So something really bad happend...

I've done all of the above, and the same problem persists.
Mike, what's next?

 

More details please. Please tell me the result of each thing

 

Not very much in the way of details.
Tried to adjust the voltage on the z axis, no change. I did find the sweet spot(a term from adjusting carburetors).
Swapped the driver boards multiple times, again no change any configuration. I need to get the glue used to hold the heat sinks, they about fall off if you touch them.

 

I'm not following. You took the stepper driver out of Y and put a different one in and Y still functioned? X did not function regardless of driver?

Your Y still works right? Try taking the X motor and plugging it into Y. See if that can move the X

Please give very detailed feedback so I don't have to take extra time deciphering results. I don't like guessing what people mean and can make us go in circles.

eg

"Y motor moves with Y stepper driver

Took X stepper driver, plugged into Y slot, Y motor moves

Took X plug, put it into Y motor pins, X motor moves"

 

That's what I thought I said in simpler terms. Only I was swapping all four boards.
There comes a point where it becomes redundant.
I'm not that good a typist, I prefer other methods of troubleshooting.
Typing all this out took me 7 minutes.

 

maybe you should try a voice dictation software or find someone else to type for you. Or take a video or something cause I'm just not getting a clear picture of what's wrong. And if I can't figure it out it's unlikely Robo3D will be able to either. We need to know for certain what the issue is and right now it's a very fuzzy picture.

 

Videos take to long to do, so does dictation(I'm too focused on the grammar).
Really? It's fuzzy?
I'm even more confused, since I've have some experience in this area.
Something damaged/grounded a circuit on the Robo's control board.
The damage results in the stepper motor signal crossing between, the X axis and the Z axis. But it does not cross between the Z axis and X axis.
This results in the same motor signal being sent to the X axis and Z axis, hence both axis will move at the same time.

The problem must in the Robo control board, since there is no physical way for the motor signal to cross driver boards or stepper motors.

Now if shot a video. You would see 2 axis moving on the printer at the same time, direction, and rate.

Mike, I really appreciate the time your taking. But I'm finding this process frustrating.
But not as bad as the nightmare of my last 3d printer.

 

FWIW That X + Z axis movement was an intermittent symptom I was getting when I had a high impedance internal short across one of the Z-axis micro-switches. Seems like the noise generated confuses the board logic. Check across the switches (disconnected from the board) to ensure open is really open and not like 600K ohm.

 

One little thing, when I disconnected the Y-axis limit switches. The machine refused to connect.
When I disconnected the Z-axis limit switches, no issue the machine still moved.
But when I disconnected the X-axis limit switches when pressing the X-(in MC) wouldn't work, and the Z+(in MC) wouldn't work.
Disconnecting all three limit switches X-(doesn't move), X+(moves), Y-(doesn't move), Y+(moves), Z-(moves), Z+(Doesn't move).
But when moving the X-axis it still moved the Z-axis, with all the limits disconnected.

 

How do you know something is damaged? Can you provide pictures of the damage? Clearly something happened while you were trying to install the LCD

Also please provide detailed pictures of your wiring. Both close and showing the underside of the printer.

 

Ok looking at this picture your Z motor is not plugged in properly. It's only plugged into 3 of the 4 pins. Sorry for missing this before

 

I've plugged and unplugged those motors so much, it's long since been corrected.

When installing the LCD, one of the Z axis plugs popped out. The wire was under a lot of tension.
Then the Y limit switch plug popped out.

By chance would reversing any of the plugs damage the board?(Such as the card reader?)
I assumed that's what happened, I've had similar experiences with other types of boards.

I will provide pics tomorrow.

 

Here is some pics. I hope they yield some insight.

Let me know if you want me take pics of anything else on the machine.

 

I'm kinda at a loss. Usually when stuff like this happens to me I do a complete tear down and start from scratch.

This involves removing everything plugged into the ramps board and 1 by 1 adding additional components in.

Start with the Y axis and Y end stop. Make sure that works. Move on to the X, repeat. Keep doing this for all components till you find something that totally doesn't work.

 

I did hear from Robo.
"Hi Max,

It sounds like you have some things not plugged in correctly. Please be very careful about how you plug everything. You have to plug it in EXACTLY how is shown in the video. Do not skip any details."

They are correct, but not very helpful.
I'm at my end, I've decided to just replace the brains/boards.

 

Yeah they're probably more confused than me. I'd just hate for you to buy a new board when it could maybe be fixed by a rewire.

If you do I'd recommend one like this: http://www.amazon.com/RioRand-compa...UTF8&qid=1408393596&sr=8-2&keywords=ramps+1.4

 

Thanks Mike, I am more confused. I think I've rewired the board a dozen times.
If it's doing the same thing no matter what I do, I think I've got little choice.
The last thing I want to do is go over it all again with Robo. After enough time it becomes much cheaper and easier to buy a new board.
But at least it's easy to change out a board.
This machine is a magnitude cheaper than my last 3D printer. It was a Z Corp 310 Plus, With the cost of the machine, service contracts, and media. I would have been better off buying a luxury car. I would still be able to drive the car today, but the 310 is no better than scrap. Because of the improvements in 3D technology. This field is dirt cheap, that's why I got back into it.

Here is something for you to check out. This is my blog, showing some of my processes for making a very big model. Which I have to do all over again.
http://the-grey-ghost.com/big-e-posts-from-the-messageboards/

 

I figure if you've resigned yourself to replacing the ramps 1.4 board then doing some more troubleshooting after you pull all the wires might help.

It's up to you though. I'm a tinkerer and like to find the root cause of the issue. If you're fine just replacing it that works as well.

 

I can say I'm a tinker as well, but I've learned it's cheaper in both time and money to replace parts. Than to find the problem, especially with electronics. In this case a signal is being crossed, which I'm assuming is in the board. Since that is the only place a signal can cross. I've had similar problems occur with other boards. I'm not that good with electronics, that's how I know . (I've fried a lot of boards).

Thanks again Mike, I hope Robo is giving you something for your time.

 

Yeah I shocked my Ramps 1.4 board and was luckily able to replace a few components to fix it up.

Even if you do get a new one I would keep the arduino, might be able to save it and run some projects from it.