What do I do about Z axis buzzing?

Okay, I've got my printer pretty well configured, extrusion seems good (Just made final adjustment for feed rates) X/Y/Z movement is all as close as it's ever going to be, or at lest close enough for anything that I plan on ever printing.

If I'm in pronterface, all axes move smoothly. I can move the extruder around without any trouble at all.

The only time it's a problem is with the G code that slic3r puts out. When it moves the Z axis up to 5mm, the Z motors buzz, and it doesn't seem to want to go where it should, and then sometimes when it goes down, it bumps into the print bed and then drags, and sometimes it stays hanging above the print bed. I've been watching at that point, then re-homing the Z axis when it starts to print the skirt, but this is obviously a stop-gap measure, and I'd really like to be able to just hit "print" and let it go.

How can I change this behavior?

Check your stepsticks output power.

---

Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)

Seems like it should be fine. I set the bias current on the polulo to 0.85V, should be about as much current as the steppers that I have can handle.

For the time being, I set the max Z speed to 1.25mm/s in Marlin, which seems to do fairly well, but it takes some time to do any significant Z movement. I'll probably increase that a little, and then just let it be. It works well otherwise (Just finished a 45mm tall print, and it's perfect height.)

Edit: Oh, and I replaced the wires from the PSU to the RAMPS 1.4 board, as those were getting quite warm. Doing so seems to have solved some problems with my extruder as well, since that was VERY picky about the tension on the idler. Half a turn on the screw went from the gear slipping to the stepper motor missing steps.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 05:14AM by SupraGuy.

What are the amps and volts needed for your motor ? (or motor type)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2015 06:58AM by Zavashier.

---

Collective intelligence emerges when a group of people work together effectively. Prusa i3 Folger (A lot of the parts are wrong, boring !)