Extruder stepper motor having bounce issues
I'm trying to troubleshoot our office I3 MK2.5 and cannot get the machine to feed filament. With the filament sensor 'off' the loading operation just causes the extruder stepper to jiggle back and forth without grabbing the filament. When I suspected a jam and removed the side of the extruder head with the passive hobbed gear I saw the same behavior. Even with no resistance the extruder motor shaft just jiggles there like its bouncing back and forth between two positions on the encoder.
I replaced the nozzle as that seemed jammed but once I got that working I couldn't get the extruder head to feed the filament. I'm thinking I'll need to repair or replace the stepper motor as it seems to be the issue in this case. Has anyone else run into this issue before?
RE: Extruder stepper motor having bounce issues
more likely a loose or broken wire/plug in the extruder motor circuit - check plug at einsy board and cable harness to extruder
RE: Extruder stepper motor having bounce issues
From the plug side, use an ohm meter to check continuity to the motor. What you describe fits one of the windings not working, and like David said, wires breaking are more common than a motor/driver failure.
RE: Extruder stepper motor having bounce issues
I think I found the issue. I'm just going to replace the whole stepper, seems like it had a long and productive life. Thanks for the help everyone.
RE: Extruder stepper motor having bounce issues
Uggh. I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but the Einsy board may also be faulty. Any time a pin gets hot, there is a good chance the ECB is damaged by the heat, and may even have been the source of the heat. From the location of the melting on the connector - the EINSY pins even look like where the heat was coming from.
Pop the Einsy out and inspect the connector on both sides, looking for any discoloration around the pins soldered in the board. And if any solder joints in the region look "matte" and not shiny, they need to be rewetted, and why they got hot determined.
ps: the blue tint on the connector pins showing through the plastic shell is a clue there is a serious problem at hand.