Z axis issues

I thought I would ask to see if you would know what is going on. My z axis does not seem to want to move up and down. The plastic x-end-motor seems to move well and try to move up and down when I tell the printer to step .01mm up or down.

plastic x-end-motor


The plastic x-end-idler however seems to try to turn forward and then turns back so it ends up in same spot.

x-end-idler


I have unscrewed the couplers from the z axis screw so I can make sure that it was not binding and causing the z axis not to step. The x-end-idler side seems to step forward correctly on the 1st .1mm move and steps the other direction on the 2nd .1mm move when I am advancing in the same direction. However if the dial is twisted 10 or 15 steps at one time it keeps turning in the correct direction however it is not as smooth as the other side z motor.

I was wondering if you thought this was a bad NEMA 17 stepper motor or I may need to turn the screw on the StepStick stepper motor driver on my Ramps 1.4?

Thanks for your help,
B

So I moved the z axis stepper in question to the x stepper pins on the Ramps board and the problem is still here. So could be a bad wire or bad motor I will dig out the meter and see if I can narrow it down.

Have you checked the pins in the motor wiring connector are all fully inserted?

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Waitaki 3D Printer

Just a note, my kits x motor and idler mounts were so crooked that the feed rods and smooth rods crossed like chopsticks. Completely bound the motors.