I think i burned my controller board, Z-axis not moving

[henkebenke]

Hello,

I have had my Geeetech I3 pro b now for 8 month. Yesterday i was trying to fix my Esteps since i had some printing issues. I turned off the printer, at this point the z-axis was quite high up so i lowered it manually by turning the rods and then did the EStep meassuring. I also checked the voltage of the stepper motor driver for the extruder.

After i have done all that and calibrated my ESteps, both Y and Z axis didn't want to move (X worked). There was no sound from the motors at all, so it didn't even try to move. I unplugged the machine and swapped the motor drivers between X and Y. Now X and Y worked.

I then swapped X-axis motor driver for the one on Z, the X-axis worked (with the motor driver from Z) but Z still doesn't work. I moved the Z-axis motors to other outputs and they do work.

So all motors work, all motor drivers work. No motor driver work when plugged into the Z axis slot on the board.

I fear that i somehow fried the board, but before i give up i just wanted to check with you guys here on the forum if there is something else i can do. I was thinking if it is possible to reset the controller board to factory settings but i haven't found anything in the manual or online about that. Could it be some software stop that causes this? The Y-axis did start to work after i swapped the motor driver so i still have some hope to get the Z-axis working again.

I have meassured the voltage on the motor drivers between the screw and ground and VDD and ground and they are all good even when plugged into the Z-axis slot on the board.

[William]

Hi, Regarding the problem that the motor does not move, you can do the following checks:
1. Check if the motor wiring is correct on the motherboard;
2. The motor line can be exchanged to check the working condition. If only the motor line is exchanged, if the motor moves, it may cause damage to the motor line;
3. If the wiring of the motor on the mainboard is also exchanged, if the motor does not work, there may be a problem with the corresponding motor wiring slot on the mainboard.
I hope this can help you.

[henkebenke]

Hi, Regarding the problem that the motor does not move, you can do the following checks:
1. Check if the motor wiring is correct on the motherboard;
2. The motor line can be exchanged to check the working condition. If only the motor line is exchanged, if the motor moves, it may cause damage to the motor line;
3. If the wiring of the motor on the mainboard is also exchanged, if the motor does not work, there may be a problem with the corresponding motor wiring slot on the mainboard.
I hope this can help you.

1. It worked before i started the EStep calibration so it should be correct.
2. All the motors work if i plug them into the X- or Y-axis. None of the motors work if i plug them into the Z-axis slots
3. hmm.. It could be the slot itself that is broken... Can i fix that or do i need to buy a new board?

[William]

Hi, If you have verified that the z-axis motor slot is not working properly,
You may need to replace the motherboard.

[henkebenke]

For anyone who get the same problem as me, you don’t need to buy a new board.
I fixed it by moving the motor driver to the E1 slot on the board, then swap the z and e1 pins in marlin firmware. Lastly follow this page to wire the motors in series:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Wiring ... in-Series/

Too bad I already ordered a mks gen l board when i got this idea. Guess i have to build a MPCNC now that i have a spare board.