1 Topic by Madrocketsci

  • Madrocketsci
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Topic: Help with motor control probems...

Hello solidoodle community.

I recently purchased a solidoodle, and am attempting to fix some problems that have come up. I echo my e-mail to technical support below:

Solidoodle Tech Support,

My name is Aaron Schinder, order #xxxxx

I recently purchased a Solidoodle, 2nd Generation Pro 3d printer from your company. It appeared to be working well for a while, but I've run into some unusual problems:

My computer is a Windows 7 operating system.

1. Last night, I walked through the tutorial and began printing the test spool object. The software connected with the printer okay. The bed heated okay. The extruder heated okay. The device returned to it's home location okay.
2. When I began printing the test object, I noticed that the layers were offset from each other, producing a skewed part along the Y axis. I noticed that this was mentioned in your technical support pages, so I shut down for the night.
3. This morning, I proceeded to run through the belt-alignment/tensioning procedure on your website. After getting the belts aligned and tensioned, I began testing the device again. I connected it to the computer and attempted to home each stage. Now the y-axis motor did not respond to any commands sent. The x and z axis motors were responding to commands.
4. I tried switching the x and y axis motor connectors to the motherboard in the back. Now, as expected, when sending commands to the x axis motor, the y axis motor responded. The x axis motor refused to respond to any commands in this configuration. This seems to indicate that the problem does *not* lie with the y-axis motor or anything I did to the y-axis stage, as it responds well when connected to a different port. Instead, perhaps something is wrong with the y-axis motor controller on the board, or communication with the board. In any case, it is upstream of the hardware.
5. I switched the connectors back, and restarted the solidoodle to see if that might fix the problem. On reconnecting with the solidoodle, I am unable to get *any* of the motors to respond to commands. The extruder responds. The bed and extruder heating still responds. However, no motor commands produce a response in the solidoodle. In addition, attempting to home the z axis appears to crash the repetier software. The repetier software appears to get a response signal to motor commands, however no motion occurs.
6. I have tried restarting both the solidoodle, and my computer. On connecting, no motor response occurs, even though heating and extruding commands still appear to produce a response.

Do you have any recommendations as to how to fix this issue?

----

Anyway, I am still trying to get my motors to respond. Unfortunately, I don't have any power supplies or fancier electronic equipment to try to walk them myself. Has anyone encountered similar problems?

2 Reply by elmoret (edited by elmoret 2014-02-01 23:59:27)

  • elmoret
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Re: Help with motor control probems...

Edit: nope, didn't read the whole post as I was on my phone

Filastruder - the robust, inexpensive filament extruder
E3Dv6 All Metal Hotend - the premier 3D printing hotend

3 Reply by Madrocketsci (edited by Madrocketsci 2014-02-01 23:26:23)

  • Madrocketsci
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Re: Help with motor control probems...

Yes, the bed and heater still heat up, and the extruder extrudes. It is clear that the computer is sending something to the board, and getting status messages back. The board responds with ok to each motor command, but there is no motion or attempted motion by the motors.

Of the two com ports listed by the software, only one of them connects properly and responds to commands sent.

4 Reply by COASTER19 (edited by COASTER19 2014-02-02 00:11:27)

  • COASTER19
  • COASTER19
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Re: Help with motor control probems...

Sounds like it's a problem with the printrboard.  Check that your connectors are connected on the right side, cross your fingers, and hope that it works.  Otherwise, it's a problem with the board and is likely only fixable with a replacement printrboard/ upgrade to RAMPS.  Hopefully support tech gets back to you with more help!

5 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Help with motor control probems...

You say it responds to heater commands and motor commands... and the heaters do heat up but the motors do
NOT move.... so do the numbers in the RH manual control tab change? The numbers next to the manual control arrows that indicate position of the bed and printhead.

6 Reply by Madrocketsci

  • Madrocketsci
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Re: Help with motor control probems...

The numbers next to the manual control arrows are changing when I send motor control commands. Needless to say, they can't be representative of a rotation or position sensor, as nothing is moving. I think it's just some sort of internal counting mechanism in either the software or the board.

Anyway,

You say I can use a RAMPS board and appropriate software with the printer? I might look into that - it seems I can get ahold of one of those less expensively than a new printrboard. Of course, I'll see if Solidoodle will ship me a replacement board, or give me another fix first.

Thank you for your help.