GT 2560 A+ Will not drive extruder

Post Reply
DSRedford
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:51 am

GT 2560 A+ Will not drive extruder

Post by DSRedford » Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:12 pm

I am currently working on a project to upgrade a MonoPrice i3 V2 with a GT2560 A+ board.
The issue I have is that the extruder motor "tick tocks" Moves one gear forward then goes back - back and forth as long as the extruder is supposed to be driving the filament.

Background:
I have been updating a Monoprice i3 V2 with a new extruder (toranado) and real E3D V6 hot end. I wanted to update the Melzi board since I'm already on my second one (bed heater melting the terminal posts/connector). Also the toranado uses a geared assembly so I have to update the settings each time I use the printer.

I have a fully stock 2nd Monoprice i3 V2 (donor control card to my newer machine) that I am using to pretest the card
(Yes there are some differences in settings - I am using the stock settings and once working, will update settings for the E3V6 and Geared extruder on machine #1)

I installed Marlin 1.1.8 in the GT2560. Uploading works fine.
What works:
LCD Screen (Full Graphic - real unit Rep Rap unit)
Menu selections - All
X axis movement
Y axis movement
Z axis movement
Stepper drivers 8825 set to 1/16 - Vref for X,Y, Extruder .684; Z Vref .864
Hot End
Bed Heater
Fans

Trouble shooting:
Double checked 8825 driver pin selections - set to Geetech Wiki
Replaced extruder motor with the known good one from current machine (#1) - no difference
Swapped driver boards with X, Y and E all function correctly
Swapped (twice) interconnect driver-motor cable with known good ones - no difference
Tried X motor on Z driver and opposite - motor worked for X not for extruder
Set parameters in Marlin to GT2560 and to board 7 (Ultra ?) - No difference on extruder (some other differences - flipped menu etc)
Set parameters to Wiki settings
Set parameters to Wanhao i3 Marlin is settings
Set parameters to Wanhao i3 Repetier settings (where match to Marlin)

So...
Software parameter - possible
Hardware motor - NO
Hardware cable - NO
Hardware Driver Card - NO
Hardware board - possible

I have exhausted all that I can think of.
Please help....

Dave Redford

DSRedford
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:51 am

Re: GT 2560 A+ Will not drive extruder

Post by DSRedford » Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:37 am

Additional info:

Min Temp - Yes I checked the min temp setting 170 c
I checked cold - no motor movement
I checked @ 190c - bump one way then back and forth

Marlin Settings for Extruder (one extruder only)
Extruders 1
Default_ Axis_Steps_Per_Unit 100
Default_Max_Feedrate 25 (also tested 50)
Default_Max_Acceleration 10000 (also tested 5000)
Default_Acceleration 700
Default_Retract_Acceleration 3000
Default_EJerk 5.0
E_Enable_On 0 (Inverter setting Active low=0 (also tried 1 - disabled all drive to E)
Invert_E0_Dir true (Direct drive extruder, also tried false for geared extruder - can not tell change
Default_Nominal_Filament_Dia 1.75 (Wanhao i3 had 3.0 ??)

Bed Leveling NOT enabled - worry about that later.

I think that those are the key extruder settings

Dave Redford

DSRedford
Posts: 0
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:51 am

Re: GT 2560 A+ Will not drive extruder

Post by DSRedford » Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:34 am

Fixed!

The MonoPrice i3 uses a special cable for the extruder motor.
The end is cut off where it attaches to the Melzi baord.
The cable is terminated on a special header.

The GT2650 uses the standard cable header block.

I ordered a new cable to use for the extruder from a well known importer (came in a three pack)

Come to find our that the brand new cables were not pinout compatible.
I checked the existing pin for pin and rewired the brand new cables - Viola! Extruder works.

Thanks all.

Dave

Post Reply