So for the past 8 months I have had none of this problem and it just started happening last week. Didnt check stepper motor temperature yet, but as the printer stopped in the very begining i suspect its not related. Didnt notice anything from other things on and off in the apartment, maybe its the neighbors fault XD. Its not sleep as it happens as i would be using the computer, and its not something else in the computer as i tested with recently restarted and nothing other then CURA open. Tested with RH and Cura with diferent settings and its still happening EVERYTIME at very random times.

Will continue to investigate as I need this printer running ASAP.
Using MacOS Lion. Standard USB cable and no mods in the printer.and im testing with the exact same STL everytime. And i already printed it several times before.

I can't trace the stoppages back to anything in particular.. Ie lights, stove, etc. it just seems random. Solidoodle support has advised me to return my power supply for exchange, but I'd really be surprised if that fixed the problem.

I'm glad you were able to fix your issue as well!

wardjr,

Were you having the same stoppage problem that we have been having with our printers? And if so, did the heat sink solve the issue for you?

No but once I enclosed the printer I had some skipping and it fixed that.  I haven't really followed your thread but my guess would be a loose connection even though you have checked all of that stuff.  Those connectors are not the best and were a constant source of frustration for me.  Go find an old PC and steal a heat sink that is about the right size.  What do you have to loose?

Were you having the same stoppage problem that we have been having with our printers? And if so, did the heat sink solve the issue for you?

The Y axis motor is not under enough of a load difference to compared to the X axis motor to justify a much smaller over heating over loaded motor. I would think that this would have showed up in testing, especially during burn in. At least a light weight heat sink and fan should have been added is all I'm saying IMHPO.

I agree 100%  the first mod I ever did to my printer was to add a heat sink to that motor.  I often think I should add a fan but the heat sink that I pulled off an old PC processor has just worked so well.  I will say that a little extra mass can really screw up the ability to print at faster speeds.  I certainly can tell the difference of the Bulldog XL's extra mass vs. the original extruder.

In addition, I think that the fact that this is happening a lot now, almost every print in the last 2 days, that the motor is beginning to burn out.

By the way, why is the X axis motor so small compare to all the other motors on the Solidoodle? This seems odd and unnecessary. When I design robotics, I try to keep everything uniform for ease of maintenance and consistency of performance. It is obviously being over loaded compared to the other larger motors.

It could be bigger but you must consider the additional mass that would then become an additional load for the Y-motor.  It's really a compromise of weight, torque and speed.