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Prusa i3 help

Posted by JerseyJohn 
Prusa i3 help
February 04, 2017 11:49PM
I have the Prusa i3 from Folger tech and have been trying hard to get it to print accurately for awhile now. I finally got close I think by adjusting the pots. While doing that there was a spark and a small flame I blew out, now my computer doesn't recognize the printer and I can't get a normal current in the pots, it increases slightly when I plug it into a USB power but still far from what it was and should be. Did I kill the board and is there any way to fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm really lost here.
Re: Prusa i3 help
February 05, 2017 04:27AM
Question 1: did you use a metal screwdriver to adjust the pots while the printer was powered on?
Question 2: did you see where the flame came out of? Was it the stepper driver or something else?

Without seeing the damage it's difficult to help. You could have destroyed the driver, RAMPS, or the arduino board itself. Try troubleshooting incrementally. Make sure everything is powered off. Then connect the arduino via USB and check if it connects to your printing software. If not, the arduino is likely damaged and needs replacement.
If the arduino responds, try powering the machine on and jogging the axes. If all axes but one move, you must have damaged the stepper driver for that axis. It needs replacing.
If the axes don't move at all, you either burned all the drivers at once or damaged the Ramps board. Most likely the only fix is to replace all the damaged components.
Re: Prusa i3 help
February 05, 2017 08:42AM
I used the ceramic screwdriver but stupidly, without thinking, used the multi meter leads as tape removal tools not thinking what they might touch while on. I did what you suggested and the arduino is definitely dead but I was going to replace the RAMPS board anyway so I'll just replace the whole system and order some extra parts to have on hand. Thanks for the help
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