No Movement from Steppers
hi there - I hope you can help me. I have been given a Chinese copy K40 with a smoothie board controller. I have bought a Mini Gerbil 3 which I have installed today with a new Cloudray M40 psu.
24vdc & 5vdc from the PSU going to the MG3 - LED's indicate all voltages ok.
X & Y limit switches in wired in - LED's are on when the limit switches are not pressed and go off when they are.
Lightburn connected - sees the device over USB and connects happily. Set origin to back left, burn area 300 x 200.
[VER:1.1f.20211209:]
[OEM:Awesome.tech . MiniGerbil_MG3:]
[SER:MG3_0003.Date:2021209:]
[OPT:VMZL,15,250]
Target buffer size found
ok
I've made the other connections up - but not plugged in yet.
When I try to home, the motor move LED comes on, but there is no movement or noise or anything from the steppers. I tried swapping cables round as a test - still nothing.
Lightburn then errors with:
ALARM:9
Homing fail. Could not find limit switch within search distance. Defined as 1.5 * max_travel on search and 5 * pulloff on locate phases.
Please - what am I missing??
Thanks in advance
Nev.
Hi Nerv,
probably better to post some photos of the installation showing the wiring. Most likely issue here is that the stepsticks are not receiving the 5V DC. so check that first on the step sticks it self. Another thing you could try is to remove one step stick and see if the issue remains. If it remains, place the removed one back and remove the other to test. If one axis then moves, it could indicate a broken step stick. Also swapping them around is worth testing.
Please let me know what you observed and we help you further.
Cheers, Paul
hi Paul
I checked VMOT and VDD on both A4988's - 24vdc and 5vdc. I have a couple of spare A4988's around so swapped for new - still no movement. Tried a spare stepper motor - still nothing.
See attached photos of the wiring of PSU & MG3 - I know it doesn't look like the limit switch ground (Black) goes to the right hand pin, but it does!
Thanks again
Nev.
Uploaded files:
Hi Nev,
This is a bit of a tricky one, I cannot see any issues with the power connection (24V yellow, G black, 5V red, Lo blue sequence/cable colours).
Please could you verify with a multimeter the voltages on the MG3 power plug? Are those voltages also on the stepsticks? see picture where VM=24V dc and VDD should have 5V dc.
Please let me know and I help you further.
Uploaded files:
Hi Paul
please see previous message on here - voltages already checked
please can I get a replacement board as I think this one is DOA. I’ve been e mailing Nyssa at your office.
Nev
No worries Nev, we get you a replacement. It could be the onboard fuse that has triggered because of a high mechanical load on one of the axis. Normally the fuse does reset itself after powering down. That's why I was curious about the voltages on the stepstick since these are behind the fuse.
Cheers, Paul