I am having what I believe to be a bad connection in my stepper motor. When I push down on it the gear turns when I let go it oscilates back and forth. The printer is printing perfect on most of the print surface, just as you can see in the pics it doesn't do such a great job on the back right side of the print.
It is not an un-level perfboard, because it does it even when it is up in the air as you can see on the first pic. It is not a clogged nozzle, because it doesn't it even when I set it to print 1.5 inches above the perfboard with no nozzle.
Can someone at least "try" to help me with this. I have had this issue for well over a week, and I have yet to get a response from support other than the auto response, and I have failed to get any support from the forum as well.
Please someone, officially or unofficially, "try" to help me with this problem.
I am fine when printing small parts, but unfortunately most of my parts are large.
I would say you already found the problem. The fact that the stepper behavior changes when pushing on the connector proves pretty much that there is a connection issue. You have to go through all pins and see if there is a loose one. It may be a pin that broke right on the PCBs.
To prove that the issue is on the PCB of the stepper you could take one of the x/y steppers off and hook it up to the extruder board (they all have the same plug). If the other stepper works reliably even when you wiggle the connector then the issue is on the PCB of the stepper. Might be fixable with soldering or you might need a new stepper.
There is also the other end of the stepper wire which has a white connector on the extruder PCB. And there's also the black main connector soldered to it. If you suspect the issue there then you should take the extruder PCB out (two screws) and check from the underside that all pins of the connectors are soldered well to the PCB. You can then also check for continuity on each pin with a voltmeter (underside of PCB to pin on other side). If you find a intermittent connection the pin might be broken flush with the PCB.
Don't know how well you can solder...but I would then unsolder the connector and see if I can push that pin further down to be able to resolder it. Or replace the pin.
Or there might be an issue with the connector on the cable...same here...you can check continuity to the other end inside the printer (connector on main board) to see if a wire is broken. Wiggle the connector at the same time.
If you feel uncomfortable with going that deep then you have to keep bugging Zortrax support.
Sounds like there have been a few people getting replacement ribbon cables to the extruder for similar behavior. See the support forum for a couple including my own. Its been about 3 weeks since mine completely stopped printing. Fingers crossed when I check the mail everyday!
Thanks for your answers guys, I'll try some of that out tomorrow. Although for now it started working again. Unfortunately I cannot get any response from zortrax on anything.
Rafal, why are there still complaints that people get no responses from support for weeks? Shouldn’t the response times be improved by now? I really don’t understand.
Just thought I would inform everyone that I received my parts yesterday. I haven't gotten a chance to install them yet, but Zortrax kept there word and got me the parts as requested.
1.) Well, I changed the stepper motor. (That wasn't the problem)
2.) I changed the PCB. (That wasn't the problem)
3.) I changed the main cable. (THANK YOU ZORTRAX!!!!!!!!!!!! We are back in business.
Thanks to everyone that "tried" to help me out, and a BIG thanks to Zortrax for sending me the parts in a timely manner (free of charge). Now I'm off to the races again.
Well I'm glad you are up and running, but now I'm bummed it was the cable. I just received my new cable today, and it did not fix the issue. I did not receive a PCB or motor so I'm still SOL. I hope it keeps working for you.
Well I'm glad you are up and running, but now I'm bummed it was the cable. I just received my new cable today, and it did not fix the issue. I did not receive a PCB or motor so I'm still SOL. I hope it keeps working for you.
Well I just so happen to have my old pcb and stepper motor. Send me a PM and I'll send the "PCB" to you. The stepper I'll be keeping as a spare. I probably should be keeping both but hey I would hope someone would "try" to help me out.
Unfortunately, for winston it was the stepper so the PCB may not help you. but I'll send the "PCB" and the small connector that goes from the PCB to the stepper motor. Also that depends on if they are COMPATIBLE, because Zortrax needed serial numbers.
Well I just so happen to have my old pcb and stepper motor. Send me a PM and I'll send the "PCB" to you. The stepper I'll be keeping as a spare. I probably should be keeping both but hey I would hope someone would "try" to help me out.
Unfortunately, for winston it was the stepper so the PCB may not help you. but I'll send the "PCB" and the small connector that goes from the PCB to the stepper motor. Also that depends on if they are COMPATIBLE, because Zortrax needed serial numbers.
I appreciate the kindness. Zortrax should be sending me a PCB soon... Sounds like I'm not the only one that has issues with connections in this area, so I'd hang on to those spare parts tight!
