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Solved Help, New Board & Ramps, multiple issues

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Derek Frederixon, Jan 30, 2020.

  1. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    After putting a new stepper on the Y-axis last week I was in a hurry putting the printer back together and misaligned the pins between the Ramps and Arduino boards, I ended up frying both. I ordered new ones from PartsBuild and re-installed everything. I can't seem to get any firmware to work correctly. I first tried the Robo V2 firmware from support, I have since tried several of the merlin updates from the forums. The one I've been working with the most is 1.9.1 that Waldo linked to. The only changes I made to the firmware was to change the stepper direction of my Y-axis, the new one was reversed from the original. My steppers move in the correct directions when manually controlling via matter control although they sometimes will only go in one direction, my presumption is they don't want to go past zero depending on where everything is when I turn it on. The problems I'm having are:
    When I try to home my x-axis the printer seems to ignore my endstop, it keeps going causing the belt to slip on the pulley making horrendous noise. When I try to home my y-axis it moves about 5mm and stops, never gets to my endstop. The Z-axis is similar to the x-axis, it ignores the endstop and keeps moving down until I cut power.
    Also, I have reprap discount lcd that was working great before my new boards. Now it just shows me squares. I've tried adjusting the contrast, still nothing. I have a new touch screen lcd coming tomorrow but I would like to get this one working (and my printer in general) before I install the other one.

    I ordered the RAMPS board that was associated with the Robo R1+ at partsbuild, I assumed this was the modified one, could it be a standard RAMPS that I need to modify?

    I have been printing for 2 years so I'm fairly familiar with the printer and how it works, this is my first time playing in Arduino though so I may be doing something wrong there? Any help would be appreciated.
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    1) EXACTLY which printer do you have? (beta? R1? R1+? each one uses slightly different firmware and Robo makes it confusing with the way they named things)*
    2) the 1.1.9.x is not stock and you will need to follow up in that thread for information from folks who know more about it or have used it. There is no reason I have found to use anything other than stock for 90% of the applications.
    3) The X and Y issues could be endstop related. Have you looked in the GCode terminal while moving these to see if it reports an endstop hit (or anything else important? Like errors)
    4) If you have an R1+ then you probably want the slightly customized one that Partsbuilt can supply. If you have an R1 or beta then you do NOT want that board.

    The LCD must be enabled in the firmware. Post a picture of which LCD so we can sort you on that too.


    We can get you sorted.


    *if you are unsure then post a picture somewhere of the threaded rods right where they go through the bottom of the printer and include the bed so we see what that looks like and we can tell you which model you have.
     
  3. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    I have the R1+. Bought 2017 from Amazon, bed leveling, lead screws, etc.

    I installed the robo r1+ firmware at lunch and tried it again, (I used Printrun so I could see the eeprom) every time I tried to home any axis is stated that the endstop had been hit. I did not replace those when I replaced the boards but I did buy extras, could they all go bad at once? Right now they are all hooked up as normally closed.

    The actual lcd I bought is a BIQU Smart Display Controller, image is below, says reprap discount smart controller on the back. When I insert the SD card the eeprom says SD ok so it is reading the sd card, I just don't have any digits. The controller is un-commented in arduino.
     

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  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    This is another reason I need you to point me to the exact firmware you installed. The endstops are reversed on some of the R1 versions.

    When you bought it doesn't nail it down :) Only the Beta is limited by purchase date (since they were only built in 2013 and very very early 2014). In 2014/2015 it would certainly have been an R1, after that it could have been either. I'll assume it is an R1+, but I need to know which firmware you installed (point me to the exact one) since that is the first step.
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    There are a number of LCD controllers in the Configuration.H and they are different.

    [edit:] That is the RepRap Discount LCD so nothing needs to be changed in the stock firmware for it to work.

    The RepRap discount LCD needed nothing changed in the stock firmware for it to work, the full graphics one did need edits.
     
  6. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    zip file is called Robo3dr1plusv2, downloaded from here the robo help site (board won't let me post a link).
    Description on Amazon was R1 plus so that's what I assume it is. Based on the descriptions I've read I'm 99% sure that is what it is.

    I think I might have a bad wire on my LCD controller. It beeps when I push the encoder, sd card reads, just need to figure out which one (or buy another one for $12).
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  9. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    Yes, that is the one. I was reading about configuring endstops today. I'm going to try some of those changes and see if I can get it to work. I really love the R1+, just need to get it working again!
     
  10. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    Yes, that is the one. I was reading about configuring endstops today. I'm going to try some of those changes and see if I can get it to work. I really love the R1+, just need to get it working again!
     
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  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    We can help you get it sorted :)
     
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Endstops are wired as normally open and then the firmware inverts some of them that are actually used as if they were normally closed :) [the Z endstops are a good example of that]
     
  13. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    Playing with my endstops last night, did an M119, X & Y were triggered, Z was open. I changed the endstop_inverting on my firmware and tried again, M119 showed all open so progress. Tried manually triggering all 3 axis (pushed switch with finger while running m119) and couldn't get any to trigger, they all stayed open? Replaced one of the switches with a new one, same thing, stayed open. Firmware or board problem?

    I also had trouble with my extruder last night. I manually homed my axis and tried to print, extruder was running backward. Changed that in my firmware, tried again and couldn't get my extruder to run any direction.

    Do you think I have a problem with my board? I know I fried the 5V supply on the arduino board (popped, only get LCD to do anything when plugged into computer), could that be why my system is being goofy? I have a new arduino coming today. Also ordered some Generic RAMPS 1.4 boards just in case.
     
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    -Bad switch (one would be enough for both to read open)
    -Bad wiring to the switches (open circuit would make them constantly read open)
    -Bad RAMPS
    -Bad Arduino (always the least likely option).

    The reading not changing is not going to be bad firmware. The first problem you saw where they were reading backwards -- THAT is a firmware style of problem. The changes not being seen at all are a hardware problem.

    Was the hotend hot? The firmware will NOT let the extruder run if the hotend is not above some minimum temperature (this temperature is defined in the firmware) so always bring the temperature above 190c before trying to extrude to be sure that is not stopping you.

    It could really be either, but certainly the RAMPS at a minimum would be my first suspect. Remember to reload the firmware when you replace the Arduino. Check the wiring to the switches with a mulitmeter if you have one. Make sure that the signal to the RAMPS is showing open when one of the switches is open and closed when both are closed (for the Z -- the X and Y only have one switch each, but sanity check them as well). The Z switches are inverted so they go OPEN when the carriage lifts off of them and that indicates HOME for the Z. The X and Y are non-inverted and will CLOSE when they are indicating HOME.
     
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    ...and do the multimeter testing with the power off of course :)
     
  16. Derek Frederixon

    Derek Frederixon New Member

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    replaced the arduino, worked like a champ. Thanks for the help!
     
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