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Solved Faulty Extruder Stepper Motor?

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by MChrisP1, Mar 12, 2016.

  1. MChrisP1

    MChrisP1 Member

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    I received my Robo3D R1+ on Wednesday and what a great day that was! The machine is pretty damn cool, and meets and exceeds most of my expectations right away. I printed up a bunch of small prints, and had very few issues. The small prints gave me confidence to move on to bigger prints.

    So after printing my about a dozen small prints, i went to print the bottom of the XXL LCD case. The print sized up to be 4.5 hours, i assumed it would be 6. It started well, but then at about 15 layers in, the printer started making a machine gun like sound. It was late about 1:00 AM, so I shut her down.

    This morning I get into it.

    I preheat the extruder and can manually push filament through. I remove the filament, look to see if there is anything in the feed chamber but all looks clean. Re-insert filament into preheated hot end, and filament manually extrudes. It can be extruded by turning the gear too, but if i hit the Extrude Command in MC, the gears don't turn and it makes a 'cavitation' like sound and I can see extruder pinion gear and drive gear 'studdering'.

    So after a call into Tech Support I get directions to swap the Extruder and X Motor plugs on the board to isolate if it is a motor or driver issue. After doing so, It is now confirmed that there is an issue of some sort with the extruder motor.

    Now waiting until Monday for a Tier 2 Tech call/decision on my escalation request for a faulty stepper motor.

    Anyone else have any suggestions?

    Chris
     
  2. Bil Forshey

    Bil Forshey Member

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    Check to see if there is a loose wire on the connector for the extruder motor near the printhead, sometimes the connectors are not crimped correctly or break loose. even 1 wire of the four going to the stepper motor that is not connected will cause this problem.
     
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  3. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    Sounds like you need to turn up the extruder driver power a little bit. Bet that is the fix.
     
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  4. MChrisP1

    MChrisP1 Member

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    Haw do you turn up the extruder driver power? Also Ill state that the extruder had same issue whether it had filament in it or not. Still a likely issue?

    I received the new stepper and cable from Robo today. Getting ready to install now. I have checked the cable pretty carefully and it seems ok to me. I was debating on whether i should change out both the cable and motor, or just try motor only first? Thoughts? I ask because the cable is the bigger level of effort in my opinion and would prefer not to undo the main wiring loom if I dont have to.

    Should i try to turn the extruder power up before i do anything else?

    If you're on, reply quick! I begin operating in about 15 minutes! Thanks everyone!
     
  5. MChrisP1

    MChrisP1 Member

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    OK so here is the final report!

    Installed both the new extruder stepper motor and and power/control cable. Even though I made a noob mistake or two, i worked my way through it, no calls to Robo3D or calls for help here. The whole operation actually much easier than anticipated.

    So it turns out after just 6 hours of printing, my stepper motor did go bad. The new motor is extruding away as I type now.

    Happy to be back printing again! Thanks for all the pointers gang!
     
  6. Ocsff

    Ocsff Active Member

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    To adjust the drivers, There is a small round adjuster on the extruder driver which is located in the ramps board. It is the driver on the right side of the board if the ramps is in the left upper corner while on its side. Turn it 1/4 turn to left with small screw driver. Adj while turned off so not to short anything. If same problem turn 1/4 left countrr click wise again. Good job getting back up and printing.
     
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