Help! Just built Rostock Max V1 having many issues

[dylantep]

I just finished building a Rostock Max V1 (very old version with square printbed and sidemount steves extruder) and I am having a lot of issues.

My first issue is that the steps per mm on the traverse motors seem to be way off. I am running the 0.91 version of the firmware that I was linked to in the downloads page. In order to get the printer to not print off the bed I had to set it to about 100 x 100mm and a printable height of about 240. this is obviously way off as the bed measures about 200 x 200mm and the printable height closer to 350.

I am also having some extruder problems. I tried a first print and the first couple layers came out ok but about 10 layers up it pretty much stopped extruding and it seems the extruder has stopped pushing the filament. The filament wont move when I add some force by hand either. Also when I use the faster extrude button (in manual mode) the motor just stalls out and the gears don't move at all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm so excited to get this thing printing!

[Earthbound]

I'm not knowledgeable on the details of a V1, but I know the 0.91 Repetier firmware is newer than the V1. I'm guessing the default values in the newer firmware are different than in older versions. The manual wouldn't necessarily talk about settings that didn't need to be changed (but that need to be adjusted in 0.91). This is just a guess. Might be worth taking a look at an older version of Repetier and seeing what is different in the Configuration.h file.

Things that will change size of movement could include:

tooth count on axis drive pulleys (16 or 20 or ??)
microstepping on motors (I don't know if all versions of RAMBo support 1/16 microstepping) <-- my gut tells me to focus on this. If the firmware is trying to use 1/16 and the board only supports 1/8, you'll get 200% sized movements, I think.


As far as the extruder issues, it sounds like the hot end is clogged.

[Earthbound]

Did a little quick reading.

Repetier 0.91 does not use separate definitions for different versions of RAMBo.
RAMBo boards prior to v1.1 design used different driver chips for the steppers and those did not support 1/16 micro steps.

The version number of the RAMBo should be printed on it next to the power input connector.

If older than v1.1, you need to edit the Configuration.h file. The change that needs to be made is on line 697.

By default it will read: #define MICROSTEP_MODES {16,16,16,16,16} // [1,2,4,8,16]

Change the row of 16s to 8s so it reads as: #define MICROSTEP_MODES {8,8,8,8,8} // [1,2,4,8,16]

Then compile/upload the firmware again and you should find that the travel is in the right scale. You'll need to tell your host software the true bed size again in order to use more than 100 x 100mm.


If you have a RAMBo v1.1 or newer, ignore all of this.

[dylantep]

My RAMBo is version 1.0 so you're most likely right about the microstepping. I'll change the code and see if it helps. Thank you so much.

As for the extruder, is it possible for it to get clogged that fast? I've probably ran less than a yard of filament through it in its entire lifetime. Maybe I just got junk filament.

Anyways, Thanks again for the help!

[Polygonhell]

There are a bunch of changes you'll have to make to the firmware, you need to count the number of teeth on the drive pulleys, they changed at some point on the run of V1's, also some V1's have RAMBO boards that only support 8x microstepping, later ones support 16x.
Extruder steps/ mm will be way off.
You'll also need to change the stepper current, the current driver is configured for the newer Rambos, and newer steppers.
The first things to do are count the number of pulley teeth and try and identify the RAMBO version.

If your trying to prints PLA you'll have to add a PEEK a fan, the V1's didn't ship with them.

[dylantep]

So changing the microsteping code didn't work. After the change the axis got all jittery and stopped working very well. I could still travel in the X direction alright but Y direction movement was crazy and Z movement didn't work at all. Maybe it's the tooth number on the pulleys or something. Do you know if theres an older version of the firmware for the rostock max somewhere?

[dylantep]

There are a bunch of changes you'll have to make to the firmware, you need to count the number of teeth on the drive pulleys, they changed at some point on the run of V1's, also some V1's have RAMBO boards that only support 8x microstepping, later ones support 16x.
Extruder steps/ mm will be way off.
You'll also need to change the stepper current, the current driver is configured for the newer Rambos, and newer steppers.
The first things to do are count the number of pulley teeth and try and identify the RAMBO version.

If your trying to prints PLA you'll have to add a PEEK a fan, the V1's didn't ship with them.

My rambo version is 1.0e. I changed the microstepping however that caused to to stop moving very well.

I am printing PLA but I did attach a fan. Not a PEEK fan but a small computer fan. The type of fan shouldn't matter though right? as long as you're cooling the filament

[Polygonhell]

You just need to cool the plastic part of the Hotend, as opposed to the plastic you are printing. To get PLA to print well you need to do both, but that's best done with 2 fans.

[dylantep]

You just need to cool the plastic part of the Hotend, as opposed to the plastic you are printing. To get PLA to print well you need to do both, but that's best done with 2 fans.

Gotcha. The shroud I have is definitely doing the wrong thing. Ill print a new one.

[Earthbound]

My rambo version is 1.0e. I changed the microstepping however that caused to to stop moving very well.

The changelog says 1.0e doesn't do 1/16, the chips topped out at 1/8. Next rev (v1.1) used different chips. Perhaps there were transitional boards that blur that line. Could also be that current settings are way off, but was masked by having wrong microstep value. Can you read a part number from the driver chips?

[dylantep]

The part number is 4954ET 1235 1317 I think. That is everything I can read on there.

[Polygonhell]

The part number is 4954ET 1235 1317 I think. That is everything I can read on there.

It probably says 4984 in which case it's 8x uStepping