I am having a very strange issue with my ramps board.
A few weeks ago I was getting these symptoms:
the X and Z axes seem to be operating normally(Jogging back and forth reasonably smooth and can Home correctly), however the Y axis only wants to stutter in place with some jittery shimmying motion that does not look like it has a direction.
Steps taken to troubleshoot:
-Tuning the A4988 potentiometer and Swapping out the A4988 driver boards. I had thought that I had shorted something out when adjusting the driver's pots with the multimeter leads (Did Not receive a ceramic screwdriver but substituted a small plastic prying tool that works ok), but the other Z and X axes seem ok and swapping drivers on axes also does not present a change.
-Swapping out the stepper motors. Unmounting the Y motor and jogging it by itself it will also stutter in place, although the same stuttering in place happens with the X motor unmounted. Using the X motor(with Yaxis cable) on the Y axis yields the same results. Oddly, mounting the Y motor to the X axis (X cable)and it runs somewhat normally(not as well as the smaller X motor).
-Loosening and looking for sources of tension on the axis itself. After trying the steps above this seemed like my last resort. Currently the bed will traverse the length of the smooth rod with a flick of a finger.
I had Contacted the seller(Dan at folger tech) about this issue and had him send me a replacement electronics kit. After swapping out only the Ramps board and keeping the original mega and stepper driver boards, my Y-axis issue had disappeared. I quickly realized that the problem only moved when I tried to home the Z axis and the motors gave the same symptoms.
Any suggestions?
A few weeks ago I was getting these symptoms:
the X and Z axes seem to be operating normally(Jogging back and forth reasonably smooth and can Home correctly), however the Y axis only wants to stutter in place with some jittery shimmying motion that does not look like it has a direction.
Steps taken to troubleshoot:
-Tuning the A4988 potentiometer and Swapping out the A4988 driver boards. I had thought that I had shorted something out when adjusting the driver's pots with the multimeter leads (Did Not receive a ceramic screwdriver but substituted a small plastic prying tool that works ok), but the other Z and X axes seem ok and swapping drivers on axes also does not present a change.
-Swapping out the stepper motors. Unmounting the Y motor and jogging it by itself it will also stutter in place, although the same stuttering in place happens with the X motor unmounted. Using the X motor(with Yaxis cable) on the Y axis yields the same results. Oddly, mounting the Y motor to the X axis (X cable)and it runs somewhat normally(not as well as the smaller X motor).
-Loosening and looking for sources of tension on the axis itself. After trying the steps above this seemed like my last resort. Currently the bed will traverse the length of the smooth rod with a flick of a finger.
I had Contacted the seller(Dan at folger tech) about this issue and had him send me a replacement electronics kit. After swapping out only the Ramps board and keeping the original mega and stepper driver boards, my Y-axis issue had disappeared. I quickly realized that the problem only moved when I tried to home the Z axis and the motors gave the same symptoms.
Any suggestions?