Desperate Help! What's the issue?!

Hey Guys,

So a few months ago i purchased and assembled a Prusa I3 and printed a few successful prints until my extruder motor started playing up. the motor doesn't turn and makes some very strange noises. (see video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj_jobusQc8

i began to diagnose the issue, i first tried a new stepper driver to no success, then tried the motor on a different axis and it worked fine, so can't be the motor or the driver, after working this out i re flashed the stock firmware with no luck. which led me to think it was an issue with the RAMPS (1.4) board, so i changed the firmware to use the second extruder channel and it still does the same thing. i then contacted the company i purchased the printer from and requested a replacement RAMPS board, after setting everything backup with the new board im still having the same issue! getting tired of this whole deal now, ive printed 6 times in months! :( the only thing that could possibly be an issue now is the arduino right? anyone had a similar issue or any ideas before i fork out for a quality mega 2560?

Thanks in advance!

Checked the wiring from the motherboard to the stepper motor???

I had similar on the extruder of one of my printers and there was a break in one of the cables.

Have you tried cleaning the extruder? If it's jammed.......

Yes, checked wiring and it seems fine, and when i plug the extruder stepper into say the X axis and move it it turns fine

Nozzle isn't jammed, and as you can see in the video there's no filament loaded, so nothing is physically stopping the stepper motor

How about re-uploading the firmware?

So new arduino just arrived, i downloaded a fresh copy of the firmware and uploaded it and IT'S STILL DOING IT.... what's the next step???

First time the video worked for me. Sounds like you have the wrong number of steps per revolution set in the code. Find the manufacturer's datasheet on the exact motor you have, and then enter the the number of steps into the appropriate place in the code. I've had similar problems when working with Arduino and other steppers. If you need help locating the commands, Try the RAMPS site (or maybe some one here would know), or goto arduino.cc and check their examples. I can't imagine they'd be using an exotic stepper library to control the motor, so the exact how to on how to operate the motor's can be found there. I'm also assuming you have access to the source code and the Arduino IDE. If you don't, I'd imagine it'd be a very good idea to get it (it's free).

EDIT, Reread the OP. Probably not the steps per, as it worked before. I'd pull the motor out of the enclosure, and try to get it to run on it's on. Again, if you have an extra arduino board (why mess with the Mega in the printer, any arduino will work), Use one of the example steppers sketches and try to get it to turn on it's on, without anything on the axle. If it works, slowly add parts to it till if fails. You could have a bad bearing or something in the system.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marm

First time the video worked for me. Sounds like you have the wrong number of steps per revolution set in the code. Find the manufacturer's datasheet on the exact motor you have, and then enter the the number of steps into the appropriate place in the code. I've had similar problems when working with Arduino and other steppers. If you need help locating the commands, Try the RAMPS site (or maybe some one here would know), or goto arduino.cc and check their examples. I can't imagine they'd be using an exotic stepper library to control the motor, so the exact how to on how to operate the motor's can be found there. I'm also assuming you have access to the source code and the Arduino IDE. If you don't, I'd imagine it'd be a very good idea to get it (it's free).

EDIT, Reread the OP. Probably not the steps per, as it worked before. I'd pull the motor out of the enclosure, and try to get it to run on it's on. Again, if you have an extra arduino board (why mess with the Mega in the printer, any arduino will work), Use one of the example steppers sketches and try to get it to turn on it's on, without anything on the axle. If it works, slowly add parts to it till if fails. You could have a bad bearing or something in the system.

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Yes, there are some pins for plugging jumper caps under stepper driver on mainboard. Did plug the jumper caps correctly according to the building instruction?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wenganxiang

Yes, there are some pins for plugging jumper caps under stepper driver on mainboard. Did plug the jumper caps correctly according to the building instruction?

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Yep, all 3 jumpers are connected as per build.

Stepper motor is fine, ive tested it out of the printer and in the printer on the x axis. No matter what stepper i plug into the extruder channel it does the same thing. yes ive tried different drivers too with no success, and replaced the ramps and arduino, which is making me thing the only thing left is the firmware?

Are the 3 jumpers in place under the extruder polulu board?

Try testing the motor in a separate arduino sketch, as I mentioned above. Break it down to the core components.