Print stopping issue

I hope this is right place...

Hello, I have a problem. I have assembled Prusa i3 printer (mostly from [reprap.org]) using RAMPS 1.4, DRV8825 drivers, Marlin 1.0.2 firmware and Pronterface for printing. Everything seems to work ok except that if I start printing the print stops after about one minute with printer making something akin to cat squealing for about 5 seconds after. I suspected undercurrent making hardware reset, but it seems to be mostly just "stuck", I tried shorter cable (case there was problem in communication), no good. Presently I am perfectly baffled by this and I could really use some ideas, got any?

Thanks,
Zdenek Hostasa

A video is worth 189 words

sounds like your electronics are over heating. do you have a fan on the ramps and heatsinks on the drivers?

I'm going to agree with the overheating and add...

Have you tuned your motors, set vref?

[reprap.org]

(Note: Your motors should not run burning hot. If they are that hot, your vref is too high. Turn it down until you start missing steps and then turn it back up a bit. If you ever have missed steps again, nudge it up just a little more, but be weary about passing the values stated in the link above. Also note that just the littlest nudge on the screwdriver makes the vref value change and unless you are using a plastic screw driver, don't read your meter until you have removed the screwdriver.)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2015 04:28PM by appdev007.

Another source of resets is interference from the stepper wires. Shield them or keep everything else away from them.

I had trouble with my Smoothie resetting randomly.
I had shielded everything, added filter caps on the input, added toroids, still had problems

Turned out I had a reset wire running near to the only stepper cable that I had not shielded - it went to the extruder. I moved them apart and all was well, not one reset since.

As mentioned, make sure you have a good fan. For my setup the air blows above and below the board since the stepper drivers are directly soldered to it (and I added heat sinks below each driver). There's an upper shroud (not shown) that ducts the air over the top of the board. You should not burn yourself if you touch a driver chip's heat sink.

---

My printer: Raptosaur - Large Format Delta - [www.paulwanamaker.wordpress.com]
Can you answer questions about Calibration, Printing issues, Mechanics? Write it up and improve the Wiki!