1 Topic by shifter

  • shifter
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  • Registered: 2012-12-04
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Topic: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

Hi there,

I seem to have a problem with my x-axis stepper motor that suddenly occured today after having made some test prints yesterday. In total I printed maybe for 3-4 hours.
The movement on the x-axis is now very loud compared to y and z and when clicking the X-movement buttons in the software (same direction) the head moves first in one direction (distance seems to be correct) and on the next click in the other direction and so on. This behavior is also there when printing, so I cannot actually print at the moment.

For testing purposes I also swapped Y and X connections but the problem with the X axis (clicking on Y then) was still there, so I think it is not the board's fault. Y was still nice and correct then.

Did anybody else encounter this behavior? Could it be too much current on X? (I measured 0.48 on X and 0.57 on Y)
Does anybody have an idea how to fix that?

Thank you very much in advance
shifter

2 Reply by cmetzel

  • cmetzel
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  • From: Solidoodle2 #0091
  • Registered: 2012-08-22
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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

You may have to adjust the tension on your belts.  Sounds like the motor is binding on something and grinding in one direction.  Do a search for belt tensioning or belt adjustment and you should be on your way. 

Welcome to the community!

3 Reply by danny

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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

a few people now have posted some stories about the x carriage that holds the extruder pretty much falling apart.

if you turn the machine off so that the motors are not powered can you move the extruder in the x and y directions by hand, you should feel about the same resistance in each direction.

if you find that the X (left right) movement is drastically more difficult that the Y movement then you need to start poking around.
If adjusting the belt tension doesn't fix things look at the rod towards the rear of the printer and the white blocks that run against the smooth rod, how are these positioned?

you may find it easier to see things if you take the case off and move the platform down as far as it'll go to allow you the most access.

4 Reply by shifter

  • shifter
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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

Thanks for your replies.
I adjusted the belt tension but this does not seem to help.
Also I loosened the belt gear on the x-axis-motor to see if it would rotate nice and easy then (without having to move the whole printer head), but it shows the same behaviour.
For now it seems that the stepper motor has some kind of defect.
Any other ideas?

5 Reply by IanJohnson

  • IanJohnson
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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

It's not a problem with tension or wobble or anything.  If there was something impeding the movement of the motor it would just sit there and skip steps.   I don't know enough about steppers to know what the exact problem would be, but the motor is clearly defective.  You should ask Solidoodle to ship you a new one.  If you can figure out what would cause a stepper to alternate directions and fix it in the meantime, so much the better.

6 Reply by danny

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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

so if you take the belt off (so the stepper motor has no load at all)

then try running the motor you get the same very noisy operation and clicking? (and that's regardless of whether you're trying to drive that motor with the connector usually driving the X axis, or if you swap and try driving it with the connector usually driving the y axis?

7 Reply by shifter

  • shifter
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Re: Erratic movement on x-axis and not going into right direction

I have taken the belt off completely now and the stepper motor still behaves erraticly (and a bit noisy). So I think it is really defective. Somebody on the forum in an other post suggested that with 0.443V the motor was already over its limits. Maybe because mine was driven with 0.48V and printing for 2 hours (with no problems) it got too hot. And while cooling down it might have destroyed itself (I dont know much about stepper motors ;-)). Unfortunately I didnt check its temperature at that time.
But I will try to replace it, doesnt seem to be that difficult.
Thanks for all your suggestions! :-)