Extuder stepper driver not working

Hi, had my K8200 printer just over 4 months now, I have had some problems along the way, and now the extruder stepper driver no longer works, I removed the driver and put it on to the Z motor this would not work, I then placed the Z stepper driver onto the extruder motor and this worked as it should, I cannot afford to have the printer not working, so I am lost as to what to do, do I return it to my supplier, do I wait for a part from Velleman or do I buy a new stepper even though the printer is under warranty. Any ideas please

If you can not wait for the part to be replaced you should buy a new driver part number A4988/SP.
Then send the old one off for replacement.
It can’t hurt to have an extra.

Hi, I assembled today my K8200 and test all devices with good results.

Only the extruder did not run.

I run also a test model without PLA material, heat the injector to 50°C. The programm runs with heating and simulate the complete process.

I exchange the cable from Z-motor and extruder (extruder motor plugged in Z-motor). The extruder motor runs. The motor and cable are o.K.

Then I exchange the bridges from Z-Motor and Extruder. The Z-motor with extruder bridge runs. The extruder bridge is also working.

Why the extruder did not run.

Now the weekend started and I am very frustrated.

Just to get it sorted out :

Which part isn’t working now?

From your writing it sounds both extruder and Z axis work now.

I wrote it in the subject line, that the extruder was not working.

Meanwhile I fixed that issue. More or less I made the first print.
Sometimes the extruded material is not homogeneous (material is missing or to much like blobs.

Ah, ok.

To tune the extrusion i would do the following:

  1. Set the stepper drivers all to 0.55v
  2. make sure the gears of the extruder are not too tight and thus cause binding.
  3. calibrate the extrusion length (without nozzle mounted) to get 100mm extrusion when told so
    (steps per mm should be around 650 with the stock extruder)
  4. set retraction to 2mm (stock hotend) and retraction speed to about 300-500 mm/s to reduce blobs
  5. set filament diameter to 3.0 and extrusion multiplier to 1.0 in slic3r and then fine tune the extrusion by
    tweaking the flow rate setting (repetier manual control tab) during print.

cheers,

Christian

The temp of the extruder needs to be at 170C or above.
If you look in the log area you will notice “Cold extrusion prevented”

Hello,

regarding the temperatur of the hot end I have understand that, before that one have not the temparature it is not possible to run the extruder.

Meanwhile I have no problems with the blobs but I have the opposite way it is material missing.
The first run seems to be that the hot run gives not material enough.

I use the original Vellemann Repetier Software (K8200 Repetier Host V0.95F) , but I can not adjust any parameter in the slicer Software.
I install the Software again, but is not possible to switch in to the config mode

What happens if you press configure on the repetier slicer tab?
Just nothing? Any error messages?

Hello,

it happens nothing.
When I install the normal Version,
I can adjus the parameter.

What do you mean by “normal” version?
The actual repetier host version from repetier.com/downloads ?

Yes, Download Version Repetier Host 1.5.4

From your previous writing i assume you can set the slic3r setting in repetier 1.5.4?
If so, just stick with it.
I use it for a while now, and it works flawlessly.
Have you ever tried the curaEngine slicer?
You can choose it as an option in the newer repetier versions.

It is way faster, and has less options to set.
So it is also easier to use, also for beginners.

Hello,

I will try Cura when it is for beginners.
This 3D print mashine is my first own one and have only few experience with the equipment.

Meanwhile I have printed some components (housing for electronic, clip for glassplate, fanenozzle and a fillament guide) with that printer.
I can use them, but they are looking not so good. First layer are with a lot of gaps. Finding some help information out of the web give
me some ideas to try to optimize.

Hello,

I installed Cura, and the first layer looks like the other prints with some missing material.
The next layer looks better and it seems that this software is better to slice.

But I use this Cura engine to slice, because I have no idea where I can drive the table to the reference points and
when I try to start the table configuration the Z-axis drives in the wrong way. It have drive upward and it drives down.
Therfore I load the G-Code into the repetier software and made the print.

What I can do with the first print (need mor material) ?
What can I do the drive only the Cura software

Hello Andreas.

I think you got me wrong.
I didn’t mean that you should use the Cura software.

The newer repetier host versions allow to switch between different slicer programs.
Slic3r and cura engine ar installed with repetier hhost as standard.

So just open repetier host, go to the slicer tab and choose curaengine as a slicer.
Then you can use the familiar repetier host environment, but get the easier to handle options of curaengine.

cheers,

Christian

Hello Christian,

thanks a lot, installed today the Repetier Software with Cura Engine.
That gives realy a lot of parameter to control the first layer with a very good results.

Many thanks.

Andreas

You’re welcome!
Happy Printing!

[quote=“Andreas_N”]I wrote it in the subject line, that the extruder was not working.

Meanwhile I fixed that issue. More or less I made the first print.
Sometimes the extruded material is not homogeneous (material is missing or to much like blobs.[/quote]

Hey Andreas_N.
May I ask how you fixed your problem with the Extruder ???
Kind regards Russell