X axis motor is stuttering and making a grinding noise and I can’t initialize. There is continuity in the coils, and the resistance is 1.7ohms for both, so I think the motor might be OK. It turns easily by hand. I’ve tested the continuity in the wires from the controller to the motor and nothing appears broken. The voltage at the controller is at rest ~24V for both. However, when I measure the voltage for the other (Y1, Y2 and Z) motors, I get 2.4V and 1.7V respectively for each pair of pins.
Two questions: 1) What should the voltage be out of the controller for the X axis motor? 2) Am I missing anything else it could be or do I need a new controller?
I can’t answer your electrical questions but did you check the mechanical components? Any chance you have loose grub screws holding the drive pulley to the X motor shaft? How about missing teeth on the drive belt? With the drive belt removed, does X move smoothly from left to right?
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My Z axis started to exhibit the same indication, I lubed the linear Z axis bearings and it went away. I’m not saying this is the exact issue you have but there are numerous posts with the similar symptoms that are fixed with lubing the bearings.
This was with only about 10 hours on a new machine, so if you think you need hundreds of hours on your machine for this to happen it doesn’t.
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Thanks Ed. Yes, I started with checking the mechanical side of things thinking if I could see the problem. However, I’ve taken the motor out and it’s to isolate it from the machine, definitely the motor controller side of things
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Thanks Tim. Good to know, probably worth doing anyway. My issue is definitely electrical/software as I isolated the motor.
Glad you got it figured out.
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Well, only partly figured out still dunno how to fix it
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Swap the motor with another. If the swapped motor doesn’t work then it would be a bad driver on the control board.
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Stuttering/grinding noises from the stepper motors are usually due to poor contacts within the wiring harness connectors. You can easily check by jogging the axis & gently flexing/straining the motor connector. It can help to zip tie the connectors securely or even together. Some users have replaced them or hardwired the motors to eliminate wiring harness connectivity issues. C3D support may send you a new wiring harness if you contact them.
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Thank you. I’ll try that. I wasn’t sure if all the motors were the same so held off but you suggestion makes sense.
Thank you. Now you mention it, one pin looked a little grubby. The lead itself is fine but I’ve not tried upstream/downstream f the connectors. What do you make of the different voltages from the control board for the X axis vs the Y1, Y2 and Z axis’s?
Unless you’ve got a scope to look at the driver signals together, a normal multimeter isn’t going to tell you anything particularly useful beyond that it is sending signals to the motors. The driver board sends specifically timed pulses to the motors, not steady state voltages.
I’ve had the motor connectors go wonky on my X-axis & Z-axis of my ProXXL since I first assembled it. The issues developed over time with use even after I thought I had secured things adequately. I believe the connectors are not that well suited to maintaining good connections under operational vibration over time - especially for the X & Z motors which vibrate along with the gantry. I have been meaning to change them out - the problem is deciding on what to change them out with.
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Thank you, Joel. Super helpful in improving my understanding. I still consider myself a Noob to all of this.
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