I'm hoping someone can help me or point me in the right direction. I just built a Prusa Mendel variant and I'm having a problem with the extruder stepper motor. On the first day it ran acceptably and with a little calibration work I got it to print a nice calibration cube. The print would only work halfway and everything would stop. The printer stopped accepting commands from Pronterface and the only way I could reestablish communication was to disconnect the USB cable then reconnect. Today, my second day of working with the printer, the extruder stepper motor will not turn. It makes a thump-thump-thump noise as it jiggles back and forth, almost looks like half a step. All the other steppers are moving correctly. If I unplug the USB cable, the extruder stepper keeps thumping. The only way to stop it is to remove power.
I am using a RAMPS 1.4 board and an Arduino Mega. Also using Sprinter. But I don't think the firmware is the problem. I ran the RAMPS14 test sketch and all the steppers move back and forth except for the extruder one (still thumping). I've adjusted the pot but it only gets stronger or weaker. I've swapped pololu drivers and the extruder is still thumping. I've swapped the extruder stepper with the x-axis stepper and the x-axis stepper thumps.
So I believe the RAMPS or the Arduino might be faulty. I'm leaning toward the Arduino since the RAMPS is a pretty simple board with no microprocessor. Plus the previous problem where Pronterface would lose communication with the printer. Has anyone come up against this type of problem or have an idea how I can narrow it down further? I would really appreciate it. I was so excited to get this working and on the second day I am dead in the water.
I am using a RAMPS 1.4 board and an Arduino Mega. Also using Sprinter. But I don't think the firmware is the problem. I ran the RAMPS14 test sketch and all the steppers move back and forth except for the extruder one (still thumping). I've adjusted the pot but it only gets stronger or weaker. I've swapped pololu drivers and the extruder is still thumping. I've swapped the extruder stepper with the x-axis stepper and the x-axis stepper thumps.
So I believe the RAMPS or the Arduino might be faulty. I'm leaning toward the Arduino since the RAMPS is a pretty simple board with no microprocessor. Plus the previous problem where Pronterface would lose communication with the printer. Has anyone come up against this type of problem or have an idea how I can narrow it down further? I would really appreciate it. I was so excited to get this working and on the second day I am dead in the water.
