Motors do not respond rught on first run

[altarke]

So finally I have the printer all put together - but now the problems only begin!
As I try following the instructions configuring the printer I seem to have some issues and wondering if anyone can shed some light on them.
1.When the motors move (and they do slowly) they make this rattele sound and clearly it's not the smooth movement I expect to see
2. No matter what I tell them to do (m28 home command) they seem to move downwards only) I tried reversing the wire order of the blue to red (as suggested in the instructions) but no change, they seem to still make the vibrations as before and still move downwards - Why?

I downloaded the RAMBo win 8 driver and had it installed without any problems and then I installed the lateset Repetier host and I did not install any firmware . The Repetier did find the Rostock 3D printer and I went on to configure the printer , as instructed in the manual. There were some things in there that are not in the step by step instructions (it's the latest ver and the instructions are not up to date- but OK U cant always be up to date when things r always changing).

Any ideas, anyone,? I am stuck !!!

altarke

[kbob]

If the motors are only moving downward, your limit switches are probably not connected right.

Gene's manual has a procedure to check your limit switches. You can also do it from the LCD panel.

Navigate to Position -> X Position. The third line shows the max endstop. It should normally say off, and when you press and hold down the lever, it should say on. It takes a second or so to respond.

Repeat for Y and Z.

If your motors are rattling, make sure they're screwed in tightly (-: , then make sure all four wires are connected and that they're in the right order in the connector. Are all three rattling or just one?

[altarke]

Thanks for your quick response, kbob - I will check out the issues you raised and get back with an answer, hopfully today. I was wondering if you know of some RAMBo diagnostics program that I can run, using the PC to assure that the RAMBo is infact running right ( Being that I never saw the printer running, not even once I have this fear that the card may be bad or something). Never the less when it comes up it always displays (on the LCD Display)the printer ready status.

Thanks
Altarke

[altarke]

... And yet another issue I think may help resolving this problem is the pin-out of the stepper motors - I have the new motors that are wired a bit different then what is outlined in the manual (color wise). It's not clear to me the proper pin-out color order. I wrote to support@seemecnc at the time and got them to spcify RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE but that never worked out well...

[altarke]

If the motors are only moving downward, your limit switches are probably not connected right.

Gene's manual has a procedure to check your limit switches. You can also do it from the LCD panel.

Navigate to Position -> X Position. The third line shows the max endstop. It should normally say off, and when you press and hold down the lever, it should say on. It takes a second or so to respond.

Repeat for Y and Z.

I run the test for the limit switch as outlined in the manual and it turned out as expected - so I don't think it th e problem

If your motors are rattling, make sure they're screwed in tightly (-: , then make sure all four wires are connected and that they're in the right order in the connector. Are all three rattling or just one?

While checking the " X Position" of the motors, from the LCD Display ( that I noticed that the Y motor is not working while the other two are vibrating) - it's like they are not getting "enough juice" to run the full turn or something like that. That is why I was wondering if I can run some diagnostics on the board to assure it's putting out the proper output into the motors

[kbob]

I can't answer you about the motor wire colors. My motors used the original color scheme.

Here's a trick you can use, though. If you short together two wires that are on the same coil, the motor will become very hard to turn. You can use that to identify which wires share each coil.

If your stepper drivers were burnt out, I don't think you'd get as far as you've gotten.

[altarke]

If your stepper drivers were burnt out, I don't think you'd get as far as you've gotten.

Well, that is a relief!

I think I need to verify the color pin-out of the motors - how does knowing what coil is what wire pair helps me in determining the motor pin-out ?

[altarke]

/// So I connected every stepper into the Extruder output and, using the LCD Panel I activated the Extruder and all motors gave me the same response - they just vibrated a bit and never made a clear rotation (or partial rotation, depending on the amount I turned the knob)

This is an indication, I am guessing, that the output from the controller (RAMBo, in my case) is either defective or is just not putting out an adequate amount of current....

Any ideas

[kbob]

Jimustanguitar just answered this for another user on another thread. He suggested to check the motors for continuity with an ohm meter, starting from the connector you added. (I still think wiring is more likely than driver.)

http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... 620#p15620