Powers up, but nothing happens

Summary:

all lights show power is fine to everything, replicatorG 'connects' however even in manual command, no movement

Powers up, but nothing happens

Oliver Lind 15 Jul 2012 01:26

I've got the makerbot thing-o-matic, with mk6 head, and ABP. it was running fine ages ago until a power surge blew the old power unit, i've replaced this, and had to do the modification to connect pins 13 and 14 on the atx input on the mainboard. Power doesnt seem to be the problem, but in replicatorG it tells me the makerbot is connected, however in the manual control option, literally none of the controls work, even though the motors are powered and connected correctly. After a few mins i checked the motors on the makerbot, to find that the Z-stepper motor was really warm, even though it hadnt moved. has anyone had this problem? or does anyone know how to fix it? thanks.

Re: Powers up, but nothing happens

conceivecreate 15 Jul 2012 11:40

can you heat the build bed? extruder? if they are working and you can read the temperatures on the control panel it would imply that your mother board and controller shield are working. the problem may be limited to the stepper motors or wires going to the stepper motors.
you state "After a few mins i checked the motors on the makerbot, to find that the Z-stepper motor was really warm, even though it hadn't moved" => could imply that there is a short and possibly in X and Y as well?

Re: Powers up, but nothing happens

Oliver Lind 15 Jul 2012 23:06

not even the build bed or extruder are heating, either is the extruder stepper. i'm going to pull it apart completely and rewire it all, the interesting thing is on the control panel, when you select 'enable' or 'disable' stepper, you can hear the machine click.

Re: Powers up, but nothing happens

Bluemetal 16 Jul 2012 15:33

The "connected" message means that the FTDI chip in the Arduino is working. The enable/disable click means that the motherboard (and therefore the Arduino) are communicating with the stepper controllers so your 5V should be OK too (that is also a good sign that the Arduino and motherboard are likely fine).

The lack of movement and heating can point to your 12V not being 12 V for some reason. I would start there.