X-Stepper Motor Fails to Stop

[tjzak]

Hello, This is my first post.

My Rostock Max is assembled and has the Rambo V1.1b with the 15 tooth metal pulleys. I am having trouble with the x channel motor drive. The motors all worked correctly with the original Rambo V1.0. I had problems with firmware updates and received the 1.1b board as a replacement. When I hooked up the new board, all of the Cheapskates went down with the G28 command.

I am using the Marlin with LCD firmware from the SeeMeeCNC RoSoft.msi installer. I edited the firmware using Arduino 0023 and changed all the #define INVERT_X_DIR from false to true. I uploaded the firmware. When I connected the printer to Repetier Host (V 0.85B) I received a couple of error messages as follows:
Error:No Line Number with checksum, Last Line:519:06:35.300 :
Error:Line Number is not Last Line Number+1, Last Line:5
19:06:35.300 : Resend:6

I do not remember getting this with the original 1.0 Rambo. I subsequently tried G28 and all skates went up. However the x axis motor did not totally stop. It sounded like It was still energized and the belt started to slip. I had to do an emergency stop. The end stop switches give the correct response to M119 and all go high when depressed individually.

John Oly suggested that my end stop wiring was faulty. I re-installed all of the end stops and checked all of the wiring. Nothing changed. The X axis continues to run after any move command. If I then hit the motor stop tab in Repetier, the motor then stops. I reloaded the firmware and no change.

I found a forum subject that sounded like my problem. Suggestions were bad connector to motor. I had purchased some pre-assembled 4 wire connector with wires already attached. I cut off the x-motor connector and soldered on the new one. Same problem. G28 and the x motor will not stop, if I use one of the Z arrows the same problem occurs. Y and Z eventually turn off but the x motor stays on at a very slow rate. I then switched the X and Y motor connectors on the Rambo and then the Y motor has the same symptoms as the X did and the X now behaves normally. Is there any firmware value that could account for this behavior? I only changed the motor direction values and the steps per mm.

The X axis continues to run after any move command. If I then hit the motor stop tab in Repetier, the motor then stops. I reloaded the firmware and no change. I disconnected the LCD because no text appears on the screen. It lights up but there are two lines of boxes across the screen.

Can anyone tell me know if there are any other tests that can be done to test the proper operation of the Rambo? The problem appears to me to be with the Rambo X-axis motor channel, because when I switched the X and the Y or Z connectors the Y/Z motor acted up and the X motor acted normally.

[dsnettleton]

Have you checked your steps/mm? I don't know what Marlin does with EEPROM settings, but I know if you were using Repetier firmware, that's the first place I would look.

[tjzak]

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. Yes, I have all of the X,Y,Z steps set to 106 .667 for the 15 tooth pulley. I personally feel it is a problem with Rambo X-channel driver. Because whichever motor I plug into that channel shows the problem of not turning off and the other two motots work correctly.

[foshon]

Start it up, connect to it, and before you hit any other buttons, hit "Z" home and only "Z" home. What happens?

[Good Things]

We are having the same exact issue. Was there any resolution to this problem. Is it a Rambo Failure. Or something software related? Any information would be incredibly helpful

[geneb]

What are the results of the M119 tests?

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. Yes, I have all of the X,Y,Z steps set to 106 .667 for the 15 tooth pulley. I personally feel it is a problem with Rambo X-channel driver. Because whichever motor I plug into that channel shows the problem of not turning off and the other two motots work correctly.

Any motor you plug into the X driver shows the same problem. Sure sounds like a defect on the rambo card. I know that is not good news because of the expense but it is what it is.
Any time in the recent past that the x-axis was disconnected while the power was on to the Rambo? That is a sure way to screw up the driver chips. Even if a wire becomes loose that
feeds the X-axis while the printer is on can destroy the driver. If you do have to purchase another card, do not throw the old one away, you may be able to get a repair quote from Ultimachine
who is the manufacturer. Their contact page is at https://ultimachine.com/content/contact-us I do wish I had better news for you but i can wish you the best in getting this resolved.

[Good Things]

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. Yes, I have all of the X,Y,Z steps set to 106 .667 for the 15 tooth pulley. I personally feel it is a problem with Rambo X-channel driver. Because whichever motor I plug into that channel shows the problem of not turning off and the other two motots work correctly.

Any motor you plug into the X driver shows the same problem. Sure sounds like a defect on the rambo card. I know that is not good news because of the expense but it is what it is.
Any time in the recent past that the x-axis was disconnected while the power was on to the Rambo? That is a sure way to screw up the driver chips. Even if a wire becomes loose that
feeds the X-axis while the printer is on can destroy the driver. If you do have to purchase another card, do not throw the old one away, you may be able to get a repair quote from Ultimachine
who is the manufacturer. Their contact page is at https://ultimachine.com/content/contact-us I do wish I had better news for you but i can wish you the best in getting this resolved.

.
This might sound strange. but is there anyway to use the Z2 ports on the board instead. and if so what are some of the concerns with doing this .

[dpmacri]

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. Yes, I have all of the X,Y,Z steps set to 106 .667 for the 15 tooth pulley. I personally feel it is a problem with Rambo X-channel driver. Because whichever motor I plug into that channel shows the problem of not turning off and the other two motots work correctly.

Any motor you plug into the X driver shows the same problem. Sure sounds like a defect on the rambo card. I know that is not good news because of the expense but it is what it is.
Any time in the recent past that the x-axis was disconnected while the power was on to the Rambo? That is a sure way to screw up the driver chips. Even if a wire becomes loose that
feeds the X-axis while the printer is on can destroy the driver. If you do have to purchase another card, do not throw the old one away, you may be able to get a repair quote from Ultimachine
who is the manufacturer. Their contact page is at https://ultimachine.com/content/contact-us I do wish I had better news for you but i can wish you the best in getting this resolved.

.
This might sound strange. but is there anyway to use the Z2 ports on the board instead. and if so what are some of the concerns with doing this .

I think both Z ports are wired to the same driver based on looking at the schematics on the reprap wiki. However, you should be able to use the second extruder port (assuming you're not adding a second extruder). You'd need to fix up all of the pins in the firmware, though.

[Good Things]

OK Sent the board to Ultimachine to have them look at it. they were able to replicate my problem exactly. That being said. The issue the whole time was because for whatever the reason the Rambo firmware wasnt copied to the arduino program folder prior to uploading our changes to the board. We have since installed these files and tested ourselves and everything is back to working great.

First Step is downloading this https://github.com/ultimachine/RAMBo/tr ... uino_1.x.x

Second step was to follow the steps on this page. http://reprap.org/wiki/Rambo_firmware#R ... ino_Plugin



Now that our Z2 port is free. can we use that for our second extruder? If so does anywhere know where i can find some documentation on it

[enggmaug]

As dpmacri said, it seems that both Z ports are wired to the same controller, in order to control 2 motors simultaneously on a cartesian machine with a heavy bed to lift up.

For us, delta users, Z2 is useless....

[Eaglezsoar]

I am confused about the whole situation. The first Marlin didn't install correctly according to Ultimachine and you had to reinstall it and now the Rambo works normally.
I guess if it works it works.

To answer you question about dual extruders I have found several topics that may help. Read through them and understand what they are saying before attempting to change
the firmware.

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=1946

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=2152

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?t=2178&p=15296

When you do attempt an upload to the firmware, make sure you use the Marlin.ino file in the Arduino software.

[Good Things]

Yeah you are correct the first marlin did not install correctly. but it was completely our fault and not the boards. We made changes and uploaded the marlin from a different computer without the proper rambo plugins installed. This was a noob mistake on our end.

P.s. Thank you guys for update abut Z2