Installing geared stepper

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TMIB
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Installing geared stepper

Post by TMIB »

I purchased this stepper motor from Phidgets: http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?product_id=3325 along with a hobbed gear from TriD printing. I want to use it with my new EZRStruder, but I'm having trouble getting it working.

The wire colors do not match what the steppers have that came with my rostock immediately, so I'm not sure what the pinouts are.

When I have it hooked up and tell it to extrude, it just makes a "tock tock tock" noise and the shaft does not rotate. This is without the EZRstruder on, and just the stepper itself hooked up. When it is powered off, I can easily turn the shaft, which tells me it is not bound up.

The documentation for the stepper shows this wiring:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/SO4plzz.jpg[/img]

But I don't know how that compares to the rostock's pinouts. going from the stepper to the board, the stock motor had:
Red<->Red
Green<->Green
Blue<->Black
Yellow<->White

On this motor I tried:
Red<->Red
Green<->Green
Blue<->White
Black<->Black

I also tried:
Red<->Red
Green<->Green
Blue<->Black
Black<->White

Any ideas?
Eric
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Re: Installing geared stepper

Post by Eric »

The trick is to keep the both leads from the same coil adjacent. I'll use the letters on your diagram above. (I'll leave it to you to figure out colors if you still need that.)

What you want to try is ABCD at the rambo connector. Doesn't matter if it's left-to-right or right-to-left. Try it. If the motor turns in the right direction, you got it! If it turns in the wrong direction swap one coil pair to get either BACD or ABDC. (Alternately, it can be reversed in configuration.h)

Don't make any changes with the power on!
TMIB
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Re: Installing geared stepper

Post by TMIB »

That did the trick. Had to switch one pair (ABDC) to get it going the right direction, but that got it working.

Then I had to increase my steps/mm to match this motor. It's pushing filament quite nicely now (and is a lot quieter than the stock motor too). I still have a lot to troubleshoot and configure with the new hot end, but it looks like the geared motor is going to work well with the EZRstruder.
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lightninjay
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Re: Installing geared stepper

Post by lightninjay »

I do not know if SeeMeCNC quietly changed the casting die patterns for the red tensioner piece or not. In the event they did not, you will more than likely need to dremel out some of the red tensioner piece to make the hole which the hobbed roller goes into more circular. Either that, or you need to grind down the grub set screw which secures the hobbed roller to the stepper shaft so that it does not hit the red tensioner.
If at first you don't succeed, you're doing something wrong. Try again, and if it fails again, try once more. Through trial and error, one can be the first to accomplish something great.
TMIB
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Re: Installing geared stepper

Post by TMIB »

30 seconds with a round file did the trick for me.

I thought I would miss having a handle on the stepper shaft, (no room for it on this stepper) but it seems fine without it.
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rurwin
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Re: Installing geared stepper

Post by rurwin »

lightninjay wrote:I do not know if SeeMeCNC quietly changed the casting die patterns for the red tensioner piece or not.
Immediately after I bought my Orion, SeeMeCNC sent me a replacement of that red tensioner arm. I hadn't asked for it and there was no documentation saying why they sent it. I haven't had the courage yet to disassemble the extruder to fit it, so I don't know if or how it differs from the one that is already there, which seems to work OK as least for now.

The invoice for the replacement is dated 8th September, and the description is "Updated Spring Arm for EZR Struder - Custom"
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