Print errors and failures (solidoodlesupport please help!!!!) (Page 2 of 2)

Basically, if it is printing midair, it has slipped off track. This is fairly normal. Does this happen on every print? Why don't you check with support to see if they can do a phone call to walk you through the printing process. You might have an easier time of it with some step by step instructions over the phone.

Things to note:

1) Your motors are most likely not damaged. Typically stepper motors are very hardy.
2) You probably should not have re-wired your Solidoodle. Most likely the printer slipped out of position due to calibration issues, and did not have an electronics problem of any kind. However, now that you have made changes to the electronics, the support guys are going to have to have you check those. If the extruder motor isn't turning, you could have lost connection, or had another thermistor problem.

Perhaps they will approve a tune up procedure, but the most likely thing is a phone chat to clear things up.

They are right.  If you had only bought a Makerbot you could be spending your time dealing with a whole different set of issues rather than this one, like your electronics going up in smoke.

When you had the plugs switched around, did Z move when you tried to extrude?  If E works when plugged in to Z, and no motor works when plugged into E, then it could be a bad stepper driver.  Hoping at this point that you have a Sanguinololu rather than Printrboard.

Pretty sure this is the board that I have onboard....

I think Elmoret has given up telling you so I will take over.

You most likely have some dodgy wiring between the thermistor plug and electronics board. Probably a partially broken wire that loses connection for a split second as the print head moves and makes it pull an flex, hence intermittent problem.

Rewire it.

I had a similar thing at a similar stage. The factory wires and plugs in my opinion are pretty sub-standard. I had the heater wires for the hot end start to intermittently fail. Within 24 hours of replacing them, the thermistor wires failed too.

I replaced both with good quality cabling and soldered and crimped JST connectors. Zero problems in the 1-2 years since.

To make sure the problem is the extruder stepper driver and not anything temperature related, you can enter M302 into the manual entry field.  That will tell it to allow the extruder to move regardless of temperature.

Also make sure you don't power it up without motors plugged in.  Having power to the board with a motor unplugged might damage the driver for that motor.

Taking Elmoret's advice... One clearly written post (though I thought the other were...but anyway)

Step 1.  Plugged in USB to computer then to SD3 Board - Computer acknowledges USB connection and green indicator light   
comes on SD3 board.

Step 2. Plug in power cord to surge protector power strip then into SD3 - Lights come on in SD3

Step 3. Opened RH (V0.85b) and connect to SD3

RH connects to SD3 without error and displays the following message:

At startup with RH, there is both a Extruder Temp (17.50) and a Bed Temp (15.60)

Using Manual Control, I activate extruder and allow it come to temp.  Extruder takes 3 minutes to come to temp of 200 degrees and levels off after running for about 3 minutes.  Allowed extruder to continue to heat for another 5 minutes and observed temp for spikes or falloff.   None were observed on graph. 

- Physically checked extruder and yes, it is heating and hot to the touch.

- At NO time during this process did the fan on the extruder motor come on or run. 
I corrected this by running a new wire from the plug at the board to the fan.  Works fine now.

- There were NO errors noted in the log screen.

- Deactivated extruder.

Using Manual Control, I activated build plate and allowed it to come to temp.  Build plate took approximately 9 minutes to come to temp (95 degrees) and leveled off.  Print bed was allowed to run for 10 minutes and was observed.

- Physically checked build plate and yes, it is heating and hot to the touch.

- At NO time during this process was there any major spikes or dips in the temp.

- There were NO errors noted in the log screen.

- Deactivated Build Plate.

Using Manual Control, I used the HOME BUTTON to return Built Plate and Extruder to their starting positions.  I then moved both X, Y, and Z axis  in a variety of motions (front to back, side to side, up and down)

- There were NO errors noted in the log screen.

- All axis moved and performed as they should without any incident or hesitation.

Using Manual Control and the code M302, ( with NO strand in the Extruder) I attempted to both Extrude and Retract.

- There was no movement by the motor at all in either direction.

- Checked the plug at the extruder motor and at the control board to make sure both were correctly plugged in.

-  Attempted a 2nd movement in both directions and again nothing.

*********************************************************************************
At this time the ONLY change to the printer from its original setup when I received it is:

- Replaced Thermistor with a 100K Compact High Precision Glass Thermistor from Analog Technologies
(Part # ATH100K1R25T70)

- Used a New wire from Thermistor to the board  (Original is still there, but not in use)

- Replaced the wire from the fan to the plug at the board.

**********************************************************************************

In regard to the "flipping" thing.  I swapped the extruder plug on the board with Z axis plug just to see if
the motor was ok.  It was... and worked fine.  I put all plugs back their original positions.

I am going to completely shut down the printer... unplug power/USB.... try a different wall plug and power strip to
see if that perhaps makes any difference.

I hope that is detailed enough for you and makes everything clear now.

Matt

I unplugged Z Axis and left it unplugged... and plugged in Extruder to Z Axis and gave it a Z movement.

- It worked as if it was the Z axis.

I unplugged that and then plugged the Z Axis motor into the Extruder port... gave an extruder movement.

- Nothing happened

******************************

Currently rebooting computer and doing another cold restart...
also have changed to different wall receptacle and changed powerstrip.
will let you know if anything changes....

Elmoret....

After moving to another wall plug and trying another power strip...
and double checking the plug (a third time)...

It seems to now be working.... I have no idea why... or what happened...

But was able to print a 20mm test block with no incidents.....

Go figure....

Dear cujo3131

I have been getting the same errors. My new printer is right out of the box.  I unplugged and shut everything down. I did not get the same problem.  The machine started to print but nothing stuck to the bed just got a blob at the end of the extruder moving around the print bed.  The most recent print try gave me the same RH stop that ggunners got (I hate win8 and now I have another reason).

Richard