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Under extrusion, a lot...

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by SteveDjarrell, Oct 20, 2020.

  1. SteveDjarrell

    SteveDjarrell Active Member

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    Hello everyone been a few years since I have posted. I have been doing a lot of reading and I believe I may be in need of a new Mainboard. About a month ago I started having issues with severe under extrusion on my R2. I went from 146.5 steps to get 100mm to 346 steps. Recently I had to move it up to 502 steps. I have swapped the stepper motor out so I know it is good. I thought I was simply going to swap out the driver until I took a good look and saw they are integrated. So thoughts from the group, before I try and get a replacement board? 146.5 to 502.... sounds like a bad stepper driver to me. Also I did the below,

    I have ensured the alignment is correct for the filament path, I have swapped out the hex over to a new Prometheus V2, seasons and all. So I am certain there is no blockage. Extruding in the air it will do the 100MM but once the skirt is done (good first layer) it starts to under extrude. I did notice the retractions are fast and long compared to the actual extrusion.
     
  2. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    https://www.partsbuilt.com/mainboard-replacement-r2-robo-3d/

    According to an article posted for this part, the problem might be the heatsinks. partsbuilt.com sells a heatsink package. Worse comes to worse, you can order a replacement motherboard. Send an email to jonah@partsbuilt.com and let him know that you need a replacement board.
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Are you getting any clicking or other odd noises from the stepper driving the extruder when it is extrudeing?
     
  4. SteveDjarrell

    SteveDjarrell Active Member

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    Hey Mark, No I am getting no noises. I do run a heatsink on the back of the extruder motor. I did that after the first month. Motor does not seem to be getting hot.
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    OK, that means you are correct and it is probably a stepper driver that has gotten weak.

    You really have two choices.
    (1) replace the controller board. PartsBuilt may have them in stock and that is a direct replacement.
    (2) replace the controller board with an Arduino Mega + RAMPS 1.4 shield (this is the same electronics that was in the R1 series).

    There should be a thread on (2) and we can find it for you if that is the way you want to go. Parts kit can be bought from Amazon, here are a couple of examples (not advocating vendors, feel free to look around for others these are just examples):

    https://smile.amazon.com/Aokin-Printer-Controller-Arduino-Heatsink/dp/B07Q5R6YSK

    https://smile.amazon.com/SANON-Printer-Controller-MEGA2560-Jumper/dp/B088LHTDXK

    There are no real downsides to (2) other than the work involved. It will not loose any functionality and then gives you replaceable parts :)
    Obviously replacing the stock controller board is easier so your call.
     
  6. RoboticsRob

    RoboticsRob Member

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    I don't think the heatsink fix will solve the driver issue being discussed. I'm with Mark, and that the replacement board sold by partsbuilt is likely the best route. (full disclosure: I don't work for parts built, but I did write that article referenced above for Jonah)
     
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  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    At some point I imagine PartsBuilt may have trouble sourcing them and all that will be left is swapping for a new controller set. We do have the thread documenting the swap to the Arduin Mega/RAMPS and PartsBuilt should have the kit for that available soon.
     
  8. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    It certainly will not hurt to replace the main board. I was considering the cost of repair and heat sinks would be less expensive.
     
  9. RoboticsRob

    RoboticsRob Member

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    It does look like its out of stock curenr
    It certainly is a lot cheaper to do the repair, and I've recovered ~7 or 8 C2/R2 boards with that fix, but they were all showing the same 'connection interrupted' issue.

    If time isn't a concern, certainly trying to fix might save a lot of funds, and since the replacement board appears to be out of stock at the moment, it can't hurt to give it a try.

    You could also try printing a test with the electronics cover open and add a fan or two to just get a ton of cooling in there, which should test if the heatsink fix will help.
     
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  10. SteveDjarrell

    SteveDjarrell Active Member

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    Thank you all for the comments, I saw a used mainboard on Ebay last week for $50.00 with a 30 day return policy so I snatched it up. After trying a bunch of crap today to get it to print I decided it was time to test the board theory. I started getting constant disconnects when I moved the extruder above 215C. Happy to report I am back in business and it was indeed the board. I am going to try and fix the original board using the fix documented. For now though I am working back at 145.5 steps for the extruder rather than 500ish.
     
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