Need help trying to diagnose what is wrong with my RAMPS 1.4 board. The problem is only on the x axis. The stepper is running very rough and is losing and gaining steps in every move. I want to try and trace out where the problem is, bad resistor, trace whatever and try and fix it. Any ideas where I should start or how to go about it?
Have you tried to change motors and drivers to make sure it’s the board, because it’s way more likely to be an issue with wireing or the driver, It’s quite unusual for it to be a bad trace. Also you can check with the RAMPS 1.4 schematic and a ohm-meter if all the connections from the pinout to the pinin are correct, so 0 Ohm when they should be connected and lot’s of Ohm when they shouln’t. Also you may check the soldering of the connector headers if there are no shorts between them. Good luck!
Yes I’ve swapped motors and drivers and all motors and drivers work fine on the other axis but none of the drivers nor motors work properly on the x axis.
X axis cable maybe broken? U can see this problem very oft on (for example) replicator 2/2x.
I had some similar problems, x-axis motor was running very hot and occasionally lost steps … after I checked all hardware to no avail I finally updated to the newest marlin firmware and had no problems since then …
Actually I swapped my other motors over to the x axis and the did the same thing and when I swapped the x axis motor over to one of the other axis it worked normally. So I don’ think its the cable.
I will try to trace out all the input to output pins on the board and measure the resistance to make see if everything looks ok or if there is something wrong. If not is it possible that it could be the software or firmware. I’m using Pronterface to control the printer and I’m using the sprinter firmware but I think it’s an older version of sprinter. Maybe I should try using Marlin instead?
Before I went thru a bunch of trouble trying to diagnose the RAMPS board I decided to try the Marlin firmware and that solved the problem. Now all axis are running smooth.
Good to hear it was only a software problem! What software were you using before this, an earlier version of Marlin? Sprinter?
An early version of sprinter.
It’s possible I could have it printing by next weekend. My hot end should be here this week and I have my last end stop switch coming this week as well. Now all I need is my thermistor for the heated bed and I should be good to go.