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Solved Z axis drop into print

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Mr.JJ, Oct 2, 2021.

  1. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    Hi everyone. My friend gave me his old R1 printer hoping for me to fix it. It's starting to print well but after about 10 layers the printing head falls into the print and doesn't go up again (returning to Z axis "home"?). However, when the nozzle is "traveling" it does go up and down as to avoid touching the print, even past the "10 layers". Z axis seems to work fine outside of printing too, when adjusting it with mattercontrol manually up to the top of the rod (and beyond). Also, is it right that Z axis moves when Y-axis is in progress (does it mean that printing is at an angle?). I've noticed a "clicking" noise from the Z steppers when this happens too (like missing a step maybe?).
    I have a R1 printer with MatterControl printing PLA. Ive flashed the arduino with the lastest R1 firmware too.
    I've tried adjusting the Z origin offset, Z layer height and #define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {80,80,2560,723.38} in configuration.h

    Thanks a lot robo3D community!!
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It does sound like you are either loosing steps on the Z or perhaps you have the incorrect firmware loaded.
    If you have reloaded it ... you may have loaded the wrong one. There are 3 R1 series printers and each one has a different Z steps/Axis :) So loading the wrong one will trash your print.

    To know exactly which one you have (BETA. R1, R1+) I need pictures of the bed and another of the threaded rods where they go below the bed to the stepper (just one side will do).
     
  3. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    Here you go!
    To be clear I did have the same problem before "updating" the firmware but hey you never know.
     

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  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    OK, I would suspect the stepper driver cards of being faulty. Here are a couple of examples of those:

    https://www.amazon.com/BIQU-Compatible-Stepper-StepStick-Controller/dp/B01FFGAKK8
    https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-Stepstick-Stepper-Printer-Compatible/dp/B07BND65C8

    Make sure you mount the heat sinks on them before using them and then replace all of the ones on the RAMPS 1.4 board.
    Sure likely only one is faulty, but replace them all while you are in there. This shows which one drive which motor:

    download (2).jpg
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  6. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    Will keep you up to date when I change them. Do you have a picture of the drivers on the board? Just to be sure I put them at the right place. Also while removing the bottom cover I had to unplug the bottom fan. Can you show me on the picture where to plug it?. My RAMP board is white btw dont know if this makes any difference.
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    This is without the heat sinks attached -- DO NOT FORGET THEM :)

    Notice that not all of the little shields are facing the same direction. See the adjustment screws?

    Just pay attention as you replace them
     
    #7 mark tomlinson, Oct 2, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2021
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Color is not spec'ed so whoever made them made that choice :)

    RepRap foundation designed them and made the first ones, but these days they are all made in China

    (R)epRap
    (A)rduino
    (M)ega
    (P)ololu
    (S)hield

    board :)
     
  9. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    So this morning I went to my local HW store to get some A4988 modules. I've swapped the drivers and tried the printer and nothing works now! The axis arent responding at all exept Z axis witch makes a big GZZZT sound when activated in mattercontrol. Also noticed a cooking smell so I quickly turned off the printer. Visually I cant find any damaged components and there wasnt any smoke so fingers crossed. So i guess i'll have to calibrate them!
    Here is a picture just in case I plugged them wrong or got the wrong driver but looks good to me :/

    Edit: about to go to work now so i'll do this tonight. If you got any tips for the calibration that would be nice. Thanks for your help mark btw
     

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  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Make sure (review the pictures) that you have the stepper drivers installed the correct way. Like I said there are not a lot of indicators so it is easy to put them in wrong. From what I can see of your picture I do think at least one is installed backwards. The original ones should have been correct which is one thing to pay attention to when swapping them (compare it to the way the original was installed).

    Pretty sure this picture has them installed correctly.

    unnamed.png

    Hopefully if anything was damaged it was just the stepper driver card.
     
  11. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    Well the misplaced drivers are done for sure. I got the extruder, X and Z axis working again. Now the Y axis is 100% unresponsive. The Y motor is ok since it works when plugged in the X axis header and the drivers are ok since they move the other motors. Now I dont know if the ramps is broken or the arduino and i dont want to spend more money right now. I think i got a workaround tho. The robo3d R1 has only Extruder0 and the spot for Extruder1 is empty. It is the same pins as the Y axis so should be able to reconfigure the pins to use E1 for Y axis pretty easy. Only in the pin.h there are many #define so i dont know witch part is actually used for the robo3d R1. Has anyone previously done that? Reconfigure firmware to use E1 pins for axis? I didnt even fix the original problem...

    Edit I did fix the Y axis this way now to see if my original problem is solved...
     
    #11 Mr.JJ, Oct 4, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2021
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  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yep, if you can read the firmware you have a huge plus since you can redefine pretty much everything that the hardware is doing :)
     
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    P.S. make sure your Z offset for autoleveling is a negative number since a positive number would drop it into the bed...
     
  14. Mr.JJ

    Mr.JJ New Member

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    Allright, today I was able to print a nice XYZ calibration cube that came out pretty good. So the Z problem really was because of bad stepper driver.
    In mattercontrol the Z offset is a positive number tho
    Thanks forr your help Mark!
     
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  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea, not shocked. MC has its own way of doing things :)
     

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