Pls Help :( Seems my extruder is working in reverse

Hi All,

I am not having much luck at all with this printer. First a cracked bed and now I think I have found another issue.....this one I have no idea how to fix myself. When I hit the "extrude" button my extruder actually turns in reverse - anti-clockwise. If I hand turn the gear clock wise as it should work, I can feed through the filament. I found another similar post whereby the arduino extruder connection was reversed, I checked mine and it looks correct. Please can someone check out the pics attached and see if you can spot anything?

I really hope this is something I can fix myself and not have to send the entire printer back.



Thanks again



Adam

 

Thanks Tesseract. I already did try reversing the e0 connector but then I did not get any power at all to the extruder.

Let me try again.
Thanks

 

I have it working now tesseract, I think when I switched it the first time I *may* of connected it to the e1 port by mistake It's now working and I am busy printing some calibration objects. I don't think my print head must be far enough on the bed as it starts off printing but then fails as the height builds. Once the 2yr old gets to bed time for some more testing!

thanks again for your help, really is appreciated.

 

I made a bit more progress yesterday! Hot end became completely clogged up, probably due to the extruder working in reverse. Anyway I took that off and cleaned it all out and now it's working like I imagined it should. I also noticed the hot end was slightly twisted in it's mount, so corrected that. So I think I am now getting the skirt and 1st layer down nice and flat. I am printing a calibration cube. But as the build get's higher, I see a wobble on the left had side of the cube, guess as the head moves up the z-axis. Eventually it becomes a total mess. I am away for a few days so can't post a pic but from my description does it still sound like a bed level issue or something else going on with the z-axis? I am not sure I am ever going to get totally calibrated correctly until my replacement glass bed arrives. My current bed is glued and taped and I would imagine a little warped from the stress break.

thanks

 

A bed level issue would be more likely to show the worst down at the bottom, and get better as the z height rises.

Are the black supports at the base of the smooth z rods nice and stable? There should be no cracks, flex, or movement.

My guess is if you're only seeing it along one side of the object, it would more likely be a matter of the X belt being a bit too tight or too loose. When correctly tightened, it should make a very low twanging note, like a guitar string. You seem to have an actual belt tightener on yours (did that come with it? the older ones didn't...) which might be adjustable... or if the belt is still held on with zip ties as it is in the older models, you can try tightening it up a notch, or snip the tie and replace it with a new one and make it a little looser, if it's too tight.

 

Thanks, I will check the z-rod holder when I am back home, I did not notice any flex or cracks etc. One thing I would say is the threaded z-rods do seem to have a lot of movement. I was expecting a bit at the top, but mine have movement all the way down. I know a lot of that can be corrected with the z-rod top holders. My robo did come with that little tensioner you can see in the pic. But the belt is certainly not that tight at all. I can pluck it and it won't make any kind of twanging noise etc. So I will try tightening that a little first. Thanks!
Adam

 

The threaded rods having some movement is not really much of an issue, since the threaded rods only control the height, but the smooth rods are what actually keep everything nice and stable, if that makes sense... and there's enough play in the plastic of the carraige around the threaded rods to account for this natural wobble so you don't actually see it translate into the prints.

When you tighten, only tighten -just- until it starts to make a low thwwoooong note, and no further. Too tight is just as bad as too loose, and can damage the motor. You can tighten a little bit, see how it goes, and then tighten a bit more if needed.

 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS I have finally been able to print something and I am pretty pleased with how this turned out. I was beginning to lose hope. But after 1 broken glass bed, 1 reversed extruder motor, 1 reversed z stop switch and 2 blocked extruders.....I printed a shark It was all worth it to see this printer finally in action, now to print it's upgrades