New builder steppers will not work

Hi everyone,
I have been battling away over the last six months to build an i3. What I would call a scratch build, no plans just from bits and pieces I have aquired on eBay and the scrap bin in the workshop. The easy bit, that's the hardware is now complete and I am now attempting to deal with what I term my 'NEMESIS' , the electronics which includes software and the boards etc.
Having already completely destroyed one set of boards by 'squirting' 24v into a connection that needed 12v I think its about time I finally admitted defeat and ask for help before I totally empty what I have left in my wallet.

The progress to date is what I am assuming to be a completed physical build with all the connections made using Arduino mega with Marlin etc and Pronterface.The head heats up but I cannot get the steppers to move.I have made a few changes to the config in Marlin for PSU Board and other basics as suggested around the sites on the net.
I cannot get the LCD board to work although it did work for a day then for some reason stopped.

thought this may give some insight being the log from Prontoface
Connecting...
start
Printer is now online.
echo:Marlin 1.1.0-RC2
echo: Last Updated: 2015-09-28 12:00 | Author: (none, default config)
Compiled: Jan 3 2016
echo: Free Memory: 5113 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Hardcoded Default Settings Loaded
echoteps per unit:
echo: M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z533.33 E760.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo: M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z5.00 E25.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo: M201 X3000 Y3000 Z100 E10000
echo:Accelerations: P=printing, R=retract and T=travel
echo: M204 P3000.00 R3000.00 T3000.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s), E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo: M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z0.00
echoID settings:
echo: M301 P22.20 I1.08 D114.00 C100.00 L20
echo:Filament settings: Disabled
echo: M200 D3.00
echo: M200 D0
SENDING:M105
Setting bed temperature to 115.000000 degrees Celsius.
Setting hotend temperature to 215.000000 degrees Celsius.

Basically what I need, I think, is a generic Marlin config file that I can use for the initial set-up, anyone able to point me in the right direction. Remember I have an inbuilt fear and lack of knowledge of programming.

I hope there are builders out there who are able to jump what I am hoping is the final hurdle.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2016 03:34PM by banjogeoff.

There can be many causes for steppers not moving. Most are not firmware related (presuming you have managed to set the motherboard type correctly)

1) micro stepping jumpers, You haven’t mentioned your controller, but ill presume a ramps. Under each of the pololu modules is 6 pins for 3 jumpers to set the micro stepping. Most have all 3 jumpers in place to set 1/16th micro stepping

2) power, the ramps takes two 12v power supplies, for the 11 amp and the 5 amp rails. The 5 amp rails supplies the pololu modules with 12v. (ensure this is 12v and not 5v as many seem to do)

3) stepper wiring, many people get this wrong as they follow color codes... unfortunately no two suppliers follow the same colors, even between batches.
A stepper is two coils, you need to identify each pair of wires that forms a coil. The ramps 4 pin stepper plug is pins 1 and 2 are first coil, pins 3 and 4 are second coil.
See Stepper_wiring for details and tricks to identify the coils on the stepper if you don't have basic tools.

4) current limiting pot, all stepper drivers have a current limiting potentiometer, you need to set these to match your steppers requirements.
See Pololu_stepper_driver_board for more information.
NB do not use conductive screw drivers to adjust this. if you short it you can kill the module. If your desperate you can cut up a toothpick into a screwdriver.

5) modules in backwards, there is no key on the stepper modules, people like to use the location of the pot above to orient the drivers, unfortunately pololu drivers have the pot at one end, while drv8825 have it at the other end, meaning this doesn’t work. You need to identify the pins 1B 1A 2A 2B on the module and that is on the side with the stepper plugs.

6) endstops, send a m119 to your printer, any endstops that are triggered the printer cannot move in that direction.

Once these are right then you need to look at firmware settings such as steps /mm acceleration, maxfeed rates etc.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2016 07:02PM by Dust.

Many thanks, that gives me a few things to tweak and check. I shall post my results tomorrow.

Thanks for that insight Dust,
I'll update you on what I have changed to date and the changes/improvements achieved.
1. To confirm your presumption it is indeed a ramps, and there were no jumpers installed, there are now three jumpers per driver position.
Also I have two different makes of driver module and they were both plugged in incorrectly, now correct.
2. I only had 12v attached to the 5amp position and nothing on the 11amp, now there is 12v attached to both via an Xbox 360 203watt psu.
3. I made a change in the firmware, not sure if it was the right place but it cured the error of Z axis end stop showing being stopped when as suggested sending m119.
Now all clear.
These are as far as I have got at the moment and I have some movement in the Y axis but only for about half the distance of the heated plate and only one way ? I get a "noise" from one of the z steppers but no movement from either stepper and nothing from X or extruder steppers.
I am assuming that tweaking the pots on driver modules will help but I have to wait on an insulated screwdriver as I want to do this properly.
When initially building I tested the steppers with led's and am fairly sure I have the coils attached properly ?

The 11amp line is only for the heated bed.

You say you have two different types of drivers?

if you have drv8825's their micro stepping is different, with all jumpers on drv8825's are in 1/32 micro stepping. So you have to double the step/mm for that axis or it only moves half as far as it should. (or remove one jumper)

Movement in one direction is normally end-stops again. make sure none of then endstops are hit, and check with m119
Then hold the X endstop down by hand and send another m119, verify X is triggered, release X and repeat for Y and Z
Oh of course... your just starting... well do the above test anyways as they need to work.
What is happening is that when you power on the printer it thinks its at 0 on all axis. It wont move less than 0.
You have to home each axis, after homing then it knows where real 0 is, but you want to make sure those endstops work first.


Extruder will not move till the hot end it at temp (safety feature) send M302 to Allow cold extrudes (don’t have filament in extruder while doing this)


If you plugged in stepper drivers in backwards you have probably destroyed them, and perhaps the mega also.
What you need to do is if you have one axis working. Then swap the driver module you need to test into the working position and re test that axis... so you can test all the driver modules
(make sure its off when you make any changes) But you do need a non conductive screw driver to set the pot...

Using a led is a good way to find the coils..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2016 07:50AM by Dust.

Just a quick clarification, they are all a4988 modules but different manufacturers/ look.
I will use all new modules, just waiting on the postman. But will use your suggested testing method.
Could you layout a simple to read set of instructions to set up the end stops bed etc, including where I should have the bed physically etc when switching on printer. Be aware you are dealing with a 60 year old who last did any serious programming on a Sinclair ZX80, things appear to have changed somewhat since then

Great advice from Dust

You will also need to change the feedrate for your Z-axis via the firmware.
In the configuration.h file find the line starting with:
#define DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE
the 3rd number in the brackets is the Z axis, should be 2 rather than 5

The default value of 5 usually causes the Z motors to buzz rather than move

Steve

---

My updated Instructable on our Prusa i3 Build
[www.instructables.com]

Many thanks Steve, I shall add it to the list

Hi there sorry it's been a while since my last posting, some good news for once.
Finally I have movement in all steppers, albeit it quite noisy. I think it's all down to
Problems in the Marlin firmware now, the initial changes that gave me 'stepper movement'
Was the tweaking of the potentiometers on the Polulu boards, I am now attempting to iron out the
Problems to each motor one by one , very much trial and error. For example the Y axis when triggered in prontoface
In a single direction goes in each direction alternately, on the first activation it will go backwards on the next forwards .
The X axis will move once triggered if given the gentlest of pushes after
Being triggered. If anyone knows of a glaring problem that could cause this feel free to chip in. At the moment I am attempting to set up the home positions

On your x axis: You got a multimeter?
Clip the red lead to a small metal screw driver to measure. Setting the current
Black lead on ground. Red lead or the screwdriver blade on the polulu driver potentiometer head( that little round silvery thing that looks like it could spin. Its a knob and you can turn it).

Driver docs

We'll make a hero out you yet.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2016 10:07PM by Giantkiller.

---

Replikeo Prusa I3 Rework, Ramps 1.4, Marlin, Pronterface, Tinkercad.
Plan B is always to be somebody else.

Thanks for that, I forgot to mention I used that method. But it didn't seem to be very accurate. I will try it again, I was probably doing it all wrong.

I had to spin mine up all the way.

I shall bear that in mind

Thanks for all the help and advice, problems now rectified.