Prusa I3x steppers not working

I recently just purchased a pruse i3x from diy tech shop and I am having some problems with the stepper motors. The motors seem stuck. I found post on here that worked to get them moving. However they now only move a 1/4 turn and then go in reverse a 1/4 turn. I adjusted the pots to get that movement as well.

How can I get these to move properly?

If needed I can make a video to show what it is doing. My power supply is a 300w atx. My thought is it has to be the power supply. I could really use some help to get this going. Already starting to feel like a waste of $500.

Thanks
Starmind

I have made hundreds of prints with my I3x from DIY.
I went through some serious growing pains at first, but mine is now the most reliable appliance in my house.

Have you tried adjusting the trim pots on the step sticks? Or even swapping them out to see if the problem moves with the stepstick.
Have you tried slowing down the speed at which the axis travel?

Im by no means an expert, but I had similar problems at first and I needed to do both to get things working.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2014 04:23PM by makovai.

I have tried the adjusting the trim pots and those do show promise. They were set at 4v when I put it together. After adjustments they are now about 7v. As for the speed adjustments, I have not. How would I do that? Maybe that is my problem?

I will make a video of what it is doing for more clarity.

Just to be clear on the wiring of the steppers, which wires should be used? I had red and yellow as my A and orange and brown as B.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2014 07:48PM by starmind001.

Here is what it is doing on all axis
Video

I lowered the rate at which all motors traveled in pronterface to 20mm x,y and z. I had a slight glimmer of hope, which tells me that I have two things left. I wired all the motors wrong or the power supply is not doing the job. Power supply was a pull from my old computer and after a few test it said it put out the required 12v 16a that the diy tech shop said I needed. And the wires for the motors still have me at a loss.

The heat bed and jhead heat up quite nicely on the PLA setting. Just not seeing a printer working here.

Could someone that has put this model of printer together help me with whatever I seem to be doing wrong? Could it be the marlinlcd firmware?

do you have micro stepping jumpers installed? If its a ramps, 3 jumpers under each pololu

Jumpers installed

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2014 01:26PM by starmind001.

Just a couple quick thoughts that might help:

Run the motor test sketch from the reprap wiki. It's a simple sketch that'll get rid of a lot of the variables that you're facing and help with troubleshooting.

I wouldn't use any power supply that wasn't bronze rated. A lot of power supplies aren't up to par. I'm using one rated at 430 watts. I think it's rated at 32 amps on the 12 volt rail. If you buy a new one, make sure it's got plenty of 12v power. In my experience though when a device demands too much juice from a power supply, the power supply shuts off.

I'm using this one on my machine and it's running pretty well:Power Supply

Buy some more stepper drivers. to have on hand for trouble shooting. I have a whole extra set. I got 5 for under 20 bucks on ebay.

Diytechshop has a spreadsheet available for download when you buy their machine that helps you know what wires go where. You can also use a multimeter to test across the motor wires to see which ones go together.


So, to start I'd unplug all but one motor. Install that sketch, verify the motor leads and just try getting one running at a time. If you can't do that get some new drivers. (Diytechshop will replace anything you break during assembly. One of the biggest perks from ordering from them, They replaced mine when I fried them all)


Good Luck.

P.S. Like Mak said, these machines work amazing once they're all together and running. It'll be worth it eventually!

Another thing to check is your end stops. Make sure they're all wired right.

Here is the step sticks installed.

Tried this sketch: motor sketch

No luck. the motor just sits there. Perhaps my problem is how I am flashing the arduino. All I have been doing is pressing "Ctrl + U" to upload and nothing else. Is there a step I am missing?

Right now I have one motor hooked up to test. Endstops are working just fine.

Just found the wiring chart from Diytechshop. I have the wiring correct.

The Arduino IDE tells you if it was successful at uploading. Should say so at the bottom next to a little status bar.

Also be careful not to touch those heat sinks to the pins. That's what I did. Fried all of them and the arduino. I recommend putting some kapton tape on the edges of the heat sinks.

The Other heat sinks on my other drivers are smaller and less likely to touch them. The diytechshop ones have no room for error.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2014 03:11PM by cfy7.

Thanks for the tip on the heat sinks. I just rechecked my wiring and some how I manage to wire three incorrectly. By one wire. Imagine that. My problem I am having now is the extruder motor wiring. When testing according to the chart provided by Diytechshop, it does not work. Here is the motor provided for use : Minebea-Matsushita 17PM-K402-P4v.

It has 6 wires and I cannot find the way to wire it. As it is installed on the printer, I have (starting at the top) 2 black, 2 yellow and 2 red. Any ideas?

From the wiring guide, it looks like you ignore wire 2 and wire 5, so that's the second one in on both sides.

Use a multi meter to tell what the pairs are. A pair will have some about 30ish ohms. (I think, could be more or less. If it's not a pair, it wont have any continuity.)

One pair goes on 1a/1b the other goes on 2a/2b.

I'd try
1 2 3 4
1 3 4 6

First, if that doesn't work I'd just turn the plug around. If that doesn't work I'd swap 1 with 2 and 3 with 4, and keep going from there.

I have some female to male jumper wires from other projects I use to do this to make it simpler, but you can just keep pulling the pins out and putting em back in the plastic holder thingy if you don't have those.

Good luck!

Just to be sure here is how I wired my endstops. I noticed that the endstops only work in one direction, but not the direction that it needs to stop.

Do I have these right?

Your end stop is good. They're wired so that they're normally closed, and when contacted they go to open.

Are your motors going the right way? You might have plugged them in backwards.

When you try to home them , or go - they should be going towards the end stops.

Are you using a good config file? I've posted a few config files in my build thread, perhaps one might help you out. (They're not perfect, but they're working well for me.)

Ok all the motors are running now. Now the endstops are not working. For example the bed hits the endstop and keeps on going, but if I want it to go in reverse it says I hit the endstop and will only go forwards. Any thoughts??

Config file is from the marlinlcd that Diytechshop provided for my printer.

Did you try the things I said in my last post, do they move the way you tell them to? If It's moving the wrong way, the wires are most likely backward. Reverse the plug.

Perhaps you can post another video showing you commanding it to move and where it actually is moving.

The Marlin I downloaded from Diytechshop wasn't really fully setup for their printers, it has the wrong thermistor selected in it along with some other things. It moves too fast and loses track of where it is.

Attached is a config file that you might want to try. It has the proper thermistor selected in it, and the print size made smaller so you wont damage your machine during commissioning.

OK everything is working now!! Here is a video of the first print and my first clogged nozzle.

First Print and Clog

How do I make this run smoother? I am using 1.75mm filament with a .4 mm extrusion nozzle. Also what program to you guys think best to use? I was using pronterface to print the cube in the video. just seems like I am missing some setting. I have the newer version of slicer, but I have yet to use it.

Again, thanks for all the help!!

Clog? That's no good. Are you still using the Diytechshop Marlin Config? If so, make sure you fix that thermistor setting in it. The temperature will be off if you don't fix that.

I was running the little brass hotend closer to 190 - 200 with PLA

Calibration - It doesn't look like you're pushing out enough plastic. Have you done what it says to do on this page?

I was using pronterface but the settings were not carrying over from slicer to pronterface. I started using Cura and it runs a ton better.

If you keep using pronterface load your file into slicer, make the gcode then export it. After that load your gcode into pronterface and print it.

I am using the config that you provided for me. Thanks. I believe a have it calibrated, but not quite sure yet. Judge for yourselves and let me know what you guys think.

Calibrations

I will upload a pic of the cube when it is done. 6 hours from now. Now I think that it is way pass beer 30.

Looking good!

The one on the right is the one from the video. One thing learned from the first test cube was, always check to make sure the glass is secure.

The one on the left is the product of a good test run.



Just one question, how do I keep the blue tape from sticking so well? After this last run, I now need a new glass as the last one broke when I tried to get the cube off.

Thanks for all the help! Guess from now on it is just trial and error.

Recently I was asked how I fixed my problem with my steppers and I want to post this to help others using this kit from diytechshop. If your motors are not working correctly, grinding, or other weird stuff, then you have the steppers wired wrong. I cannot be more clear on the subject. The below pic are the correct wires you will need to use when wiring them up.


If you are sure in your wiring skills, then check on your board connect as it may be in reverse.


This is where I made a mistake. I had some wires wrong going in here as well. Please use the chart below and check your connections.


Hope this helps out.
Starmind