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

Solved Extruder motor stops randomly

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by 90AWDeclipse, Oct 2, 2015.

Page 1 of 2
  1. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    For some reason the extruder motor is feeding erratically. It's not a filament issue, because I can manually run the extruder and It will extrude 1,10, and 100mm of filament perfectly. When I go to print It won't even print the skirt without stopping. Iv'e tried switching slicer engines and restarting my printer and my pc with no luck. Any help would be great. Thanks
     
    #1 90AWDeclipse, Oct 2, 2015
  2. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2013
    Messages:
    6,967
    Likes Received:
    2,277
    Might be a case of the stepper driver overheating. Is the fan on the bottom of your printer running? Feel the extruder stepper motor, does it seem painful to touch?

    Might want to reduce the current on it if that's the case. Otherwise it could be a bad stepper driver
     
    #2 Mike Kelly, Oct 2, 2015
  3. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    I just turned the printer on and the little fan on the bottom of the printer is not running. Should that be running all the time?
     
    #3 90AWDeclipse, Oct 3, 2015
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Yes. Without that you will overheat the RAMPS and it will not work correctly.
    (specifically the stepper driver like @Mike Kelly said)
     
    #4 mark tomlinson, Oct 3, 2015
  5. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    Can i swap it with the part cooling fan for a temporary fix? If the fan is the problem anyway.

    Edit: So fan is working but it's making a wired noise and the rpm slows down but if I tap on it, it clears up. I'm pretty sure it's the fan. Can someone provide a link to buy these fans. Or maybe an upgrade from the one it comes with. Thanks
     
    #5 90AWDeclipse, Oct 3, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Not really the same size.
    The parts fan is what? 40 mm? I am sure the one on the RAMPS is larger...80 maybe?
    Fan is likely just unplugged.
     
    #6 mark tomlinson, Oct 3, 2015
  7. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    The fan that on the bottom is the same size as the one for cooling the part. They have slightly different connectors though.
     
    #7 90AWDeclipse, Oct 3, 2015
  8. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    So the fan is running but I'm still having the same problem. Extruder motor will run for a little bit then stop. Whats weird is i just extruded 500mm through the movement controls without any issues. Also the stepper motor is slightly above room temp, but not hot.
     
    #8 90AWDeclipse, Oct 3, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    #9 mark tomlinson, Oct 3, 2015
  10. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    Okay I have the panel off and see the daughtercards. There are four right? One for each stepper motor. All the heat sinks are on and secure. Whats the next step?
     
    #10 90AWDeclipse, Oct 3, 2015
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Look in the communications log for whatever software you are printing with and see if there are any errors.
    Here is mine (from an older copy of Simplify3D).

    control.jpg

    It is possible there is an error shutting down the extruder. The TempFall error comes to mind (it happens when the hotend thermistor readings drop suddenly).

    You will likely want to save the entire communications log so you can search through it.
     
    #11 mark tomlinson, Oct 3, 2015
  12. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    So this would be the g code terminal for mattercontrol correct?
     
    #12 90AWDeclipse, Oct 4, 2015
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Not a MC user, but that sounds correct.
     
    #13 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
  14. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    Ok as soon as I went to print about ten of these came up.

    echo: cold extrusion prevented
     
    #14 90AWDeclipse, Oct 4, 2015
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    So, you are trying to extrude when the thermistor on the hotend is reading too cold (not sure what firmware you are running, this is a value in the firmware and it has not always been the same).
     
    #15 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    For my firmware I have this configured at 160 or so (one of the machines has a volcano hotend and that will read a little hotter than normal). I seem to recall one of the R1 firmware versions having this configured at 190c (which is too hot IMHO)
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Perhaps your thermistor is loose or damaged. In that case movement could cause it to fluctuate.
     
    #17 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
  18. 90AWDeclipse

    90AWDeclipse New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2015
    Messages:
    28
    Likes Received:
    1
    Okay. Do you think an update could solve this problem?
     
    #18 90AWDeclipse, Oct 4, 2015
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    ? What kind of update?

    This is almost certainly a hardware issue. The temperature reading should not fluctuate wildly.
    What temperature were you trying to print at?
     
    #19 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2013
    Messages:
    23,915
    Likes Received:
    7,338
    Only way a firmware update will help is if you happen to be printing right at the MIN TEMP cutoff.
    In that case yes, you could lower the MIN TEMP somewhat and get around this.
     
    #20 mark tomlinson, Oct 4, 2015
Page 1 of 2

Share This Page