Printer connects but does not print

K8200 3D Printer K8200 - Wiring and electronics
1

If someone would be able to shed some light on to the failure mode of the K8200 printer I run at work it would be greatly appreciated:

Brief history

Originally built by a colleague 1 1/2 years ago (who has now left hence I am the new custodian, I changed the nozzle which improved prints immediately which gives you some idea of how much it is being used)
Fan track blown (I think since original build)
Used almost daily (working days)
Running windows 7 with RepetierHost_84 with latest drivers CDM v2.12.00 WHQL
Printer stopped running prints - Run print and nothing - extruder was being heated though (Print bed runs off of work bench power pack)
Was able to move one of the steppers but nothing would print despite printer saying it was connected
Decided to re-install everything (which i did on 2 PC’s of a similar spec. just to make sure)
I discovered that all but one of the stepper motor drivers were at around 0.125V (which may explain the slipping I have been encountering)
Re installed drivers CDM v2.12.00 WHQL Certified
Re installed software RepetierHostK8200_0_95F
In both cases the printer will now not connect at all n.b. I have checked basics like baud rate COM port etc…

Throughout this process I have had a suspicion that there is a more fundamental problem as when the printer is connected LD6 (Green) LD5 (Red) are constantly on and reset and or attempts to connect the printer do not change this, I remember this not being the case before the failure to print and now connect problems began.

Actions I am considering

Update the Firmware (although I am unsure how to do this, and have not easily been able to find out how to do this)
Replace the board

Question

Can anyone tell me what the failure mode is before I embark on more drastic action.

Any support would be much appreciated.

2

[quote=“parker”]If someone would be able to shed some light on to the failure mode of the K8200 printer I run at work it would be greatly appreciated:

Brief history

Originally built by a colleague 1 1/2 years ago (who has now left hence I am the new custodian, I changed the nozzle which improved prints immediately which gives you some idea of how much it is being used)
Fan track blown (I think since original build)
Used almost daily (working days)
Running windows 7 with RepetierHost_84 with latest drivers CDM v2.12.00 WHQL
Printer stopped running prints - Run print and nothing - extruder was being heated though (Print bed runs off of work bench power pack)
Was able to move one of the steppers but nothing would print despite printer saying it was connected
Decided to re-install everything (which i did on 2 PC’s of a similar spec. just to make sure)
I discovered that all but one of the stepper motor drivers were at around 0.125V (which may explain the slipping I have been encountering)
Re installed drivers CDM v2.12.00 WHQL Certified
Re installed software RepetierHostK8200_0_95F
In both cases the printer will now not connect at all n.b. I have checked basics like baud rate COM port etc…

Throughout this process I have had a suspicion that there is a more fundamental problem as when the printer is connected LD6 (Green) LD5 (Red) are constantly on and reset and or attempts to connect the printer do not change this, I remember this not being the case before the failure to print and now connect problems began.

Actions I am considering

Update the Firmware (although I am unsure how to do this, and have not easily been able to find out how to do this)
Replace the board

Question

Can anyone tell me what the failure mode is before I embark on more drastic action.

Any support would be much appreciated.[/quote]

At first, check if 15v supply is good on the screw terminals.
In repetier check if baudrate is 250000, coorect com port set and reset on connect is DISABLED.

cheers,

Christian

3

Christian, thanks so much for getting back to me so very very quickly.

Indeed you were correct I was being a real idiot - the power supply was turnt off which was why the printer was not connecting.

I have changed the option regarding rest and connect (which was only availible as an option on RepetierHostK8200_0_95F as far as I could see)

The problems I have now are

Prints are still not printing - despite the printer being connected - and I am able to power stepper motors manually as well as extruder.

I now have the additional issue now when I move the stepper motors they either don’t or make a graunching sound, I presume this is due to me changing the voltage to 0.425V as per assembly instructions?

(Not sure this is in the right section of the forum now)

4

Set the reference voltage to 0.55 on all of the stepper drivers
This works best.

5

Do as Wrong Way suggested, and set the voltage to 0.55v.
Watch for any error messages in repetier log.

6

Thanks for everyones continued support.

Changing the stepper motor drivers to 0.55V (when connected to power and USB) has made the Z work as before but X and Y and still noisy and will not drive the correct distance if any distance at all) although they are not as bad as before. Should I just increase the voltage on the drivers until they work?

I am still not able to start a print - when I ‘run job’ Printing… ETA 20m:49s Layer 0/40 (progress bar) 1049 FPS

So although I have obviously ‘screwed up’ the stepper motor driver voltages I am still left with the fact that the printer will not begin a print, this problem proceeds me messing around with the stepper motor voltages.

(I cannot believe the swiftness of the responses to the questions I have been asking, what a great community)

7

[quote=“parker”]Thanks for everyones continued support.

Changing the stepper motor drivers to 0.55V (when connected to power and USB) has made the Z work as before but X and Y and still noisy and will not drive the correct distance if any distance at all) although they are not as bad as before. Should I just increase the voltage on the drivers until they work?

I am still not able to start a print - when I ‘run job’ Printing… ETA 20m:49s Layer 0/40 (progress bar) 1049 FPS

So although I have obviously ‘screwed up’ the stepper motor driver voltages I am still left with the fact that the printer will not begin a print, this problem proceeds me messing around with the stepper motor voltages.[/quote]

Can you make a youtube video of your motor problems? (with sound) That may help get closer to what you mean.
Can be your wiring is faulty.
Don’t use Vref higher than 0.6v or the drivers will overheat! At least without reasonable cooling.

cheers,

Christian

8

Hi Christian,

app.box.com/s/rsj82hxykw6drlxpx8ylim864ywafoz6

This should let you access the video through box.net, sorry I was not able to access youtube at work.

1st problem

The constant is that the printer has always worked it stopped working once it would not begin to print at which point I began the process i described at the beginning.

2nd problem (the one I caused

The motor issue is of my own creation by changing what had already worked well - although it did slip here and there so that it would carry on printing at a slightly offset distance.

Many Thanks

9

When the power is off can you move the bed around by hand?
If so does if move reasonably easy?

10

I can move the bed around. Before i messed around with the stepper motor drivers this was smooth once they weren’t powered.

Now there is small amounts of resistance with a ‘chattering’/‘vibrating’ noise which sounds like it’s the stepper motors.

Here is a video with the sound…

app.box.com/s/d0hc7uboza5f1oj18ywoz8naynxuebnb

(Thanks Wrongway you helped me out last time I was in a pickle at the very beginning of my K8200 experience, to do with installing drivers on windows 8)

11

Ok this is strange.
If you swap the Z and say the X motor connectors and put the bed in the middle and try to move the Z axis control should move the X axis because of the wire swap (just move it 10mm do not home it) does the motor move? if so this will tell you the wires and motor are ok.
If it does move try swapping the driver cards?

Have you upgraded the firmware or made any changes to it?

12

Hi Wrongway,

It is the stepper motor driver.

Swapped connector Z (which previously worked) and X and X then worked.

Put wiring back to how it was then:

Swapped stepper motor driver and Z didn’t work.

So it would seem the stepper motor drivers are faulty?

This does still not explain why the printer will not attempt to print?

If the stepper motor driver is faulty would it be worth replacing the hole board seeing as it is 1 1/2 years old and has been fried once before (although only the cooling fan)?

13

[quote=“parker”]Hi Wrongway,

It is the stepper motor driver.

Swapped connector Z (which previously worked) and X and X then worked.

Put wiring back to how it was then:

Swapped stepper motor driver and Z didn’t work.

So it would seem the stepper motor drivers are faulty?

This does still not explain why the printer will not attempt to print?

If the stepper motor driver is faulty would it be worth replacing the hole board seeing as it is 1 1/2 years old and has been fried once before (although only the cooling fan)?[/quote]

I would start by swapping the drivers, they are relatively cheap.
I got me some Pololu ones for about 6€ each.

cheers,

Christian

14

Ichbinsnur has a very good point.
You should also put the known good end stop in each location to verify the board is still of (sounds like it is)

If the bed does not move away from the end stop it can’t start to print.

15

I did have a spare entire board which, due to constraints at work, I felt that I needed to just solve the problem rather than replace the stepper motor drivers and potentially ESD my new board n.b. I have been wearing ESD protection throughout board replacement, although I think we can all agree they were at fault and I can buy some drivers - thanks for the pointer on where to get them - and resolve the old board I have when i have some more time - I will report on this thread once I have done this.

Now I have replaced the board all the steppers are working and being switched off by the microswitches. The printer is obviosuly connecting and can be operated manually in all X,Y,Z and extruder is functioning (which I checked off of Z stepper motor driver)

Thanks for all the support regarding this matter and again sorry for not exploring the exact method of problem solving suggested.

However I still have the issue that when I ‘run job’ the printer does not begin printing - I am beginning to wonder what the cause of this is I have tried Slic3r with 3 types of setting including my own as well as ‘K8200_pla_standard_new’ and ‘K8200_pla_standard’ after I hit run it says in the lower dialogue box 'Printing… ETA 24m:37s Layer 0/37 [PROGRESS BAR] 1210 FPS

I have attached log just in case it can shed any light on the matter…

09:24:00.092 : FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin V1; Sprinter/grbl mashup for gen6 FIRMWARE_URL:http://www.k8200.com/ PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:K8200 EXTRUDER_COUNT:1
09:24:00.092 : echo:Active Extruder: 0
09:24:18.105 : Slic3r command:C:\Program Files\Repetier-Host-K8200\Slic3r\slic3r.exe --load “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\slic3r.ini” --print-center 100,100 -o “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.gcode” “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.obj”
09:24:19.026 : => Processing triangulated mesh
09:24:19.038 : => Generating perimeters
09:24:19.181 : => Detecting solid surfaces
09:24:19.194 : => Preparing infill surfaces
09:24:19.196 : => Detect bridges
09:24:19.200 : => Generating horizontal shells
09:24:19.204 : => Combining infill
09:24:19.206 : => Infilling layers
09:24:19.402 : => Generating skirt
09:24:19.404 : => Exporting G-code to C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.gcode
09:24:20.533 : Done. Process took 0 minutes and 1.507 seconds
09:24:20.533 : Filament required: 832.7mm (5.9cm3)

[size=150]NEWS FLASH!![/size]

How very strange - I left this very simple print, see log above for info., for approx. 15 minutes at which point the bed went to home the extruder began to heat and a print started, as if by magic.

This has been a great journey for me as I did not initially build the printer I have gone over every inch of it and noticed lot’s of improvements that need to be made plus I also now have software controlled cooling.

Again I want to thank you both for your help in resolving the issue I caused by trying to fix a fictitious problem. I have made some very school boy errors like not plugging it in and possibly I changed the pots on stepper motor drivers whilst it was powered by USB only then powered them up and blew them (I think this is what happened). If anyone can shed some light on the unusually long pause between pressing print and the print actually happening I would like to know (my board is not covered in a room of computers and mobile phones?)

Thanks for your patience, sorry for being such a noob!

Now printing a more complicated shape and will update the time taken to print… 20 mins so far… 25 mins for print of 1:20 hrs

16

[quote=“parker”]I did have a spare entire board which, due to constraints at work, I felt that I needed to just solve the problem rather than replace the stepper motor drivers and potentially ESD my new board n.b. I have been wearing ESD protection throughout board replacement, although I think we can all agree they were at fault and I can buy some drivers - thanks for the pointer on where to get them - and resolve the old board I have when i have some more time - I will report on this thread once I have done this.

Now I have replaced the board all the steppers are working and being switched off by the microswitches. The printer is obviosuly connecting and can be operated manually in all X,Y,Z and extruder is functioning (which I checked off of Z stepper motor driver)

Thanks for all the support regarding this matter and again sorry for not exploring the exact method of problem solving suggested.

However I still have the issue that when I ‘run job’ the printer does not begin printing - I am beginning to wonder what the cause of this is I have tried Slic3r with 3 types of setting including my own as well as ‘K8200_pla_standard_new’ and ‘K8200_pla_standard’ after I hit run it says in the lower dialogue box 'Printing… ETA 24m:37s Layer 0/37 [PROGRESS BAR] 1210 FPS

I have attached log just in case it can shed any light on the matter…

09:24:00.092 : FIRMWARE_NAME:Marlin V1; Sprinter/grbl mashup for gen6 FIRMWARE_URL:http://www.k8200.com/ PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:K8200 EXTRUDER_COUNT:1
09:24:00.092 : echo:Active Extruder: 0
09:24:18.105 : Slic3r command:C:\Program Files\Repetier-Host-K8200\Slic3r\slic3r.exe --load “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\slic3r.ini” --print-center 100,100 -o “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.gcode” “C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.obj”
09:24:19.026 : => Processing triangulated mesh
09:24:19.038 : => Generating perimeters
09:24:19.181 : => Detecting solid surfaces
09:24:19.194 : => Preparing infill surfaces
09:24:19.196 : => Detect bridges
09:24:19.200 : => Generating horizontal shells
09:24:19.204 : => Combining infill
09:24:19.206 : => Infilling layers
09:24:19.402 : => Generating skirt
09:24:19.404 : => Exporting G-code to C:\Users\rb651104\AppData\Local\RepetierHostMiniFactory\composition.gcode
09:24:20.533 : Done. Process took 0 minutes and 1.507 seconds
09:24:20.533 : Filament required: 832.7mm (5.9cm3)

NEWS FLASH!!

How very strange - I left this very simple print, see log above for info., for approx. 15 minutes at which point the bed went to home the extruder began to heat and a print started, as if by magic.

This has been a great journey for me as I did not initially build the printer I have gone over every inch of it and noticed lot’s of improvements that need to be made plus I also now have software controlled cooling.

Again I want to thank you both for your help in resolving the issue I caused by trying to fix a fictitious problem. I have made some very school boy errors like not plugging it in and possibly I changed the pots on stepper motor drivers whilst it was powered by USB only then powered them up and blew them (I think this is what happened). If anyone can shed some light on the unusually long pause between pressing print and the print actually happening I would like to know (my board is not covered in a room of computers and mobile phones?)

Thanks for your patience![/quote]

Cant it be you turedn on the heatbed and the printer had to waot for it to reach th desired temp?
Maybe look at your start g-code for bed temp commands or pauses.

17

I will check this but I believe they were both up to temperature and I don’t think (and I hope) that this is not the cause.

I will report my findings.

18

The PC I was printing from packed up and so all files are lost and there fore the evidence has vasnished.

However I cannot think of any other explanation than that I have been incredibly stupid.

Thanks for all your help.

19

Hi,

I managed to recreate the problem by using the k8200_pla_standard_new file whereby all systems are go but nothing prints in the gcode is ‘M109 S190 ; wait for temperature to be reached’ how ever both were at temperature and the printer was not launching into action, however once I returned to ‘recommended settings’ as shown on the 006-advanced settings everything returned to normal. So it obviously is something to do with the setttings but I am confused as to what it maybe.

I am not sure whether I am any the wiser.

Christian,

Just in case you see this I am not embarking on a quest for printing perfection and have bought E3d V6 and am going to upgrade the Z axis in it’s current orientation.

I think I will document the hole affair in a separate thread once I have made some progress to help others as you guys have helped me.