Welcome! Log In Create A New Profile

Advanced

Stepper motors getting pretty hot

Posted by Anonymous User 
Forum List Message List New Topic
Anonymous User
Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 08:37AM
Hello, while calibrating my stepper motors, I noticed that they get pretty hot, especially the z axis, with temperatures of up to 90 °C after a couple of minutes of activity.
Is that normal? I really don't think so.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 09:30AM
No it's not normal. You should reduce the drive current.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Anonymous User
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 10:44AM
Quote
dc42
No it's not normal. You should reduce the drive current.
Ok, now I get to a point where if I turn it counterclockwise just a bit it will start screaming, and it stabilized the temperature at about 50-55 °C
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 10:50AM
I have this issue also but if I drop my current then I loose steps like crazy.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 11:55AM
Quote
master1900
Ok, now I get to a point where if I turn it counterclockwise just a bit it will start screaming, and it stabilized the temperature at about 50-55 °C

Are you by any chance using DRV8825 drivers?


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Anonymous User
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 12:04PM
Quote
dc42
Quote
master1900
Ok, now I get to a point where if I turn it counterclockwise just a bit it will start screaming, and it stabilized the temperature at about 50-55 °C

Are you by any chance using DRV8825 drivers?
Nope, they are A4988
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 12:57PM
What are the specification of your stepper motors?

Sadly a few people (and in the past, kit manufacturers too) have made the mistake of choosing 12V 0.4A stepper motors, which are a very poor match for most controller electronics.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 01:38PM
Thats my issue also. I dont have a clue that the amp rating of the motors are but im sure they have to be .4
I tried getting info from the vendor and got nothing in return.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 02:48PM
Is there a model number printed on a label on the motor?


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 02:55PM
There is a sticker with some numbers. Ill post when im home to see if you can make light of it. I searched online and came up with nothing.
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 05:37PM
Here is a picture of the sticker.
All my motors are the same.
Reply Quote
Attachments:
open | download - 20170329_163336.jpg (388.8 KB)
Origamib
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 29, 2017 09:12PM
A quick Google search for that tells me they are 0.5a
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 03:00AM
Yes those are low current, high voltage (i.e. about 12V) high inductance motors, which means you will need at least 24V power to the drivers to get them to move at reasonable speeds. My advice is to replace them. I found data for the series at [hybridsteppermotor.sell.everychina.com].


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 08:21AM
Ok, if I was to buy some new motors what holding torque and amp rating would be good?
Also this might explain why the motors are VERY hot running and insanely loud. I can barely hear anyone talking to me if im in the same room with it.
Id LOVE LOVE LOVE to get a duet or smoothieboard to run the new motors but I cannot swallow that pill for this printer.

So what would be a good stepper for a ramps setup?
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 08:43AM
What type of printer is it, and how large?


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 09:10AM
Makerfarm i3 (old style) 8"x8"x8" build volume.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 09:24AM
For that size printer, the choice of motor is not critical. Look for a Nema 17 motor at least 34mm long (torque at least 22Ncm). For RAMPS and other boards with plug-in drivers, it's best to choose motors with a rated current between 1.2A and 1.5A. You can go a bit higher but then you are more likely to need to cool the drivers with a fan and you probably still won't be able to run them as close to their rated current. The voltage at rated current should be around 3V, certainly no higher than 4V.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 09:59AM
Sounds like a plan!
I already have a 80mm fan on the ramps board currently to help with temps.
I just knew these motors were "wrong" from the kit. No matter what I did they were loud and REAL hot.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 10:08AM
How loud the motors are depends on their size and what microstepping you use. With x16 microstepping, they are always going to be quite loud.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Anonymous User
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 10:08AM
Quote
dc42
What are the specification of your stepper motors?

Sadly a few people (and in the past, kit manufacturers too) have made the mistake of choosing 12V 0.4A stepper motors, which are a very poor match for most controller electronics.
I'll be honest, I have no idea. You see, I tried replicating the project in this instructables, so I got stepper motors from various DVD and floppy drives, I didn't actually know that voltage was a thing with the steppers
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 10:09AM
Dang, well that means I have to deal with the noise then because ramps can only do a max of x16.
Thanks again for all the help and insane fast responses.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 10:17AM
Quote
Floyd
Dang, well that means I have to deal with the noise then because ramps can only do a max of x16.

Not entirely true:

- On a non-delta printer I think you should generally be able to do x32 even with an 8-bit controller. But x32 plug-in drivers are generally based on DRV8825 chips, which have issues with some motors.

- You can get TMC2100-based plug-in drivers, which will interpolate x16 to x256. But not everyone who uses them has a good experience, as has recently been reported in this forum. Also they are not especially cheap - why not put that money towards a Duet WiFi or Duet Ethernet instead? smiling smiley

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2017 10:18AM by dc42.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 11:04AM
How are these motors?
Amazon link

Trust me, id jump on a duet if the price wasn't so high. EDIT:I thought it was $200 but it is $170. Still a nice chunk.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2017 11:42AM by Floyd.
Reply Quote
dc42
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 02:30PM
Quote
Floyd
How are these motors?
Amazon link

Those should be more than adequate for any smallish (e.g. 200x200mm build area) 3D printer.


Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
March 30, 2017 03:01PM
Awesome, I had a friend that owed me a favor so he will be getting those for me.
Maybe I can work something out with my friend and get a duet or something. Who knows.
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
April 03, 2017 08:51AM
New motors should be in today or tomorrow. I will update with how it goes on and how hot the motors are after a tuning.
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
April 05, 2017 10:23AM
Got the motors on last night and got the A4988 drivers set at .42v and the motors were stone cold! Sound is reduced by a hair but not much.
Reply Quote
DjDemonD
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
April 05, 2017 03:14PM
Ive just started using LV8729 stepper modules, they can run up to 1/128 (and 1/64, 1/32) on 1/32 they are fairly cool and quiet and much more stable and less fiddly to setup than TMC's. Not as quiet but definitely a big improvement on a4988's and 8825's, for about the same cost. Quite well made too, all the pins were straight on arrival, the chip is on the underside meaning proper thermal transfer to the heatsinks, and they drop in, and use the ramps jumpers to set the microstepping, no soldering bridges/pads. [forums.reprap.org]

Running them at 1/32 with arduino mega might be a push but some manage it. With re-arm 1/32 leaves plenty of headroom.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2017 03:15PM by DjDemonD.

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions
Reply Quote
Floyd
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
April 05, 2017 04:42PM
Id change to a 32bit controller before I even thought about "upgrading" my Ramps.
Reply Quote
DjDemonD
Re: Stepper motors getting pretty hot
April 05, 2017 04:58PM
I agree and have done on one machine, but rearm plus a decent ramps and better stepper drivers works quite well and is a quick upgrade now there is a bit of knowledge building up on how to configure rearm. But no if I was starting a new build I'd go 32bit from the off.

Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions
Reply Quote
Newer Topic Older Topic
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login