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Solved Z motor voltage?

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Malek, Jul 23, 2017.

  1. Malek

    Malek Member

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    I'm using the Robo R1+ with lead screw upgrade. I have recently been hearing a strange clicking sound, one click every few seconds, particularly when mesh bed leveling is activated and the z motors are moving steadily. After some troubleshooting I've determined it was coming from both Z motors. I think they were skipping steps, resulting in very poor looking prints. I decided to have a look at my driver voltages. First of all both my z motors are hooked up to the same driver. I checked the voltage going to that driver and it was around 0.55v. Based on what I've been reading, 0.4v to 0.6v is an acceptable range for EACH motor. Meaning if both motors were on the same driver, wouldn't that mean I would set it to roughly 0.8 - 1.2v? At least that's what I read in more than one place. To eliminate the skipping, I increased it to 0.95v, and my z motors went nuts when I tried to manually raise/lower them with Repetier. They seemed to pause every other step and click like crazy. I expected that to happen at a much lower voltage! Then I decreased the voltage down to 0.65v, and the clicking went away and the z motors appear to be functioning fine now. I don't think it matters, but I recently replaced my hexagon extruder with a E3Dv6 clone. My questions are:

    1. Is there a reason this clicking would have just happened on its own without touching the voltage?
    2. What voltage range should my Z motor driver be at, considering both motors are hooked up to the same driver?
    3. Can someone explain why increasing the voltage (to what I thought was an acceptable range) caused the motors to behave so strangely?

    I'll add that during printing, the motors don't get hot at all. They barely get warm.
    Thank you!
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    See on an R1+ they are not on the same driver. There are two. Unless you changed things :)
    If they are both on the same driver then dial up the voltage (don't worry about the exact value) and see if it will step. If not, swap the driver.

    You need a stepper driver to be at whatever voltage makes the stepper smoothly work. If the stepper is dropping steps then either the stepper driver is failing or the stepper is failing.

    Since they are cheap I would swap stepper drivers first.
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Since both steppers are doing it I agree with your conclusion that it is likely the driver.
    Just switch to a new one.
     
  4. Malek

    Malek Member

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    1. But if increasing the voltage on the driver got rid of the clicking, do I really need to replace the drive

    2. Also, I have a total of 4 drivers on my ramps board. Both z motors are going to the same driver. Wouldn't that mean they are sharing a driver? I bought the printer used, so is it possible the old user might have replaced the 2 drivers with 1? If this is the case, how is it possible both could function at only 0.65v?
     
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    1. not immediately, but it has been my experience that if you need to start tweaking the voltage, something is dying :)
    2. Yes, but that is normal for a RAMPS board and the stepper drivers can deal with it. The Z steppers use less current which is why a single driver can easily handle both.
     
    Malek likes this.

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