The build is a disaster! Help Please

Hi Guys,

Spent all of yesterday, and most of today building this kit I got off ebay:
[www.ebay.co.uk]

After looking all over the place for build instructions for the different parts (no one build manual was suitable for the whole build process). I managed to get everything in place and bolted together. The easiest part was modifying the PSU for use for the Pursa, as I have modified a few of these for other projects to receive 12v source... But the PSU is the only thing that seems to be working as it should be.

My main issues is the stepper motors. Its as if they don't have enough power to all run at once. I try to move each motor, the bed motor makes a horrible sound, but when I give it a slight nudge with my hand its smooth and rolls easily.

Same with the X axis and also the extruder (they all seem to get stuck, and then once I give them a tap they start to move - although the extruder stops and I have to nudge it again).

I dont understand whats gone wrong.

I am currently uploading videos as to better explain what I am on about.

Oh and I can't seem to get the extruder to extrude anything, I heated it up, temperature rests 230 degrees, but when i try and feed the abs though, it seems to get stuck, and won't budge, even by force by hand (the extruder stepper motor has no chance).

I wish I just went and bought a makerbot or something, as this build has turned out to be a disaster so far, but then again, this is what makes it all fun of the build and trying to fix it yourself.

Please help, I want to get this up and running!

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Regards,

James Simpson

This is the first video to upload, its me trying to move the X Axis using Printrun, you can hear the motor trying to move on its own, but just makes a loud noise. If i nudge it, the x axis moves as it should, but won't move until i give it a helping hand
[www.youtube.com]

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Regards,

James Simpson

The second video has now uploaded, and this shows pretty much exactly what I am on about clearly. This is the extruder motor, and as you can see, it will move on its own accord for a little bit once its had some help
[www.youtube.com]

I can't figure out whats wrong? Are the plugs wired wrong or are these the wrong motors for the machine, or is it something I have done?

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Regards,

James Simpson

And the final video
[www.youtube.com]

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Regards,

James Simpson

Have you tried this? [bootsindustries.com]

Quote
JamesSimpson
Hi Guys,

Spent all of yesterday, and most of today building this kit I got off ebay:

James
Well, almost 2 days might seem a long time to build it, but in actual fact, that's a bit of a rush. The reason I say that is, building a reprap is a journey of learning and discovery - do a bit, learn a bit as you go and build with precision.
Anyway, the steppers...have you checked the voltage of the Pololu drivers? Have you got the firmware set up correctly?

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_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

I agree with waitaki, if the stepper voltages are too low, they will not turn. There are a lot of videos online to help you set it all up Did that kit come with the controller pre-flashed or did you flash it yourself? If you disable the steppers in pronterface, can you turn all the axis freely by hand?

I notice that you have a Ramps board and I just overcame an issue that sounds exactly like yours. On your board, where the stepper drivers plug in there are pins underneath. There need to be jumpered in pairs. Mine came bare with separate jumpers and it took me 2 weeks to figure out. You may way to check there.

Hey,

You seem pretty disappointed in your purchase.

I think it's probably worth bearing in mind that a makerbot costs substantially more than an i3, so you can see why there might be some little bugs to work out.

As others have suggested, it sounds like the pololu's are turned too low, you can easily increase the voltage by adjusting the trimpot until the motor will turn.

In regards to the extruder not melting the plastic, make sure that the filament is actually going into the hotend, as sometimes on my extruder the filament hits something on the inside of the extruder and never makes it into the extruder. Just see how for the filament reaches before getting stuck.

I hope you get the machine up and running if you haven't already.

Jordan

I forgot to mention what MrPaulie said earlier - are the jumpers under the pololu chips all inserted?

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_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

As the other have stated check that you have three jumper under your stepper driver on you ramps board the adjust you turnpots on the driver until you get the right voltage.
I had to put jumper under the y , x and e drivers to get them to work but none under the z driver, it seemed to cut the voltage down too much seeing the the z driver runs two motors on the ramps board I got.
As for the extruder not working if you get the jumps installed and it still dosent extrude check to make sure you have the right thermal resistor selected in marlin or whatever you are using, I had a month long fight to get my extruder to work all over not selecting the right thermal resistor.
And dont get in a big hurry theres a lot to learn.

Hang in there,

sooo,

Having the same problem with the trimpot on Y and E.
just cant seem to find the sweetspot.

just to confirm, do you adjust them whilst its running? or test, shutdown, adjust, restart, test?

I tried to adjust while running (with conductive screwdriver) and there was a "noise" like the kinda "noise" one doesnt wanna hear when you thrust a screwdriver into a setup you dont fully understand and is plugged into the mains!

I would probably suggest also to go thru the firmware you flash that all is right there?
You have to select motherboard type,set endstops,and a bunch of other things before anything actually seam to work at all
I spent a week to go thru marlin to get my setup to start doing wath I wanted and the spent 2 weeks to get my mk8 extruder to do wath I wanted

Its not always good to source parts that not that many use on an prusa the first time like me

If it's a PC PSU you're using, I had the same symptoms as you, until I added a load to the 5V rail.
I first connected an old DVD drive, but then I changed it to power some LEDs from the 5V.

I adjusted the pots on my stepper drivers while they were running. Turned them anti-clockwise until the motors stopped, then turned them clockwise until they started moving again. At that point, they are giving enough juice to run, but not so much they get too hot.

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MakerFarm 8" Prusa i3v
RAMPS 1.4
0.4mm E3D v6 for 1.75mm

I have the same motors and they are fine.

- definitely check you have 3 jumpers under each stepper driver board. Without them the motors will struggle.
- When above is ok, check your PC power supply as stated above - it might need an inline resistor / LEDs in the 5v side.

Take a big step back. You should not even be trying to heat or run the extruder until you have the X Y and Z axis moving properly, with endstops in place and working. By that time you will know what was wrong and the extruder will be simple.

The i3 is a great printer - all the instructions are out there to be found. Get the X Y and Z going , then move on to the other bits

I couldn't agree with Dodgey99 more. Take it one step at a time. It may come as a different approach then when assembling other kits of anything else, unless you have done this before and learned this is a journey and you should take a step back. Do a motor at a time. I like to start with the X, so I would install all 3 jumpers to get the microstepping setup, then put the step driver on top plug the motor in, turn on the power and try to get that motor to move. Adjusting the pots after that. Once you believe you have something you can move on the next motor and then the next and finally the extruder. When you have something up and running then you can adjust your pots again. Heated bed is the finally for me.

I know I'm just rehashing what Dodgey99 said, but it's important to know that you can't jump into this just by assembling the kit and hoping it will work without know how it works. Nothing worse then an electrical fire, or burning yourself.

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Larsen -
____________________
Creative Shift Workshop

Hi All, Finally getting somewhere with this now, and today managed to get my first successful print (yipee). Although, I cannot get it to do the same again now thought.

So to recap my earlier issues for anyone else running into the same problem, first marlin was configured to the wrong thermistor, hence reading the wrong temperature which means the temp was not correct to extrude, and the bobbed bolt wasn't working with the setup, so got a new deeper grooved bolt and it works perfectly now! (I think the other hobbled bolt is more for PLA).

The motors were having issues because one of the pots was faulty (ordered some new ones from the internet, installed and works fine now).

So i've managed to calibrate x,y,z,e so they are now all moving correctly, after buying a new hobbed bolt (as the one provided wasn't great)

My settings:

//// MOVEMENT SETTINGS
#define NUM_AXIS 4 // The axis order in all axis related arrays is X, Y, Z, E
#define HOMING_FEEDRATE {50*60, 50*60, 4*60, 0}  // set the homing speeds (mm/min)

// default settings

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {79,79,3999,2333}  // default steps per unit for Ultimaker
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE          {500, 500, 2, 25}    // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION      {9000,9000,100,10000}    // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for Skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.

#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION          3000    // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION  3000   // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for retracts

The issue now, I have my Z access end stop at the bottom of the axis (not sure if this is correct or not), but I have issues trying to get the hot end aligned every time with the bed.

The bed is level, as I have measured all these

After a couple of attempts I managed to get the 20x20x10 block printed out (some reason the top was not filled in properly?


Below is a video of how the next print went after the successful print with no settings being changed at all.

Failed Print Video

Then when I tried again, I couldn't get the extruder close enough to the bed, then i would home again (without changing any settings) and then it would be too close to the bed. I can't seem to win. I have tried at least 20 times to get it right, but no luck again.

I'm half tempted to replace the hot end I have at the moment for a j-head one, as the one I have at the moment seems way to big.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2014 03:22PM by JamesSimpson.

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Regards,

James Simpson

Sounds like your Z-axis end stop switch is faulty, or that whatever is actuating it is moving between prints.

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MakerFarm 8" Prusa i3v
RAMPS 1.4
0.4mm E3D v6 for 1.75mm

Managed to get that issue fixed now, and managed to do some calibration blocks, with some slight infill issues on the top...

Any ideas? Do I have my infill set too fast?
[www.youtube.com]

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Regards,

James Simpson