Extruder Not Active, Firmware? Pro B

[AbeFM]

SOLVED: Extruder will not operate when the temperature is too low - 160 or so. Heat head first and then test extruder.



Howdy everyone!
I just got my first printer, a Pro B, and it went together nicely except some bad bearings on the Z-axis which spat out balls when I inserted the rods...

My post is about my extruder issues - nothing makes the extruder run. I can run it off any other channel, I checked the cables and swapped the control boards, and as best I can deduce, nothing is even trying to move the extruder.

When I first got the unit, it had the x-axis moving backwards, and when I recompiled the firmware, I got an error about fpos_t being defined in stdio.h and conflicting. I edited out all mention of fpos from stdio, got nowhere, put it all back how it started then it DID compile (under Arduino 1.6.12) and that fixed the x-axis.

Is there something in the firmware to check in order to make the extruder work? The GT2560 came with x,y,z,ext,(empty) slots populated with driver boards - I tried the empty slot but that didn't work either. I don't see any solder balls or anything wrong on the top side of the controller board.

What should I do?! Thanks!!!
-Abe.

Note: From Configuration.h:

Code: Select all

// For Inverting Stepper Enable Pins (Active Low) use 0, Non Inverting (Active High) use 1
#define X_ENABLE_ON 0
#define Y_ENABLE_ON 0
#define Z_ENABLE_ON 0
#define E_ENABLE_ON 0 // For all extruders

// Disables axis when it's not being used.
#define DISABLE_X false
#define DISABLE_Y false
#define DISABLE_Z false
#define DISABLE_E false // For all extruders
#define DISABLE_INACTIVE_EXTRUDER true //disable only inactive extruders and keep active extruder enabled

That LOOKS right. Number of Extruders is set to 1 above, as well. The FILAMENT_SENSOR define statement is commented out.

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Looks like it won't compile again - is there a fix to get the compilation working without reverting Ardunio to V1.1?

[AbeFM]

Search-and-Replace across all tabs for "fpos_t" to "fpos_t_LOCAL" gets it to compile, btw.

[AbeFM]

As a final check, I set the printer up for 2 extruders, and manual control through Repetier works on extruder #2 if I move the driver board over to that slot.

It appears I could have a hardware issue. I could get a probe on driver pins if it would help, but at this point, I think I may just need a new board?

Any thoughts?

[DavidP]

I'm having the same problem here as well ...
The extruder motor is not working when connected at the normal extruder position on the board ...
It works when connected in the x, y, or z position ...
I've exchanged the wiring at both the connection to the board and the connection at the steeper motors ...
I've exchanged the driver chip ...to make sure that wasn't the problem ... still nothing works at the location of extruder motor connection at the board, although they all work at another location (x, y, z) ... so it seems it would have to be a some problem in that location on the board ...
Unless I'm missing something ... it seems the only place it could be is a defect in that area of the Sanguinololu Board used by the extruder motor ?????

Your help would be greatly appreciated ...

[AbeFM]

I swapped over the sensors, heaters to channel 2.

Printer refuses to operate when Ext-temp-1 is too low or too high (min/max temp displays on LCD, controls including reset become unresponsive.

If I jump the Ext1 Temp sensor with a 10k resistor, I get "86*" which is enough to keep printer from having an error....

My problem now: Channel 2 (Ext #2 temperature) reads 499(500) when unplugged, but when I plug in the sensor from Ext 1 it seems to be flipped - instead of 0 + 20 = 20*, I get 499 - 20 = 479*. Switching the pins doesn't effect value (not polarity).

It seems like something that could be fixed with the right software flag.

Any suggestions?

[AbeFM]

I'm having the same problem here as well ...
Unless I'm missing something ... it seems the only place it could be is a defect in that area of the Sanguinololu Board used by the extruder motor ?????

That points to a firmware issue, then. The odds we both have the same issue in hardware is unlikely. Did you have reversed x-axis when you started?

I'll keep cranking at it, but hopefully we can get some information from people who know the software!

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https://goo.gl/photos/MdoNYiuZGjrLxtnx5 Ok, looks like it's working now. I think the issue was the thermal protection. So try heating the head up and seeing if it works.

[William]

Hi,
Generally speaking,there are four reasons in total for extruder motor not working:
1.The driver A4988 on this motor has a problem.
2.This motor itself has a problem.
3.The motor cable on this motor has a problem.
4.The the driver slot has a problem so can't send the right output to the motor,at this moment you need to swap the pins with extruder2 and refer to this post:
http://www.geeetech.com/forum/viewtopic ... 20&t=18020

In addition,i guess you guys didn't forget to preset the extruder before testing extruder motor?

[AbeFM]

The issue was the low-temperature cut off. Read the post above, it's in bold.