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Solved Think I cooked it...

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by iamtuck3r, Oct 14, 2019.

  1. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    Had a bad fan in the PSU and it was grinding, took it apart and replaced the fan. All was fine and dandy when I took it apart but after putting it back together my extruder didn't want to step anymore. Thinking it was a stepper driver I took the Extruder and X-axis and switched them and the extruder was moving so the motor and cable are fine. I swapped the X-axis and extruder stepper drivers and...that worked as well...

    Onto the next thing which I figured was either the RAMPS or the Arduino itself. Found a nice kit that included RAMPS 1.4 and an Arduino Mega 2560 with extra A4988 stepper drivers to boot:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q5R6YSK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    As I was taking it apart again, I noticed some things that were different:
    • Original RAMPS has an extra 12V fan header (one for extruder fan, one for case fan)
    • Pinout layout for the LED lights is different
    • Different style power connections
    Things I got plugged in:
    • X-axis drivers and motor cables
    • Y-axis driver and motor cable
    • Z-axis driver and motor cable
    • Case fan to 12V header on RAMPS
    • Extruder driver and motor cable
    • +, -, and temp control cables for the bed
    • Matched D8, D9, and D10 connections (paid attention to + and -)
    • 12V from PSU to RAMPS
    I plug the power in, turn it on, poof. After taking it all back apart I noticed the power regulator on the Mega is a bit...holey. What could have caused this? Did I possibly get different voltages mixed up from the PSU to the RAMPS? That's the only thing I could think, but from what I've looked up both outputs from the PSU are 12V so I don't understand where I went wrong...

    I've added some images, hopefully that will help.

    https://i.imgur.com/t5J9AdY.jpg
    This one shows the original RAMPS and the replacement Mega. You can probably tell that the power regulator by C14 is a bit cooked. Still flashes fine though? Is it salvageable?

    https://i.imgur.com/KqX4x2y.jpg
    Replacement RAMPS hooked up. My wiring seems correct and I matched all the connections from the original board.

    https://i.imgur.com/jc7cCdm.jpg
    Unplugged a lot of stuff, but another view of the power inputs and the left side of the replacement RAMPS board.

    https://i.imgur.com/Vf6yONk.jpg
    Reference of the RAMPS board I'm using as the replacement.
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    If you have an R1+ you do not have an official RAMPS 1,4 -- you have a customized version Robo built.
    Very similar, but not exactly the same, thread over here discusses differences and how to use generic one:

    http://community.robo3d.com/index.p...and-rewiring-to-make-generic-ramps-work.8356/

    Earlier versions used generic RAMPS boards.

    Now all that said, the differences are not huge and the thing to watch out for is shorting something to ground. This is easier than you might imagine because the endstops on a generic RAMPS 1.4 go to a buss connector strip that has +, - and GND on it -- you need to jumper from signal to GND, not from + to - :) Note that there are three pins on that buss where the endstops land and it is very easy to misplace a connector across the wrong terminals.

    If the Arudino is broken you can try replacing the regulator, but given the cost of them I would just replace the board and fiddle with the bad one as you have time (and perhaps end up with a spare). I would not continue to try and use it in this case, start with a new one (and remember you have to reload the firmware).
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    P.S. would help to know exactly which printer you have too... (beta/R1/R1+)
     
  4. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    Sorry, completely forgot to mention it's an R1+. Yeah I knew something was off when I noticed the extra fan headers and what not...putting another purchase in for another Mega now, fingers crossed I didn't blast the RAMPS 1.4 board but I think the Arduino took the brunt of the load.

    Toasted Mega flashes fine and communicates ok with the PC so I'll probably order a new voltage regulator for it and save that for a rainy day. I wanted to order a direct replacement but two things set me off. 1) Out of stock and 2) I can buy 3x sets of Megas, drivers, and RAMPS for the price of the one.

    Thanks for the above documentation. I'll follow through out the day today and see if anything I did (or didn't) do caused the foul-up.
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The Arduinos they sell are clones too :) So you are fine getting an Amazon one for repairs. In fact I always just buy one of the all-in-one bundles from Amazon because they have everything.

    Here are examples (in no specific order):

    https://smile.amazon.com/Aokin-Printer-Controller-Arduino-Heatsink/dp/B07Q5R6YSK

    https://smile.amazon.com/Printer-RAMPS-Controller-MEGA2560-Jumper/dp/B079294B93

    https://smile.amazon.com/WOWOONE-Printer-Arduino-Controller-Printerarduino/dp/B07T8L584W

    There are other examples on Amazon.

    Those are Prime sellers so if you have an issue with one you will be able to return it will minimal hassle.
    Two of them include LCDs if you need one as well.
     
  6. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    I think I got the gist of it, the only problem is in the above link I'm running into an issue with wiring the end-stops. In the first picture linked it shows the end-stops plugged into rows 1, 3, and 5 respectively but in the second picture it's showing on rows 2, 4, and 6. I'm presuming I'll be using 1, 3, and 5. I built my own CNC machine a while back and rows 1 and 2 are x-min and x-max respectively, etc. Thermister + and - shouldn't matter and same with bed thermister.

    I'm shocked to find out that little extruder fan is a 12V fan, are there pins for the extruder fan that allow variable control? So far I've only read to attach fans directly to the 12V fails directly from the PSU like on D9. The case fan I'm going to wire up to the 12V header above the X-driver.

    I'm looking at a picture someone submitted as well and it looks like their end-stops are on the wrong pins. I have mine going from SIG to - on rows 1, 3, and 5.
     
    #6 iamtuck3r, Oct 15, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2019
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not the extruder cooling fan, that is always 100% on. The parts cooling fan will be controlled by the slicer. The small all-metal extruders like Hexagon and E3D require a cooling fan 100% all of the time of they will jam due to heat creep. Note that the hotend fan and the parts cooling fan are different :)

    If they are not using a standard RAMPS 1.4 the pins may be different, but the standard one has +, -, S on that header. S is the sensor and +/- are hot and ground respectively. That is what I meant by being easy to jumper hot to ground :) If you are off one pin you are in trouble. You should be jumped between - and S if I recall correctly.

    This picture might help sort it some.
    ramps-min_min_max endstops.jpg

    This one helps too: One of the pin sets is for the X/Y/Z Min endstop and the other pair for X/Y/Z Max endstop

    f5_800x400.jpg
     
  8. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    I think I found my issue, I was missing the jumpers under the stepper drivers and a jumper on the 5V next to the reset button...

    Yeah - and S was what I was using, I don't think I blew it up because of that. I'm presuming the jumpers missing sent some voltage where it wasn't supposed to. Just plugged it in now on the old Mega and the screen showed up. No electronic ghosties this time.
     
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  9. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    Is there a built in safety feature I'm missing where if the extruder isn't up to temp it will not allow it to extrude? I have X, Y, and Z doing motion but the extruder STILL isn't going. Just tested with a continuity tester for the wiring to the stepper and that's good. Just swapped the X and Extruder stepper and their wiring and moving the X axis moved the extruder. GAAAAAAH
     
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, it is in the firmware -- look in configuration.h
    //this prevents dangerous Extruder moves, i.e. if the temperature is under the limit
    //can be software-disabled for whatever purposes by
    #define PREVENT_DANGEROUS_EXTRUDE
    //if PREVENT_DANGEROUS_EXTRUDE is on, you can still disable (uncomment) very long bits of extrusion separately.
    #define PREVENT_LENGTHY_EXTRUDE
    #define EXTRUDE_MINTEMP 185
    #define EXTRUDE_MAXLENGTH (X_MAX_LENGTH+Y_MAX_LENGTH) //prevent extrusion of very large distances.
     
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You can't really extrude if the plastic is not melted... :)
    So that is a safety
     
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  12. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    Well I don't feel like digging through the firmware right now so I guess I'll get the rest wired up and get it heated up and see what happens hahaha. I feel like I'm on an endless mission.

    If it was a firmware setting that somehow switched back...how does it do that? Unless.........hold that thought.
     
  13. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    The remaining stuff I have hooked up to D9 for now. Both LED lights and both the print fan and extruder fan, but I'm getting nothing out of them even though the printer is firing up?

    I'm hoping this entire swap wasn't due to the extruder temp being too low and the safety triggering. I've never EVER had to get it up to temp to test the extruder...

    Edit: Welp just found out D9 activates with the fan speed setting. Lights and fans kicked on.
     
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yes, D9 on the Robo is the parts cooling fan. Perhaps you need this diagram:

    ramps-14-diagram.jpg

    D9 is not labeled there, but IS the parts cooling fan :)
     
  15. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    I figured out the issue...and man am I disappointed.

    For some reason the firmware reset itself. I don't know how, I don't know why, but it re-enabled the extruder safety temperature. Kinda want to bash my head into a wall now.
     
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Just overwrite the firmware with your own copy that has that disabled all the time :)

    The FAQ link has the details on what you need to do for reloading it. Would be a one-line change in configuration.h if you want to do that
     
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  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Every time the firmware executes it will likely reset that variable.
    As long as you remember it for testing, you are OK resetting it as needed.
    If you really want to disable it, edit the firmware and reload it.
     
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  18. iamtuck3r

    iamtuck3r New Member

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    It was originally purchased used online, so I'm sure of it that the previous owner had that setting disabled. What would've forced it to reset I have no idea. I intentionally avoid the 'Restore Failsafe" option at all costs because I had a lot of time put into testing filaments with the extremely temperamental basement conditions I was printing in. I guess the benefits in this whole situation is that 1) Now I have the knowledge to take this thing apart with confidence and 2) I can add a second extruder in the future if I wanted and 3) Now I have spare boards and stepper drivers in case something hardware actually does fail in the future.

    Tomorrow I'll strip it down one last time and put the lights and extruder fan on the constant 12V and leave the print fan on D9. Now that I know that setting is I can turn it off, I made a bowden extruder so extruding about a 12" length is needed to feed it all the way through the tubing.

    Thanks for all the help!
     
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