Partially Solved Stepper Motor above the extruder does not turn

Hello All
my stepper motor above my extruder does not spin so it wont pull my plastic into the nozzle
i can move the other ones fine... my bed moves the extruder moves up and down left and right
its just that one motor does not work. Last i used it was last light. I had printed a piece and when it was done i turned off my robo r1 and went to bed. when i came home to start printing it just does not work
and type of suggestion? I am not savy with audrino software at all. i even took off the hobble bolt and cleaned it and oiled the bearings a little hoping maybe that was making it stuck but no. Seems to be that motor.

 

Sounds like a loose connector or one of the four stepper wires is broken. The first step in debug would be to swap the extruder stepper connector with the X (or Y) stepper connector. Then use your control program's manual move to both those axes Extruder and X. This will tell you if the wiring is a problem or something else.

 

check for a loose connection from that servo motor to the RAMPS board (physically pull the wires and reconnect them) and check function (using the manual control in the software)
press the reset button on the main board under the RAMPS wait a bit and check function
if neither work post here and i'll work up a system parts check/testing that you should be able to do using the printer itself without the use of the Arduino IDE

also to note, if you left the printer usb cable plugged into a computer that is on it (the printer) is not totally turned off as the Arduino draws power from the usb port, best practice is to remove the usb cable from the computer as well. the power supply in the printer is mostly for the RAMPS, servo drivers, and servos.

 

I'll add - use these diagrams to understand where the connectors should be plugged in:
http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4
http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/c/ca/Arduinomega1-4connectors.png
http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/f/f6/RAMPS1.4schematic.png
http://reprap.org/mediawiki/images/6/6d/Rampswire14.svg

 

Kewl thank you guys
When i get home after work i will work on it as you all suggested
and let you know what happens

 

Just to be sure...you're not trying to extrude with the hot end below 170 degrees? The firmware has built-in code to prevent this.

 

No i print in ABS only so its at 235 is what i have for my temp

 

Ok here is the situation...
i unplugged everything and pluged it back in didnt work
then i unplugged the Y and use that... it was trying to work but kinda seem to jam. when i press the Y+ or Y- it made a noise as if it wanted to turn but then stopped and i can feel the big wheel getting very tight and hard to move. so i put the wires back there they are suppose to be and still nothing. I even press this little black button on the board that i was assuming was the reset button and still nothing
and suggestions? oh yeh i even switched it from E1 to E0 and back and still not working

 

Might be time to undo the 3 screws holding the stepper motor and try running it without any gear.

If it stalls during normal operation it might be a bad stepper. Otherwise it sounds like it could possible be under-amped.

 

I did find that with repetier I couldn't use .15 infill for some very odd reason. changed my infill and my motor works fine. Maths....

 

Ok i unscrewed the 3 bolts and tried to run it and i got nothing . Even tried to plug it into Eo to E1 none worked. Its like no power going to it what so ever. Should i try and just order a new stepper motor?

 

E1 probably doesn't even have a stepper driver so it won't do anything. Plug it into X and try homing the X axis.

 

Hello Mike I did as you said i put it in the X slot and it was spinning. I then plugged it into E0 and it did not spin at all

 

Ok so you know in order for E0 to work the nozzle has to be at above ~185C?

We've eliminated that it's the motor itself. Report back on if you have the nozzle heated.

 

Ok Mike I heated the nozzle up to 235 and it turns but when it drops below like 170 it stops working

 

oh yeh also it seems at first it wanted to move but could not i can feel a small vibration in the motor.. i unplugged it put it in E1 for the heck of it then back in E1 thats when i felt the vibration like there was power going into it and then after i heated the extruder it at first didnt move then i felt a odd vibration like it locked into place and it started to turn. sumthing like that

 

E1 won't work as I said before. There's no stepper driver.

As I mentioned you need to be above 185C for it to extrude filament as a protection method.

 

SORRY that was a typo its in E0 not E1 but yes its spins when the extruder is above 170. So then the extruder stepper motor will not spin if its below 170 is what u all are saying? Ok that makes good sence. But i wonder why it stopped spinning to begin with unless it was either unplugged from the board or somehow got jammed. Ill put it all back together tonight and try to do some test prints and let u all know the results
and thank you everyone for your help. very much appreciated!

 

Yeah absolutely not on 170C. I think even 185C might be low as I'm seeing 195 be the min point in the firmware, but that seems too low to me.