1 Topic by bigpizzle

  • bigpizzle
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-11
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Upgrading extruder stepper driver to DRV8825 - looking for assistance

Hi there,

I purchased a couple DRV8825 drivers so I can upgrade the extruder stepper driver to 1/32 steps to remove the moire effect I'm getting on my prints after upgrading to an E3D hot end.  I'm fairly new to soldering, and after a few videos on youtube on how to solder up one of these 8825's, I managed to solder all the pins on the board without any pins wiggling.  After replacing the original stepper driver with this one, when I hit extruder in Pronterface, the stepper motor looks as if it is moving one step forward, then one step back.  If I have it extruder for 5mm at 100mm/min, I hear 5 clicks.  I thought it might be the direction I had the stepper driver connected, so I swapped its direction yet this time no movement or sounds happen when I extrude in Pronterface.

Can someone who has upgraded their extruder stepper driver to the 8825 care to lend some advice?  What am I doing wrong? 

Thanks in advance.

2 Reply by bigpizzle

  • bigpizzle
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-12-11
  • Posts: 2

Re: Upgrading extruder stepper driver to DRV8825 - looking for assistance

Okay I found the first issue - there was a pin that wasn't correctly soldered.  I resoldered that pin and now I get extrusion, but it's really slow.  I believe I read that I need to change my stepper configuration now.  I'll update when I fix that, in hopes this info may help others in the future.

3 Reply by agentsmith

  • agentsmith
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Dublin, Ireland
  • Registered: 2013-06-14
  • Posts: 94

Re: Upgrading extruder stepper driver to DRV8825 - looking for assistance

yes it is correct you have to change your steps per mm in Repetier Host, Config menu, EEPROM configuration.
While you are there doing this, I would suggest before to calibrate the extruder itself, it is simple, just put two marks on the filament, spaced 10 cm from each other, with the mark closest to the extruder tied to some reference, I put it right before the filament hole in the acrylics.
Then send a 10 cm extrude command from RH, and measure how many millimeters have gone inside the extruder.
Then you make a proportion:
(actual steps x 100) / actual mm consumed = steps to insert in RH EEPROM config

4 Reply by tmclean

  • tmclean
  • Newbie
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-10-09
  • Posts: 6

Re: Upgrading extruder stepper driver to DRV8825 - looking for assistance

bigpizzle
I was wondering if there is any info on how to get the 8825 drivers working in a Ramps 1.4. Need some help getting them to work at 1/32 stepping
thanks