply itself?

SD3 w/ RUMBA (8825s), merlin hot end (in pieces). Ender3 w/ silent board for PLA printing. Ender5 w/ silent board, e3d v6, new z lead screw, and glass bed. DiY Kossel w/ smoothieboard (in pieces). Vellman Vertex (in pieces)
Shapeoko2 router in process of being converted to laser engraver (in pieces)
Multicam 5000 series CNC Router w/ 11HP spindle, 5x10' table, and auto tool changer (in pieces)

3 Reply by ronsii

  • ronsii
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Re: FoldaRap.Please Help!

The grinding sound is probably just the stepper stalling from either not enough torque to over come friction on whatever it has for bearings and this could be caused by low voltage also.

the power problem is more than likely not enough capacity coming from your power supply since you say it works from batts, did you measure the voltage at the bed without the extruder heater turned on? and vice-versa for the extruder to see if the voltage increases above 6 volts.

4 Reply by jordanwatson223

  • jordanwatson223
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Re: FoldaRap.Please Help!

Thank you for both of your responses. I discovered that the power supply wasn't big enough.

Thanks again,