Strange printer behavior
When I turn on my Atom2 the first thing I do is Auto-Home. Now when I do that the printer performs the Auto-Home move OK, but the LCD screen changes to all white rectangles, and there is some sporadic vibration that must be generated by some stepper motor pulses, but none of the motors seems to move at all.
I adjusted the LCD potentiometer so the screen looks OK when the printer is first turned on. But it goes to all white rectangles after Auto Home. However, if I first try some other command, like changing the Fan Speed, the LCD stays OK. But if I then do Auto-Home it changes to all white rectangles.
I have checked all the motherboard connectors and they all seem OK. Could this be some sort of power supply problem? Or is there some other test I should try to identify what is going on?
翻譯年糕
Clarence Lee
2015-12-17 02:23:54
sounds like power issue, or controller board issue
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 03:59:02
That's my thinking also, but how to identify the actual problem? I have an old motherboard with an internal short that affects the X & Y limit switches ; maybe substituting that might show something helpful.
Clarence Lee
2015-12-17 05:02:29
Maybe use another power source is easier.
Usually controller board is not so frequently broken.
Unless somewhere short , wrong connection, or the board components quality issue.
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 05:06:04
OK. I have an old PC power supply I used once before. If I remember correctly, black is - and yellow is +, correct?
Clarence Lee
2015-12-17 05:22:38
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 05:23:27
OK - I'll try that and see what happens. Thanks.
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 06:30:08
Well - using the PC power supply got the printer working OK - sort of. The LCD looks OK and the vibrations are gone, and I can do Auto-Home & Auto-Level OK. But when I try to print from the SD card the LCD says ERR:MINTEMP even though it goes up to th
e set temperature OK.
When it reaches the set temperature the LCD SD value increases from 0 to 100% just like it should with the printer printing, but in fact the print head never moves. When it reaches 100% the printhead does a Home move just like it would if the print actually printed.
I did a reload of the firmware (I am using Ver. 2.02) and this had no effect. So the MINTEMP error must be the problem. I thought this meant the thermistor was not working or broken, but the LCD temperature readout looks OK - it goes from 22 to 200 exactly like it is supposed to..
Very puzzling indeed.
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 07:16:03
So I wiggled the thermistor connector on the motherboard to make sure it was attached ok and after doing this the MINTEMP error disappeared. So the connector or one of the yellow wires in it must have been loose (or something).
I'll try printing a couple of things with the PC power supply and then go back the real one and see if that still gives me problems.
Clarence Lee
2015-12-17 12:43:13
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 14:09:01
Hmmm....that power supply doesn't look like anything I've seen before. But I do recognize the knife holder.
Clarence Lee
2015-12-17 14:20:00
Birk Binnard
it's for 1U server ATX power anyway.
Just want to say I use PC power for a long time.
Birk Binnard
2015-12-17 15:48:53
Ah - OK. That's a much better shape than the one I have that came from inside an old PC.
