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  1. #1

    possessed printer or do stepper motors kill printers

    I am trying to work the bugs out of my makerfarm 10" i3v just seeing if you could help.

    So here is my dilemma.

    I used to love printing with it... until it started to have some ghost in its works. It started one day out of the blue. I print PLA on it mostly. I had it set up to use octopi as the interface that I would upload files to it. The symptoms I am trying to diagnose are as follows

    It started printing and about 5 - 10 min into the print the LCD from the ramps board would get garbled (ie show random characters in no real understandable language. The X, Y and Z coordinate areas of the display would change to random characters supposedly to the characters that should be numbers. the print would randomly fail. Sometimes the print would finish and others it would not and fail with the nozzle over the print with the print nozzle still hot and the bed still hot or both would cool to ambient. I could never figure a pattern.

    things i did to diagnose / fix the problem. (Not necessarily in this order.)

    1. I read that interference or noise may be entering the system from the ac voltage. I got a HUM X from ebtech that is supposed to eleminate any interference from the mains voltage (apparently it's for high end audio equipment). RESTULT = same as above
    2. I wrapped all of the stepper motor wiring and electronics wiring in foil to eleminate interference. RESULT = same as above.
    3. put ferrites on all wiring. RESULT = same as above.
    4. changed RAMPS boards. RESULT = same as above.
    5. changed stepper drivers. RESULT = same as above.
    6. Changed the psu. RESULT = same as above
    7. changed heat bed relay. RESULT = same as above.
    8. changed LCD board. RESULT = same as above.
    9. tried printing from astro print. RESULT = same as above.
    10. tried changing USB cables from pi to RAMPS. RESULT = same as above.
    11. Tried different raspberry pis. RESULT = same as above.
    12. tried printing directly from SD card from both of my LCD boards.... RESULT = same as above.
    13. tried different SD cards. RESULT = same as above.
    14. checked all wiring and made sure no kinks or cut or frayed wiring. RESULT = same as above.

    I've basically rebuilt the machine electronically except for stepper motors and end stop micro switches...

    SO my question is: Should i change all stepper motors and end stops next? Do you think it could be a bad stepper causing this persistent gremlin? I am lost.. I cannot get a good print.

    thanks for any help.

  2. #2
    Student justinhinkle's Avatar
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    possessed printer or do stepper motors kill printers

    Stepper Motors
    Stepper motors are used in printers, disk drives, and other devices where precise position control is required. Stepper motors do not turn continuously like DC motors. They move in steps such as 1.8 degreees. There are several types of stepper motors such as unipolar and bipolar.

    Identification of step motors
    If it has five wires, it's a unipolar only stepper. If it has six or eight wires, it can be used as either. Another way to find out is to open each motor. If the rotor has a number of ridges at some consistent separation angle, and there are no brushes, then you're likely looking at a stepper motor.

    Bipolar or unipolar stepper motor:-

    Unlike the
    unipolar stepper motor, the bipolar stepper motor has two leads per phase, neither of which are common. ... Bipolar motors are generally better than unipolar motors. They have more torque and are more efficient. However, they are more complicated to drive because they need reverse current.

    Bipolar stepper motor
    Bipolar steppers have a single coil per phase and require more complicated control circuitry (typically an H-bridge for each phase). The A4988 has the circuitry necessary to control a bipolar stepper motor. Bipolar stepper motors typically have four leads, two for each coil.

    Principle of stepper motor
    Working of Permanent Magnet
    Stepper Motor
    The operation of this motor works on the principle that unlike poles attract each other and
    like poles repel each other. When the stator windings are excited with a DC supply, it produces magnetic flux and establishes the North and South poles.

    Information Source:- McAfee.com/Activate | Office.com/Setup
    For further assistance:- www.mcafee.com/activate | www.office.com/setup

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