Stepper Motor Issues

Discussion in 'Calibration, Help, and Troubleshooting' started by Zach, Aug 9, 2016.

  1. Zach

    Zach Member

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    So it seems that I am having issues with my stepper motors. My main concern was the Z-axis. Currently the Z-axis no longer moves. Originally my Z-axis steppers were grinding and not moving properly. One of my lead screws is also bent which seems to be an issue but others seem to have had bent screws and functional printers. For my troubleshooting I have tried:
    1. Greasing the lead screw with White Lithium Grease (This helped but didn't solve the issue).
    2. Verifying the voltage of the Z-axis motor driver (still at the correct voltage)
    3. Checking the connection to the steppers. This seems to be the issue now. Originally I plugged in and unplugged the steppers. Still no change. Next I unplugged and plugged the Z-axis back in. Not only did this not solve it, the motor driver seems to be failed. I plugged the Z-axis cable into the Y-axis driver and I once again had movement, but it was still grinding and rough. (vice versa for the Y-motor into the X-axis driver and I had no movement).
    I checked the voltage again to the Z-axis motor driver and it is still at the proper voltage.
    I am also having issues with my Extruder motors. Neither one will move... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. Zach

    Zach Member

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    After doing more research, I have found that the extruder is due to the temperature not being high enough (trying to extrude an empty extruder with no heat). So that is good news. I also solved the issue with Z-axis (it seems that a lot of people are having issues with the Y connectors for the z-axis motors being broken). The black cable of my z-axis y-cable was not making a good connection so that was part of the problem. In other good news, it seems the motor driver was the issue. I replaced the motor driver with the driver from Extruder 2 (I am using a dual) and everything is working. There is a short in the motor driver that I found after switching the motor driver from one of the other. So... issue solved minus the motor driver being fried!
     

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