weird ezstruder motor prob-FIXED! Gene is short for Genius!

[sandy]

I've really broken something. I was trying to get my lcd panel to work - it only shows white blocks, I unplugged it and unplugged the adaptor, reinstalled everything, and when that didn't work, I reset my RAMBO and reflashed the firmware.

Now, my ezstruder motor turns 5-10 times as fast as it should - for example - sending the command to extrude 30 mm, actually moved over 200mm of plastic. Loud noise, too.

So I downloaded the latest firmware and copied in my Configuration.h and reflashed it and same problem. I can't print. Just when I had finally gotten it working. (though not the LCD panel)

Did I fry my RAMBO? Is there a pot on the rambo that got turned up somehow?

My motor current is set to 195. I lowered it to 175 just to test, but it didn't really help.

My steps per mm are 93

btw: X,Y,Z motors work perfectly.




any help appreciated. v. discouraged again. Feel like my rostock is cursed.

thanks,

-sandy

[sandy]

I've now tried a different motor and different wires and connector. Same problem.
Do you think SeemeCNC would be willing to let me trade this one in for one that works? I can't afford this (money, or time) and noone can say I have done everything possible to get a working printer.

[geneb]

Sandy, go with the configuration.h file included with the firmware distribution on SeeMeCNC's github repo. Note down any changes you've made to the EEPROM and then clear it and then re-upload the *default* firmware. See how the machine operates from there.

g.

[sandy]

Hi Gene,

That did fix the extruder problem! Yay! Your reputation as a miracle worker remains intact!
But... it caused a different one. Now my machine thinks the Z height is ~70mm shorter than it really is.

Following your suggestions, I cleared the EPROM and installed a freshly downloaded 091 Firmware. Tested extrusion - worked. Into the new Configuration.h, I put back my main settings: Pulley-Teeth: 15 (I have the old aluminum, pen-cap looking ones) and changed the other STEPS_PER_MM to 106.67 (even though they say this is for cartesian printers only), Max X,Y,Z - height (for me 373mm), correct X,Y inverts, and that's about it.

Then reflashed, reconnected and extruder still worked great - hit G28, great - tried to lower it: G0 Z10 F3500 - and it stopped at 80mm.

So, put my old settings into the EPROM: X-Max, Y-Max, Z-Max all 373, (and corrected my PID settings, but that's all) -- No Joy

My printer settings have Height: 374mm

The last thing I tried was to make Z-MAX really long (400mm) and G28-ed a couple of times, and then sent G0 Z30 - Stopped at 100mm (going down to 0 by 10mm - it reached the same level as all the other tests)

Is there a setting I've missed?

thanks,

-sandy

[Tinyhead]

Maybe the 'Printer Setting' in repetier is still set for a lower value?

[sandy]

Actually, If I set EPROM_MODE 0 -- then I can get the effector all the way down to the platform, but if I then reenable EPROM_MODE it goes back to the same problem.

I forgot to set STEPS_PER_MM to 106.67 in the EPROM

thanks,

-sandy

[lordbinky]

Just to note, I've had the similar things happen to me in the eeprom. I forget what I do to cause it, but it's generally a decimal that disapears and isn't fun to hunt down.

[lordbinky]

Have you set the eeprom mode to something like 2 or are you simply enabling it by setting it 1 ? Setting it to a higher number should rewrite all your firmware settings into the eeprom.

[sandy]

Yeah, I'm gonna snapshot these settings for both Config.h and Eprom - I'm also deleting *all* of the old versions of the firmware I have lying around on my mac.

Someday soon (after finals) I'm going to write up a post on Weird issues I have had, and their solutions. Maybe it will help somebody else.

[geneb]

Did you go through the front-panel z-height calibration?

I don't think of myself as a miracle worker - I'm more the "ongoing natural disaster" type.

g.

[sandy]

Unfortunately, I can't. My panel only shows white blocks. I've never been able to use it.

[lordbinky]

I think you just have to swap the two cables on the rambo, I remember trying to be super careful to keep it straight and still got it backwards.

[Eaglezsoar]

Did you go through the front-panel z-height calibration?

I don't think of myself as a miracle worker - I'm more the "ongoing natural disaster" type.

g.

Just take credit for it Gene - you are a miracle worker!

[sandy]

This!

One thing I don't get, was where the problem was.

I diffed my old and default config files and only my particular settings were different. I wonder what got messed up in my EPROM? Before this I hadn't realized that resetting the main board didn't clear the EPROM, but duh, of course it wouldn't.

[sandy]

I think you just have to swap the two cables on the rambo, I remember trying to be super careful to keep it straight and still got it backwards.

I'll check again. But, I think they are okay, because start up in Repetier-Host can tell whether or not an SDcard is present.

I wonder if contrast is too high? I'm going to take mess around with the pot on the back (with a ceramic screwdriver, of course).