1. Got a question or need help troubleshooting? Post to the troubleshooting forum or Search the forums!

Solved Heated Bed stopped working

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by ArmoredAmir, Jul 18, 2020.

  1. ArmoredAmir

    ArmoredAmir New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2016
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    2
    Hi all, just want to document my troublehshootings methods for fixing my printer. I've had a Robo 3D R1+ since 2016 and its a really reliable printer and of course with time, things will stop working eventually. Only modifications I have done to the printer is install a smart LCD screen that lets me run the whole printer off a SD card and that was a week or so after I got the printer. Also lets me see/change temperatures, adjust motors, and adjust lots of other values. Since then haven't had issues until now.

    It appears the bed sometimes will heat up all the way to what I have 75C. It used to be at the standard 55C but I noticed over the past year my prints wouldn't adhere very well and since going to 75C a few months ago, it's been no issue. So now it will heat up to 75C sometimes and then as the print goes on for about 5 minutes, the bed will stop heating and lower to 20C-30C range. The times it doesn't heat up, I just had to wiggle the connection cable and it heats up to 75C but will still die after 5 minutes of the print. Putting my hand on the bed it does feel hot so it does actually temp up.

    Things I've done:

    Updated the firmware to ROBO3DR1PLUSV2 by downgrading my version of Arduino to 1.6.9, same temperature issue.

    I have tried just tightening the connection the cables to the screw terminal block and still same issue. I believe I have the V1 of the printer that doesn't have an additional ribbon cable connection for the heat bed so I can unplug it from the top without taking off the bottom cover. I would check the voltage when the bed is trying to heat but it seems the multimeter I have isn't working. I also took off the bed entirely to investigate the cables that heat the heating element and it seems fine.

    Another test I did was to temp up the printer to preHeat settings which I have at 210C for nozzle/extruder and 75C for the bed. I had to wiggle the cable for the bed to heat up. I let it sit for 5 mins at 75C and the bed held it's temp for a bit of it then declined. So maybe the connection at the terminal block is bad. I didn't look into that so much. Didn't want to risk taking off the current RAMP board to look under it. I could possibly just have to replace that individual terminal block not sure.

    From research on the forums it appears it's probably the RAMPs board so I'll order one of those. Although there are so many on amazon I believe I need the 1.4 version and the board has those 5 stepper motor drivers with the heatsinks on them not sure if I need a specific one for it. Anyone have a suggestion on one? I saw some value pack ones that come with extra stepper motors also which would be nice purchase for the future. Also for the heatsinks I can just use thermal paste to attach them to the boards?

    Any help/guidance would be appreciated!
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    I would also sanity check the wire connectors in line from the RAMPS to the hotend. The stepper drivers can be moved from your Robo Ramps to the generic one or you can buy another set of stepper drivers (A4988 is the type) and just use new ones.

    The heat sinks come with a self-stick adhesive. Peel and stick.
     
  4. ArmoredAmir

    ArmoredAmir New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2016
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    2
    Thank you! I By checking the wire connections you mean just see if they're in a tight connection and nothing loose?

    As i'm reading amazon reviews lots the RAMP they're not good or come in bad quality. I'll do some more research though.
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Yes, make sure none of the connectors are loose.

    RAMPS boards are <$15 and in some places <$10 -- that doesn't buy you a lot of quality control. They are all make in Asia (mostly China) and by the lowest bidder :)

    I need 1 now, I buy 3 if(from different sellers) and usually one of them will work (and I return the others).

    If I use Amazon Prime they cover the return so it is not really costing me more, just the hassles of having to mess with it.
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Jul 18, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 18, 2020
  6. ArmoredAmir

    ArmoredAmir New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2016
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    2
    So I purchased a RAMPS board and followed the guide by Geof. It looks like everything is plugged in correctly to the Arduino and then on the RAMPS board. When I turn the printer on, none of the fans are spinning and using my LCD screen I can control the motors and they seem to be functioning correctly, I jumped the bottom 3 slots for all 6 motors. I might of wired the fans wrong. Here's some pictures. I plug fan 1 (The fan that's attached to the bottom cover) to the slot that says F1 above it. Also Fan 9 doesn't work even though I believe it's supposed to be plugged into the slot D9. Also I'm unsure if I hooked up the blue and gray connectors (for LEDs) correctly. Wasn't a clear image on Geof's guide for that.

    One thing I'm thinking is that maybe this Ramps board is designed so the fans will turn on once I start a print instead of with the original board when I turn the printer on, the fans come on instantly. so I'm going to try that also but any suggestions would be awesome!

    Edit: Didn't work, the bed was heating up though and I didn't want to heat it up all the way and then the extruder without any fans turning on so I stopped it. Looking at some other threads I see some people connected the LED cables to the 5A connection (The left two terminals on the green thing) and then I suppose one of the fans(?) to the 11A connection for the right two terminals on the green thing. Can anyone confirm if that's an ideal route? I also would like to figure out where I plug in Fan 1 so it's easy to remove if I need to do future maintenance.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    #6 ArmoredAmir, Aug 6, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2020
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    OK a few things...
    (in no particular order -- it is late)

    Looks like you did a great job replacing it and wiring it in.

    The fan plugged into the D9 slot will be the part cooling fan (or parts fan) that blows on the item being printed. The slicer wants to keep that off for the first few layers to assist in bonding to the print bed. So it will not always be running -- that is normal. One thing to check is that when it IS on that the air is blowing down onto the print bed (not onto the nozzle and not away from the print bed).

    The fan that goes to the bottom cover (as well as the fan that is mounted on the side of the hotend to cool it) can both be landed directly on the 12vdc coming from the power supply (which is that large green plug on the top-left of your picture). If the printer is on those fans will be on. They are not normally ever off so they do not need control by the RAMPS. If you plug them into the 12v supply directly and they do not run then make sure they are not wired backwards (reverse the +/-) and if that doesn't fix it then the fans are bad.
     
    ArmoredAmir likes this.
  8. ArmoredAmir

    ArmoredAmir New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2016
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    2

    Thank you Mark! Did that and it works, almost. I had to solder on extensions to one of the LED cables and for both fans. The green plug with the 4 terminals on the end doesn’t tighten down enough to hold the extension wires I got because they’re larger gauge then the LEDs. The fans wires are thin so the extension wire is a larger gauge but not by much, same wires as LED extensions. So when I mounted the Arduino and RAMPs board the fans and LEDs only turn on if I wiggle the green plug. So I’m going to see if I can find another green plug to use or find a slightly small gauge wire to use for extensions. The one that came with the board was broken from the start so using the one from the old board, and it’s a bit loose of a connection into the female end of the plug that’s soldered to the RAMPs board.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
  10. ArmoredAmir

    ArmoredAmir New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2016
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    2
    Thanks again Mark! I ended up finding 2, 2 terminal ones and hooked them up and put all the wires there and it works! At first it didn't also because I didn't notice I hooked up Z1 axis motors to the exturder 1 slot. Then realized that on my RAMPs board there were two slots on the z axis. Makes sense since the z axis motors work together and do the exact same thing duh! I also found a male and female connector to use for the fan so I can remove it easily without unscrewing the 4 terminal for power on the top left. Question: Should the bottom fan be blowing cold air out to take heat away from the boards or blow cold air towards the boards? It probably should be blowing cold air towards the boards so I'll have to flip that.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Also did some investigating on my old ramps board after I got my printer working and realized I could of taken out the terminals on D10 and D8 and used them. But, then noticed D8 on the negative part was actually burnt/melted. Could this have been because I've been running my bed temperature at 75C? Could be a possibility. But if others have been having the issue also could just be because of age.

    So if I purchase one of those terminal connectors and I could just solder that onto the old RAMPs board and have a replacement maybe. Even though I did cut a few of the connectors off but I can easily just use small female terminals on wires for those slots.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    I'll mark this as solved. Thanks again for your help Mark very much appreciate
     
    mark tomlinson likes this.
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,912
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    The Z axis stepper driver has spots for two stepper motors because:
    1) you want to keep the two stepper motors synchronized with each other and that is easy with one driver
    2) they do not draw enough current to need an entire dedicated driver

    The Z does not make sudden or high-speed moves in multiple directions :)
    The Z moves very slow compared to the other axis.

    One stepper driver is perfect.
     
    ArmoredAmir likes this.

Share This Page