Mine are not running hot at all. I can touch them and they are just about room temp or just above. I am not hearing any odd stepper noise (skipping or otherwise). I really don’t think they are the issue…
They don’t look like they are skipping steps based on your photo. It would be evident in your prints. The short answer to your question is yes, you can have too much current haha.
what kind of program did u use
Repetier Host (provided by the mfg) and Slicer…
do you have a bare spot or a flat spot in one of your belts and or a flat spot on the wheel?
I had the same problem with long prints on my Prusa Mendel I2. Long Prints would look Exactly the same as yours does(Clean and straight on the bottom and wavy on the top). I have a geetech printrboard Rev D controller. After several hours, my stepper drivers would get too hot.( I could not feel much heat on the drivers themselves though ) My X and Y Stepper motors would also get pretty warm/hot to the touch. After I adjusted the Trim pots on the controller for all 3 axis’s(X,Y,Z) Long prints came out with clean lines. The stepper motors were almost cold after 10 hours of continious printing. Geetech claims the the pots are set prior to delivery but, Depending on what Nema 17 motors you have, the settings can vary. I found that if you use a DVOM and adjust the trim pots down until the motors would stall and then increase the voltage .5 -1.0v (At the Trim pot) , the voltage/current would be pretty close to where you want. Some small adjustments may need to be made to get it dialed in. (If steppers skip steps on quicker print speeds or they buzz).This will also make your printer operate MUCH quieter. I also added a 40mm x 40mm fan to help keep the controller cool. Here is a link to a youtube video that shows how the adjustments are made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPU0vL-VQl0
Belt sander should fix it ;p
I am running a job right now. After 30 mins, the controllers are cool and all of my steppers a cool as well. I am going to print some more tests to see what happens. And it is brand new… hardly any hours on it at all.
Printrboards from other sources may have inferior parts substituted for our high quality parts. I’ve seen some incredibly cheap copies… Junk. Drivers overheat, the fets are under spec… Not saying they are all bad, but definitely some.
That’s outer perimeter wall extrusion speed, I think it’s too fast, inner wall should be fast, outer wall should be slow,more speed (about >120mm/s)means more extrusion material flows, less speed (about <90mm/s) means less extrusion materials flow(less speed and more extrusion materials means gunk/piles of jibberish), there’s no easy way at this, my mendel works fine after tweaking for about a month, and they are all slow speed but good and fine thin lines of 0.1mm layers, if you want speed on your print, then it’s the wrong machine (you should’ve built an SLA printer instead of filament based printer)
@ Brook Drumm is correct about inferior boards. Authentic Printrboards have 4 layer PCB’s. The Geetech clones are only 2 layer.(The 2 extra layers on the authentic boards are a ground and power plane — I Believe) They also use cheaper components. As far as I know, all Geetech clones suffer from insufficient PCB trace thickness. Especially in the Bed Heater 12v supply circuit. The trace can only handle around 2 - 5 amps MAX. Most Heated Beds will draw between 10 - 20amps. My Printrboard Bed Heater PCB Trace failed within the first week of use. I simply repaired it by soldering a 1" piece of 14 gauge jumper wire between the Power supply Connector 12v pin and the Bed Heater 12v connector pin on the bottom side of the PCB. I also had a extruder fan short and blew the N-Channel mosfet (Q3). I purchased 10 replacement mosfets from Digikey for $2.00 (in case it blows again in the future, I have replacements on hand) These boards are half the cost of a genuine Printrboard and they will work just fine if you modify the common failure points prior to installation. I have had mine for over 2 years and it sees daily use. If you do not have good SMD soldering equipment/experience or don’t mind paying more, buying a genuine Printrboard might be the better choice. Personally, I enjoy the troubleshooting and design modification. It can be more fun and rewarding than just 3D printing.
Wow. I knew they were bad, but I didn’t know they were that bad. I hate that they misrepresent our design and our quality standards by keeping the name and making it an inferior board. ;(
That’s why I went with the Ramps 1.4 and mega2560. All standard equipment.
Boards will be in stock today! We even replaced a transistor for the sensor with one that is slightly more robust. We will email the waiting list