The firmware/software/hardware goes a long way to hide the details.
I've a lot to do so everyone can go to sleep while I do the work.

[servo signal]
At the Code level micro stepping for each stepper is set at 16. The hardware is labeled A11, A12, D11, D12 each with 3 pins. Which I assume are +,-,signal for D11. The LCD control board has a good 5v power which I am using to drive an auto leveling servo.

[steppers]
there are 5 stepper ports. I have done no research as to how they are addressed/driven or what 'micro stepping is' and if it is performed at the hardware level. I assumed they are output ports driven with processor interrupt timers and Those signals go straight to power switching circuits for output.
Each have their own separate analog adjustment to keep the voltage at the appropriate level. I have not calibrated the output.

The problem follows the port. So my first step will be to adjust the current.
I had seen both working very well at the same time sequentially one after the other.
[ I don't know what RAMPS means to people. Ibuprofen or Motrin? ]

I'm moving to get the single nozzle up and the servo. The fans, heaters, end stops,thermistors are working.

Home and auto leveling are working (with a servo workaround).

The LCD displays are off. They are turned on by including the drivers into the
firmware. I need to do this also.

[Firmware]
Marlin 1.1.0.RC3 has support for MKS which sets up the heater bed as PWM on pin 7. I was kinda hoping it would have explained a bit about the board so I don't have to look up what the processor pins are... My understanding so far is that there are a bunch of ports and the processor seems to be able to assign/reassign them as pins.
These possibly refer to a standardized GPIO bus used during the 70s... (It will be easy to understand when I go read it.)

Quote Originally Posted by clough42 View Post
I know nothing about those drivers. Are they entirely software controlled?

I typically run 1/16 microstepping. Usually when I hear that one extruder "extrudes about ten times as much plastic" the person has added a new driver to a RAMPS board without installing the microstepping jumpers.

I'm not sure what you mean by "rough mode." Just thinking out loud about things to try:


  • Is microstepping set the same?
  • Is the motor current set the same?
  • If you swap the motor wiring at the board, does the problem move to the other extruder (i.e. is the problem in the controller or in the motors or wiring?)


James