Hi all!
I am working on getting my Prusa up and running, but I can't seem to get my electronics configured properly. I am concerned that there are problems with some of my other components, mainly my stepper motors, but i cant test them properly without working electronics.
If anyone has any that they don't need I would be happy to pay for a set that has been confirmed to be working with my printer model, or if anyone knows where i can get cheaper sets to experiment with (even the open source boards + components are usually ~$100) i would be quite appreciative. I am willing to pick up for boston-area folks.
Thanks,
-Max
Replies
Max,
The pattern is pretty easy to observe. Blog post that covers the sequence options: http://rascalmicro.com/docs/basic-tutorial-controlling-motors.html
Kirk
Hi Kirk
Thanks for the info! I got a new set of stepper drivers, and my motors are behaving correctly. If i were to borrow an oscilloscope, how would i test the older stepper drivers, and what would i be looking for? As far as I know, most of the leads are I/O or constant, so I am not sure what i would be looking for or how i would get a consistent signal from them.
thanks
-Max
Max, you should be able to test your stepper motors using an Arduino and some basic transistors, or using a simple tester like this one from Sparkfun (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10267) that runs around $15. If your stepper motors drivers are damaged, you can test those using a multimeter to measure the voltage across each of the leads in sequence. If the control electronics are not working, then you would need access to a digital o-scope or something similar to let you observe the signal paths. Since most controllers are variations of Ardunio+RAMPS or something similar (RAMBo, RUMBA, etc are just single-board variations), you might be able to test the Arduino component itself by uploading another script via the IDE but then you would have to reflash the electronics back to their printer configuration afterwards.
Kirk Hausman