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Solved Z-axis end stop not registering?

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Chris Sweeney, Sep 14, 2016.

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  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Sounds like a bad switch or wiring.
    Read the resistance from connector at the RAMPS (disconnect it first) back to the switches and open/close them to see that is it changing.
     
    #21 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  2. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    The switches are reading just fine disconnected. However, I do not know where and how to measure the resistance of the wires.
     
    #22 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Disconnect the connector from the RAMPs and read the resistance back to the switch
    You may need some small wires or pins to get up into the connector with.
     
    #23 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Be a shame to have a bad wire throwing you for a loop.
     
    #24 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  5. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    When the switches are depressed, I am not getting a reading, but when the switches are depressed, I am getting around 2 ohms.
     
    #25 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Sounds like they are working.
    So all that leaves you is a bad RAMPS board.
    With an R1+ you need to either contact Robo and buy one, or follow this thread:

    http://community.robo3d.com/index.p...and-rewiring-to-make-generic-ramps-work.8356/

    If you have an R1 then you can buy a standard RAMPS 1.4 from Amazon or your favorite retailer.
    You can't get the standard RAMPS 1.4 from Robo so if you do have an R1 (not the R1+) don't buy it from Robo.
     
    #26 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I find it quite odd that the work you did resulted in a bad RAMPS. It is not that sensitive.
    However if it has a good signal then that is what is left.
    You did not mess around with firmware changes did you?
     
    #27 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  8. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    So this is actually where i think my problem started. While attempting to replace the heater core (with the wrong one) I was told to follow these steps to replace the board. I followed those steps to the letter and I had to contact tech support because of the two boards i got, neither of them worked (tech support couldn't figure out what was up with either board). Eventually, we figured out that the replacement boards were hopeless and used the original RAMPS. That's where we found someone sent me the wrong amazon link for the heater replacement, sending me down this frustrating path. I honestly don't know what to do at this point and I just want this printer to work again.
     
    #28 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Well, any standard (up to 40w) 12v ceramic heater core will work. There is nothing magic or special about them.
    This one for example:

    https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Reprap-Ceramic-Cartridge-Printer/dp/B00Q9Z1JUU

    I use those in both of mine.

    The RAMPS in an R1 is a standard RAMPS 1.4, you can get them anywhere, but this kit is nice since it has everything else as well:

    https://www.amazon.com/OSOYOO-Printer-Controller-Stepper-Heatsink/dp/B0111ZSS2O

    But you can get just a bare RAMPS if you like:

    https://www.amazon.com/Pixnor-Printer-Controller-REPRAP-Arduino/dp/B011BWIZ52

    If you do that you need to move the stepper drivers from your old card to the new one.


    However you decide to go with this, sadly at this point with the symptoms you describe and assuming nothing has been modified in the FIRMWARE from where it should be, you have a(nother) bad RAMPS card. Again the R1+ does have a custom part and that would have to come from Robo unless you rewire it for a standard one.
     
    #29 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  10. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    I purchased two of that same RAMPS kit (recommended to me) and neither of them worked (even with tech's help). There were no changes to the firmware that I know of (I don't even know how to change it). The heater is working now though, just having issues with the z-axis. I also do not feel like sinking much more money or time, as I have gotten nowhere with what I have bought.
     
    #30 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Did you put the jumpers on the other replacement RAMPS boards you used?

    Without those the motors will not work and sometimes the kits do not have the jumpers pre-instaslled.

    Ramps Jumpers.jpg


    Assuming everything was assembled correctly you should contact the seller for a return/replacement (they are a Prime reseller). Not that this is in any way sorting the problem you have.
     
    #31 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That is fine I just wanted to be certain because some folks mess with things that can cause other issues :)
     
    #32 mark tomlinson, Sep 23, 2016
  13. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    Yes, I installed the jumpers. The problem with the new board is it or the arduino wouldn't even turn on. No lights anywhere.
     
    #33 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  14. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    I did some looking around at other posts and did some testing. Using the G28 command goes straight to the z-axis, instead of the x then y. Is this normal? Most of the other posts say it will do x, y, then z. I moved the end stops one towards "x" and it went to move x, but it did not stop either. This leads me to believe i missed something. I am sorry for that.
     
    #34 Chris Sweeney, Sep 23, 2016
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Assuming the extruder is nowhere near the home on any of the axis then yes, it will normally X, then Y, then Z.

    You can use the M119 command in the GCode terminal to force the printer to spit out the current status of the endstops.
    Move things around manually and see when/if they flip to TRIGGERED so that you can verify they are working correctly.

    It should return something like this:

    Send: M119
    Recv: Reporting endstop status
    Recv: x_min: open
    Recv: y_min: open
    Recv: z_min: TRIGGERED
    Recv: z_probe: open
    Recv: ok
     
    #35 mark tomlinson, Sep 24, 2016
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    triggered means the endstop is active (i.e. you are at the endstop)
     
    #36 mark tomlinson, Sep 24, 2016
  17. Chris Sweeney

    Chris Sweeney Member

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    That helped me immensely. Everything works now! I was able to diagnose that x and y got switched, somehow messing with z. I thank you all for helping me through. I am pretty embarrassed on the mistake i made. Any thoughts on why x and y switching messes with z?
     
    #37 Chris Sweeney, Sep 24, 2016
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  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not really, but glad you got it fixed.
     
    #38 mark tomlinson, Sep 24, 2016
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