Hey guys,

I just recently completed constructing my first 3D printer, a Geeetech Prusa i3 Aluminum, and I'm experiencing some problems I'm hoping aren't a bad control board. I'm hoping you all can help me identify what the problem is or might be and what to do to correct it. The control board that was shipped with the kit I bought is a Sanguinololu v 1.3a.

What works
  • both the heated bed and the the heated part of the extruder
  • the z-axis (although it sticks when I try to go up)
  • the y-axis
  • Both thermometers
  • the lcd


What doesn't work
  • the x-axis (when plugged into the x-axis controller)
  • the extruder feeder (when plugged into the e-axis controller)


What I've done to try to fix and diagnose the problems
The first thing I did was plug the x-axis stepper into the y-axis controller and the x-axis stepper worked fine. Same thing with the extruder stepper, and it worked fine as well once plugged into the y-axis.

I hooked my multi-meter up to the y-axis and on the 20v setting it read 1 or less when I manually positioned the y-axis stepper. The e-axis read 0 at all times and the x-axis went as high as 12.

I made sure all the solder points looked good, and as near as I can tell there aren't any bridges or anything. There are some smaller control boards (not sure what to call them) on top of the larger one that I took out and inspected, and they looked fine as well.

What should I do at this point? I'm hoping it's not a fried board or anything, but I'm really not sure what else it could be since the steppers work great when plugged into different control sockets. Any help would really be appreciated. Here's a couple shots of the control board for what they're worth.

Here is a shot of the X Y & Z axis.
X Y & Z Axis Controller Ports.jpg

And here is a shot of the e axis.
E Axis Controller Port.jpg