Page 1 of 1

Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:13 am
by jimmynz
Hey all,
Just wondering if someone could povide a few suggestions:
I just upgraded my Aug 2013 Printer to 24v and v4 Extruder (from V3a and 12/19v). (Original everything except extruder motor which was changed to due to the original having the soft gear which stripped). After the upgrade it appears everything is working apart from the extruder motor. I have checked the plugs and plug locations. The have done a continuity check on the new wiring harness and it seems fine.
What checks can I do on the motor pins and the RAMBO pins to see if the problem lies there? I guess the Rambo I can do at rest and while extruding.
Is this likely to be a firmware upgrade issue (I upgraded to the M2Marlin-01-14-2016-OriginalZMotor)?
Or Has the Motor or board potentially burnt out (which would be a bit disappointing as I everything has been working well since I purchased it (apart from the stripped gear) and I only upgraded to remove the extra power pack and gain the faster bed heating time).

Appreciate any help anyone can offer.
Cheers
Jimmy

Re: Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:42 pm
by sthone
Just to get the simplest reason out of the way first...

You do know the extruder won't turn if the hotend isn't heated to at least 170° right? (Either that or you have to run the M302 command first.)

Re: Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:30 pm
by Tim
Just a quick comment---if you have the original Z stepper motor, watch it very carefully. It gets very hot and the 24V upgrade will shorten its life considerably. If your Z stage starts slipping, then you will need to buy a new Z stepper. This may or may not happen to you, but it has happened to several of us who had circa-2012/2013 model M2s with the original Z stepper.

If you just did an upgrade, then it is far more likely that the problem has something to do with the upgrade than that a motor driver burned out. The RAMBo has no problem running 24V (although: does yours have the automotive fuse in back, or did you have to change out the circuit breaker? The RAMBo started using automotive fuses sometime shortly after I got my M2 in January 2013, so I don't know what version you would have. There is a DEFINITE issue with the circuit breaker, which is not rated for 24V and can in fact catch on fire. Just to point that out; obviously if you had a circuit breaker and it died, nothing would work). Should it happen to be a burned out motor driver (again: unlikely) then you can always switch to the 2nd motor driver (small firmware change needed to the configuration file to swap the pin assigments for the two extruders).

Re: Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:33 pm
by ednisley
jimmynz wrote:Or Has the Motor or board potentially burnt out
A Public Service Announcement for anyone reading this thread in the future:

Always turn off the printer power before (dis)connecting a stepper motor!

Now, we return to our regularly scheduled assistance ...

Re: Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:44 pm
by jk42
Jimmy,
Please contact us at support@makergear.com.
We need to see a picture of your RAMBo board.
You may not have the proper design for handling 24V.

Re: Extrude Motor Not working after 24v Upgrade

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:17 am
by jimmynz
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for the great suggestions!
Turns out it was the simplest reason: Hot end wasn't heated up enough when I was playing with it soon as it ticked over 170degC I was back in business, I may have once known this but clearly have forgot.

Seems everything else is working just dandy.

I will keep an eye on the z stepper motor (and not unplug anything while powered) thanks for the suggestions and my Rambo does have the Blue 15A Fuse so I think it is all good for the 24v, but will flick a photo through to Support!

Hopefully this will keep it going for another 4 years without having to touch it! (but maybe the z motor...we shall see)

Again thanks for all the feedback. Testament to the strength and quality of Makergear products having such a strong community behind it.

Cheers
Jimmy