I am sorry for my late reply.
The below cables are interchangeable. Can you swap the toolhead cable with the Y conversion cable to have another check?
By the way, can you show me a video that the gear rotates from “forward” to “backwards” during Z offset? I will report it to the engineer. Thank you
Thx @Tracy for the cable hint. I’ll test asap.
Here’s the video - at 00:00:16 and 00:00:28 you can see unexpected direction change in the middle of printing:
@Tracy didn’t mean swap the ports, she meant to swap the cables out but have everything connected to their proper ports. Like use the toolhead cable and swap it with the y axis cable, have the toolhead cable act as the y-axis cable going from the y converter to the y port on the controller, the original y axis cable going from the toolhead to the toolhead port on the controller.
Thanks, I reported the case to the RD team.
Can you please send me your gcode? We will have a look at the gcode first. Thanks
that was only a mistake when I edited the photo… The cable is going down towards the controller.
Oh ok I see what you mean now. I misunderstood the picture.
@Tracy here are two versions of the gcode: one created with luban, the other created with simplify3d. I also had the problem with other models. So if it is a problem with the gcode, I suspect it must be gcode before the actual printing of the model.
Luban:
moon-phase paint-util (luban).gcode (1.1 MB)
Simplify3d:
moon-phase paint-util (simplify3d).gcode (1.6 MB)
In the meantime I bought a new printhead so I can tell you soon if the problem still exists…
@gruemscheli Thanks for your reply. I tested the gcode and it has no issue. After you receive the new printing head, please kindly tell me the result. Thanks
good morning @Tracy I received the new head, replaced it and updated firmware as it was requested on the display. When I loaded the filament for the first time, the problem persisted (=extruder gear in the opposite direction). So I power cycled one more time an then the extruder gear was ok. I twisted the tool head cable (port connector on tool head; tool head connector on port). Still ok. I swapped Y cable and tool head cable. Still ok. I restored the cables to the original configuration. Still ok.
Then I replaced new with old tool head. Boom - extruder gear in wrong direction. I used the new tool head. Boom - extruder gear in wrong direction! Another time I unplugged the connectors and plugged them in again. While loading filament, extruder gear was ok. Later, when it started printing, extruder gear turned again in wrong direction.
So what’s the difference here? The difference is that the tool head was in the home position when loading, while it was near the print surface when printing, which corresponds to a height difference of 200 mm. For the tool head cable, this means that the angle at which it leads to the tool head changes slightly.
So I tried to simulate this in the home position with the load/unload functions. As soon as I changed the angle of the cable to what it would be when printing near the printing surface, the extruder gear turned in the wrong direction. Here is the proof (2x speed):
So it must be the cable. From my point of view, this should be replaced, because all I did was replacing tool heads, which is “normal operation”. Have you already had experience with this?
Thanks for your fast reply, @gruemscheli if it is the toolhead cable issue, but after you swap the toolhead cable with Y conversion, the issue still exists. The Y and Z conversion cable should be fine. So it is hard to say the issue exists in the toolhead cable. I suspect the controller as well.
We did not experience this before.
I will follow you via email to help you further. Please check your inbox.
@Tracy you guys may want to check into the controllers arcing, well not really arcing as it doesn’t persist during the entire time it has power, but there’s a big bright spark on the same port every time on power on. Could be entirely unrelated, but there have been a couple people on the fb group the past week having this occur on a port in the controller. I verified that they connected everything properly. Different ports for both, with big bright spark every time they power it on. Then their touchscreen goes blank after a few minutes of use, this is where I suspect arcing is actually occurring. You’ll be hearing from them shortly if you haven’t already. Worth checking into.
@gruemscheli this could possibly occur intermittently, like you experienced a couple times, if there is a soldering joint that has just a bit too much solder and sometimes causing an arc with another soldering joint immediately in its vicinity. I haven’t actually torn the controller apart so I can’t say if this is possibly reversing the extruder, it would be a unique set of circumstances for it occur.
@Artezio I do not have the touchscreen going blank after a few minutes.
I turned the tool head cable so that the presumably defective spot shown in the video is now on the side of the port. There I fixed the cable temporarily so that it can no longer move and the defect (loose contact, broken wire) does not occur. Since then, the problem seems to be gone. For me, this is proof that it must be the cable.
When I replaced the head cable with the Y-cable in earlier tests, the cable was probably bent in such a way that the defect did not occur.
A new cable will hopefully confirm my assumption.
I didn’t say you did, was something that happened to others. I’m trying to point out that QA/QC is not good enough.
Don’t I recall you saying it happened with both cables when you swapped them around?
Have you been able to audibly hear anything happening electrically, like shorting?
Thank you @Tracy - I replaced the controller and the tool head cable and the problem is gone. It seems like my printer had 2 problems at the same time, as neither replacing the controller alone nor replacing the cable alone fixed the problem. Only after I replaced both was it good.
Well aint that some shit.
Wild and crazy stuff here.
They hook you up or did you have to buy these things?
Sounds like something shorted out the controller which in turn shorted out your cable or something to me.
