Make sure you have the printer powered off when switching the stepper motors, if you do it while energized, well if they were not bad, there is a good chance they are now.
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did you try adjusting the amperage using the screw on the RAMPS boards. If they are making noise most likely this is the problem. Make sure you unplug the printer before making any adjustments. Also don’t turn the screw too far the first time, just slowly turn it until it starts to sound better and move.
Have you checked your power supply. You will want to look and see if its set to 220V or 110V. Although its turned on and giving power to your board, it may not be giving power to the components. Most power supplies are automatically set at 220V when assembled/shipped in China. You may have that issue, if so just power down your printer, unplug it from the wall, and flick that little switch to 110V. Plug everything back in, turn it on, and it should connect without having any commands stacking.
Attached is my Configuration.h file. This is the firmware currently loaded onto the printer. I had to upload as a pdf due the file type restrictions, so sorry if it proves a pain.
eseprinting: I will take a look at the power supply as soon as I can, but I do not remember the presence of a switch. I will examine it.
Valdaine: I did switch around the motors. Funny thing is, even when I swapped the motors to a differently labeled pin port, the original assignments still persisted. i.e. when I plugged the X motor into the Z port, manually advancing X in the software or on the LCD still operated the original (X) motor. The same held true for the others. I know you probably think I’m smoking something, but that is what I observed. I’m not entirely sure how to check the voltage, but I will explore the software and onboard interface to see if I can discern that. And I have no clue what a potentiometer is, I’m afraid. I will look that one up.
Thanks, again, for your help, gang!
Configuration_h.pdf 2 (139 KB)
Configadv.h if needed.
Configadv_h.pdf 1 (121 KB)
Thanks for the upload,
That is weird. Let’s try this…
Disconnect power, take only the working motor and connect it to a different motor connection. From the configuration.h file it looks like you have a RAMPS board. So if it is X move it to Y or Z.
Leave the other motors including the extruder disconnected and try to move that motor using the control for that axis you hooked it to. If it works,move it to the other non-working axis. I’m pretty sure the extruder motor won’t work until you get to minimum temperature with the hotend, but don’t worry about that yet, we are fixing X,Y,Z for now
If both axes work using the “known good” motor that shows the drivers are functional. Now it’s time to connect the “non-working motors” one at a time to make sure they work.The orientation of the connector on the board will just reverse the direction of the motor when it spins. Just take a look at the color sequence of the wires on the working motor and make sure the non-working ones are correct…
Here is a pic of the A4998 driver chip for your stepper.
That is usually the one they ship. There is another type that is more robust but that is usually an optional thing. The round shiny circular metal object on the right is the potentiometer, See if they are all set “roughly” to the same orientation as the “working” one. Without a meter that is a rough guide to get them close but not completely accurate .
I don’t want to overload you with things to check, it would be better for you if you had somebody with a 3d printer that you knew who could give you “hands-on” help, It’s tough to diagnose over the web.
If the working motor does not move on the non-working connectors it could be the driver board itself.
Here is a pic of the RAMPS board with the driver boards.
Is that what you have? The stepper connections are above the driver boards from Left - X Y Z
from top Left Extruder 0 Extruder 1
If it came with 5 you have a spare driver board.
Let me know what happens.
I went through the diagnostic process you described. X, Y, and Z all seem to be functional with the known functioning motor. When plugging in the questionable motor, it behaved the same as before; seeming to whir/grind, but not spinning. I have ordered a new motor to replace this, so hopefully things will go better after that. Thanks for all of your help!
To your last question, I believe the drivers are integrated, as there seem to be no removable boards on the MKS Base v1.4. You can see a photo of it here. Sorry, it’s not a great view.
OK,I see.
Your configuration.h file shows that you have a RAMPS1.4 selected as your board - define MOTHERBOARD 33
I just looked your board up and it is firmware compatible with the RAMPS 1.3/1.4.
Make sure the pins are pushed all the way into the connector when before you plug it in.
There were no instructions or downloadable files with your build from the manufacturer??
Good Luck! If you need more info after you get your replacement motors, we are here.
Nothing came with the kit, so I had to reach out to the manufacturer to get the instructions. Unfortunately, they assume everything works perfectly and did not address my specific issues.
Well, the new motor came. The good news it, when I tested it on the board, it worked great. The bad news is, now that I have the printer reassembled, one of the other original steppers motors is locked. When I try to home the device, it just makes a noise and will not move (X strut). It will not even turn by hand. The other two will turn by hand, though when I home, only the new motor behaves as it should and travels to hit the end stop. Still researching, but I’m not finding a lot on this issue yet.