Hello again. It's me,

3D Printing
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1

Hello again.
It’s me, unlucky-man with a brand new problem with my 3d printer! Yay!

So… My nozzle isn’t jammed, my belts are tight, my bed is leveled, and my extruder is working! Yes, I already fixed all of these problems.

But now, my whole Y axis is not working while printing. Yes, the motor is just not rotating…
It’s funny, because before the printing itself (probably in the beginning of the g-code) the Y motor is working great. But at the moment there is plastic in the nozzle- it stops working!

Yes… That is very unfortunate.

Is the problem related to the extruder? Or something in the slicer program? Hardware problem?

What to do now?!?!?!?!
Thanks for ANY help, and hope my printer will work,
Arad.

Oh, and one more thing:
I am trying to find a way to unload PLA from the extruder. I don’t want to break anything, and there is nothing like that in the menus (as far as I know).
Just pull it off as hard as I can while holding the extruder handleysh switch?

2

If the motor isn’t turning, then check the wiring and the motor driver. Easiest way to test this is to do the following:

  1. Ensure that all of your cables are connected correctly!!!
  2. Using your controller software, move the Y-axis 30mm (should fail).
  3. Likewise, move the X-axis 30mm (should succeed).
  4. Power off, Swap the X and Y cables at the controller, then Power on.
  5. Using your controller software, move the X-axis 30mm – if the Y-axis moves, then the Y cable/motor are good.
  6. Likewise move the Y-axis 30mm – if the X-axis moves, then the Y-axis motor driver is good and the problem is with the Y cable/motor.
  7. If both the X and Y axis moved as expected, then you’ve got a flakey set of connectors.
  8. If both the X and Y axes failed to move, then the problem is with the motor driver AND the cable/motor.
  9. Reconnect the X and Y cables correctly, then replace what’s broken.
3

@Craig_Trader thanks for the help, but the Y motor is working ok and all of the drivers are good. In the beginning if the printing the Y axis motor moves, and then, when the exdruder start to work the Y motor stops working.

4

That could be a power supply problem: it can’t handle the power demand for multiple motors.

As for unloading, what I do is preheat the hotend until it’s at printing heat, then just pull the filament right out. If you pull hard when it’s cold, it’ll usually break off leaving a bit in the nozzle, and that can be difficult to get working again.

5

@John_Bump thanks, but I already solved the unloading problem :slight_smile:

Now, what do I do if the power supply cannot handle all the motors? There are three 12v ports and three GND ports on the power supply, and I am using just one of each. Will it be better if I will use two or even three of the ports?

Thanks anyways for help,
Arad.

6

the power supply will supply the same amount of current regardless of how many wires you run from it. The only benefit would be that the wires would not get as warm from the throughput. How many amps is it rated for? That is your ultimate limiting factor.

7

We might need to know more about your supply. Do you have a model number or picture of the label? It may make sense to use more than one of the 12v ports if they are different busses.

8

very true, althought that usually isnt the case. Cheapos flood them out.