Communication loss between my Computer and My Maxx

[Proto]

Hey Dee oh everyone,

It has been a while since I posted here.

I have been having some issues with my Maxx v1 lately and I was hoping that some of you have seen this issue before.

This past week I have been trying to get my Maxx back up and running. I replaced the Glass Bed (old one de-laminated) and the nozzle (which I thought was clogged). I spent a good deal of time trying to relevel everything. So today I finally got the bed leveled, the horizontal radius set, so I was getting ready to do my first print in a long time. I heated up the Extruder & Bed for ABS, Put in some fresh filament. And started to prime the hotend.

I did my normal procedure, in that I manually feed the filament to the PTC fitting and then use Mattercontrol to slowly feed the hotend. This time everything STOPPED. by stopped, I mean the extruder would not feed, or retract, the filament. The temperatures stopped updating. And would not shut down the heaters either. It is almost like Mattercontrol and my Maxx disconnected, without reporting that the disconnect took place. So I hit disconnect on Mattercontrol and restarted my Maxx. I was able to retract the filament 2-3mm before it happened again.

I decided to try Cura, hoping it was a Mattercontrol issue. It happened in Cura also.

Here is my setup...

• Mattercontrol Version 1.3.0
• Cura Version 15.02.1
• Rostock Maxx V1 Firmware Version .91
• Communication Type - USB Cable

The strange part is, I used Mattercontrol exclusively to level the bed. Obviously moving all 3 axis repeatedly. It wasn't until I tried to use the extruder that things took a turn for the worse.

Any wisdom you can share would be appreciated.

[Proto]

Well, well, well...

It's been a week and I have 25 thread views and NO replies. This means one of 3 things

1. I have finally stumped all of you.
2. I have not peaked your interest enough
3. I have killed it dead and no one wants to break the bad news to me.

I'm getting so Despirate to get this running that I'm asking other sources.

• Facebook - I talked to a guy on the 3D Printing group. And he
  seems to think that the Stepper Driver is over driving the motor (to/too
  much amperage). does this sound possible?
• Mattercontrol Tech Support - I talked to the guys at Matter Hackers. And they suggested a
  corrupt EEPROM. Corrupt EEPROM that only effects the extrusion controls?

I'm attempting to re-flash the firmware. but the frustration levels are getting out of control.

Simply - Please Help!

[Polygonhell]

It's not clear from your description if it's just the extruder that's not working, or your seeing a disconnect from the printer.

I don't use Matter control, so I can't tell you how to do it, but if you turn on all the logging, you should see a continuous stream of temperature reports from the printer, if you are losing the connection, they will stop. If your losing connection to the board start by replacing the USB cable, then check the wiring you recently moved around CAREFULLY (i.e. the hotend).

It it's just the extruder that's stopping, you should look at the extruder related settings in the EEPROM, it's possible that if the driver is over heating it would stop moving, but more often the missed steps are intermitent if the drive over heats.

There is no harm in clearing the EEPROM and reflashing the latest firmware, but IME most issues are mechanical/electrical rather than software related (unless you've recently changed the software) and I'd always start there.

[Proto]

It's not clear from your description if it's just the extruder that's not working, or your seeing a disconnect from the printer.

ok, let me try and clearify my problem.

Starting fresh, I load a new filament into my Maxx. I manually feed the filament to the top of the PTC fitting on the hotend. Using Mattercontrol I try to advance the filament slowly into the hotend til it comes out of the nozzle. But before it gets that far the whole printer locks up. I can control the bed/hotend heat from the LCD only, but all the steppers are non-functional.

And I nearly forgot. This is only happening with the extruder. All of the other axis function normally.

Since I can not prime the hotend/nozzle, I do not know if it will run a print job.


Sorry if I am coming accross a bit short. I have been fighting with this for over a week. I have a feeling that it is a hardware issue. But I don't want to randomly change parts in hope that one will fix the problem.

[Proto]

Alrighty

I decided to do a bit of testing. I unpluged all of my steppers and plugged my Extruder stepper into the Z-axis port. I could not get the printer to lock up.

Then I decided to send commands to the extruder (nothing was hooked up to it). The printer locked up in about 10 remote feed commands.


Bad RAMBo, I'm thinking.


Ideas? Theories? Miracle Cures?

[geneb]

Perform the same experiment, but with Repetier Host. There's always been something fishy about MatterControl and the Extrude command.

g.

[Proto]

Perform the same experiment, but with Repetier Host. There's always been something fishy about MatterControl and the Extrude command.

g.

I have tested with Cura with the same results. but I can try Repetier tomorrow.

[techstorage]

My printer stop working with the laptop a few weeks ago but I could run it from a SD card. It turned out to be a windows update. I used an older computer and it worked ok; I went back to an older version of window to fix the communication issue.

[KAS]

Not sure if it will help, but maybe turning off power management in the device manager. You'll have to find the correct root hub, or do it to all of them.

Also try xon/xoff under that specific port (COM & LPT), found in the flow control drop down. I don't think the Rambo supports hardware buffering, but maybe xon/xoff might work.

[Proto]

My printer stop working with the laptop a few weeks ago but I could run it from a SD card. It turned out to be a windows update. I used an older computer and it worked ok; I went back to an older version of window to fix the communication issue.

This could be "a" problem, but not "the" problem. Yes, I upgraded this computer to Windows 10 when it became available. But unfortunately this problem reared its ugly head months before that. Like April or May. I had no pressing need to print anything before now, so I did what I do best... procrastinate

Not sure if it will help, but maybe turning off power management in the device manager. You'll have to find the correct root hub, or do it to all of them.

Also try xon/xoff under that specific port (COM & LPT), found in the flow control drop down. I don't think the Rambo supports hardware buffering, but maybe xon/xoff might work.

Power management is already off. As far as the xon/xoff, I can take a look at it. It doesn't really explain why it only happens with the extrude command.

I have documented my testing and sent them to JJ in tech support. Lets see how much I can confuse him.

[craftymethod]

I force my filament through my V6 and get extruding manually when i change filaments... then extrude on matter control a couple times to prime. I notice I have response issues when i try to extrude too many times.

[nebbian]

Not sure if it helps, but I find I have to home first before extruding when I first turn the machine on.

[KAS]

I think you're noticing it on the extruder because you manually spam the extrude button. I'd bet if you just hit extrude 10, wait for it to finish and do it again it wouldn't lock up.

[Proto]

I think you're noticing it on the extruder because you manually spam the extrude button. I'd bet if you just hit extrude 10, wait for it to finish and do it again it wouldn't lock up.

You maybe right, I couldn't tell you off hand if that is the case or not. What I can tell you, is that when I switched the extruder leads to the Z-Axis controller. That I did spam the feed button, but no matter how hard I tried I could not reproduce the error.

Craftymethod - I might try that procedure. I have a lot to look into. And tomorrow looks like the day to do it.

[Dale Eason]

Sounds to me like the extruder motor is drawing too much current for some reason. When it runs it causes the power supply to shut down for a short time. That then resets the connection. I would check the voltage with a fast response meter and watch it when the extruder is run.

Dale

[Proto]

UPDATE[*]

Alrighty, I wasn't expecting this.

Short Story

• Somehow, feeding the filament normally through the feed system. The filament gets hung up either just before, or inside the hot end. Filament will feed through the hot end manually, after bypassing the feed tube. But it feels like it is binding somewhere inside.

Long Story

• Today I decided to try and get this printer running. I'm still not sure why the comminication glitched out so I was going to push the filament to the hot end and hit the feed 1 or 2 times at 10mm. This should get the filament through the nozzle. Or so I thought.
• I heated up the hot end and bed. I pushed the filament, by hand, until it stopped. I hit the extrude button 2 or 3 times at 10mm. And Nothing! I unscrewed the PTC connector and nozzle and tried to push the filament through the hot end. Bare filament would go through with a bit of resistance. I hooked up the the PTC and tried again, with no luck.

It looks like I have a clog in my hot end. I doubt it was causing my communication fault, considering I could replicate it without filament installed.

I'm just waiting for my hot end to cool before attempting to disassemble it. JOY