Stepper motors just stopped working?

[mathewbeall]

Hi Folks - I fired up my Rostock MaxV3 last night to print some stuff after it being off for about a month.... loaded the G-code file, went to print it...

The bed heated up, and then the extruder - and then.... nothing..... when I went to the console (I use octopi) it looked like it was sending the right commands, but there was no movement.

OctoPi had just upgraded, and seemed like it had an issue - so I went and downloaded a brand new version of OctoPi and got it up and running - same issue.

I then went to the menu on the screen of the Rostock itself and went to Advanced->Calibration and tried it that way - again, absolutely no movement from any of the motors.

Any idea what would have gone wrong with it just sitting there or what I can check?

Thanks,

Matt

[geneb]

Check the fuses on the RAMBo. It's going to be one of the micro fuses - I don't recall which one though.

g.

[mathewbeall]

Thanks - I see in a picture two small ceramic 5a fuses... I will take the out tonite and test them and let you know! I know the larger car type 15a fuse is good.

Matt

[geneb]

Keep in mind that you need to remove those fuses to test them - you can get a false "good" if you test them while they're installed.

g.

[mathewbeall]

Fuses did check out - but I replaced them anyways - still no stepper motor action.

Anything else I can check? I doublechecked all the wire harnesses - everything is in tight (and remember, it was just sitting there for about 3 weeks doing nothing when it decided not to work)... everything else seems to work - heated bed, octopi, extruder heating up, etc.

Thanks,

Matt

[geneb]

You might want to check the screw terminals on the power input connector. I'd also check the power supply output voltage.

g.

[mathewbeall]

All seems good - I have a note out to matterhackers.com to see if they do any service/support.

Matt

[rootboy]

Sounds like something wonky in the config. Have you tried controlling it from different software?

[mathewbeall]

I usually use octopi - I completely blew it away, and also just tried to home the device (or calibrate it) from the front panel.

[rootboy]

Hmmm, I think that it's something in the firmware, which would explain why a fresh install of Octopi wouldn't fix it. What controller does the V3 use, and what firmware (and version) are you running?

[mathewbeall]

I would have to check - but it is whatever it came with 8 months ago..... and it has been working perfectly fine the entire time - with no change to the firmware...

Do the stepper drivers go out? I see on the rambo mini they talk about a better design with heatsinks to "never have a stepper driver failure again..."?

Matt

[geneb]

At this point I would contact support.

g.

[mathewbeall]

Yup - already have a case open with them.

[geneb]

Please post an update here when it's resolved. I'm curious to see what the issue is.

g.

[mathewbeall]

So - i figured it out ... THIS was weird! I was looking at this picture below to try and figure out if I could somehow test the voltage going out of the RAMBO into the stepper motors... and I noticed over on the right - the - and + for "Motors and Logic" - so I swing the multimeter over there to see if I was getting power, and voila - that was it! the positive terminal had somehow become loose and that wire wasn't making contact anymore.

I am happy - that was driving me crazy! Neither matterhackers nor seemecnc suggested - hey, make sure the power going into the board is all solid. I guess that is such a beginner item they didn't even bother to ask.

There you go! Easy fix!

[Xenocrates]

I do believe Geneb mentioned checking it earlier in the thread, but the issue with a loose connection is that it can be intermittent. It's also a bit surprising that it didn't kick something back in octopi, as that should have prevented the board from powering on.

[mathewbeall]

Well aren't you absolutely right! I did check the PSU voltages, but totally missed the part where he said to check the jumper block.

Strange indeed - I can only assume it was making enough contact to power the logic of the board, but not enough for the stepper motors.

Matt

[geneb]

*looks up, whistles innocently*



I'm glad you finally got it sorted.

g.