XYZ working well...almost ready for first print...now x is down

Ok, maybe you can help me with this one?

Using ramps 1.4 with A4988 drivers from this kit here.

Was showing my wife how laser smooth the x axis was operating, and a few hours later... it just stopped working. Y works fine and X now just does nothing (I can move the motor by hand even when it's powered up)


Here's what I've tested so far:

Plugged the X motor into the Y slot on ramps (X motor works fine)
Plugged the Y stepper driver (working fine) into the X driver slot (X motor gets an initial buzz, but doesn't move the motor)
Plugged X stepper driver into Y driver slot (X driver seems dead as Y does nothing)


So does this mean there might be something wrong with the X driver slots on the Ramps board? If so, how would I test that?

I did send the X axis crashing into the side once when I was setting up the homing distances. Could this have fried a stepper driver or something?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2014 02:43AM by cfry999.

Here's a pic of my build in case anyone might be interested in seeing it. It's all wired up and working, except for that damn X driver problem!!!

Frame is pretty solid.

Hello,

Well, if it was just the X driver, then the Y driver pluged into the X slot would have worked but it didn't.

Did the problem started right after the X axis crash? For electronics, either it dies during the crash or it survives, I don't think you can have problem afterwards. But what about the mecanics? Can you move the X-axis by yourself? Is there a chance it got stuck for some reason?

Another option would be the endstop. If the printer thinks that the endstop is pushed, then it is not going to move further. You can check the status of your endstop with this gcode:
[reprap.org]

Good luck

Thanks Dewesa. It was still working after the crash, so maybe that's not it. I'll check the test code you suggested and see about the endstop status. I'm guessing that it's not getting any current to the X motor since I can turn it even though the PSU is plugged in. Normally, when it's plugged in, the motors won't turn. I just don't know how to test that with the multimeter. Would I test the header pins on the Ramps board for that?

Cheers,

Yes you are right, the fact that you can turn the X motor easily while the other motors are blocked by the current is a clue. What did happened when the printer first stopped working? Was it just after a print finished? After a period of inactivity?

Did you unplugged any device while the printer was on?

Did you get any message in the pronterface console?

If you would like to test your ramps board you can go about this two ways. You could either check the voltage outputs on the pins of the arduino. You could also get an oscope and check the signal output on the ramps, it should put out a clean step function on the step pin.

Also if you want to test the code. You could simply plug the x motor into the y,z,or extruder drive and test that if it turns or not.

So I swapped out my Arduino Mega 2560 with a cheap 'Funduino' knock off from China and everything works fine now. It's beyond me what it could possibly be. The actual Arduino just doesn't work on the X slot on the Ramps 1.4 board. I noticed that there are a couple of extra header pin slots on the Arduino compared to the knock off. Could this have anything to do with it? I've attached a photo to show what I'm talking about.

Man, these electronics are starting to get me discouraged.

thanks all for your input

Interestingly enough, now the Z slots on the 'Funduino' are doing the same thing. Hmmmnnn.

This one is important, the device must be off if you are pulling wires off. Otherwise you can burn out a driver.

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Larsen -
____________________
Creative Shift Workshop

Would it effect the pins on the arduino as well as the driver though? The stepper driver did burn out, but I later swapped to a working driver for the z axis and the pins don't seem to be putting out anything. If it did damage the Arduino pins, I should be able to re-assign them to different pins, no?

You... could.... sorta. Depends on the Pins and RAMP boards are set, I suppose you could breadboard it and rewire it from the auxiliary pins that are for the servos. This is just a preliminary thought.

Need to take a step back.

So at the moment, you had all the motors functioning with the funduino and not the z is not working?

Could be a heating issue. I think I need more info to make a more educated guess.

On the Funduino, take off each driver and start to test them one at a time individually. Then start to add more then one driver then test, then add another, then test.

Try also, testing each driver on one axis, and then on each axis. I know it's tedious work, do I ever know it is.

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Larsen -
____________________
Creative Shift Workshop

Yeah, I have 2 megas, an Arduino and a Funduino. I had all motors working fine with Arduino (still haven't printed anything, just testing stage) and then the stepper driver for the X stopped working. Replaced it with a new driver (that for sure works in the Y axis) and X now doesn't work on Arduino no matter which motors or drivers I use. Tested all motors and they work fine on other axis.

Then I bought the Funduino and had everything working fine again (all axis and new drivers). Then all of a sudden Z stops working. Again, Z stepper driver fried and other working steppers and motors don't work when on the Z axis.

So to recap:

all motors work
Arduino+ramps 1.4 X axis doesn't work with any motors or steppers
Funduino+ramps 1.4 (same ramps board as above) Z axis doesn't work with any motors or steppers
Power only comes on when 12V power supply and usb are plugged in (for both Arduino+ramps and Funduino+ramps)
LCD does turn on when USB only is plugged but ramps obviously gets no power then ( for both Arduino+ramps and Funduino+ramps)

I tested each analog and PWM pin on the Funduino with a blink/potentiometer sketch and all the pins are working for that sketch.


Could all this be the 12v regulators burnt out for both boards? How could I test if it's the regulator?

edit: Also, I have replaced the 4004 diode on the ramps already and it didn't seem to get the current flowing to the arduino. (as per this post [forums.reprap.org])

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2014 12:38AM by cfry999.

So I solved the power issue (scratched trace) and the mega is getting power from the 12V PSU. The other issue about the x not working on one mega and the Z not working on the other I still can't figure out.

This couldn't be a ramps issue I don't think since the x and Z both work on at least one of the megas.

Any ideas?

The x moves a tiny bit when the power goes on and must be getting power to the motor bc I can't move the motor with my hands. However, it's not responsive to the move commands.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2014 01:52AM by cfry999.

To me it sounds like at least one io pin on each mega is dead... (or bad connector pins)

The X sounds like the enable line...

Anyway.. Ramps has a spare pololo socket. phisicaly move you dead axis to that.
Then edit your pins.h

I would try moving X to e1 on the board with a dead X
find [github.com]
change
#define X_STEP_PIN 54
#define X_DIR_PIN 55
#define X_ENABLE_PIN 38

to

#define X_STEP_PIN 36
#define X_DIR_PIN 34
#define X_ENABLE_PIN 30

save, compile and upload. problem bypassed (cross fingers)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/2014 05:27AM by Dust.

Thanks! You rock Dust. I finally have a working board. I guess I should be more careful about scratching these things (if that's what the problem was).

Cheers.