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Edited: Aug 30, 2020

Axis Heated Bed & Control Lock Up

Completed my Axis build, other than all the "manufacturing & shipping oops" I had to deal with: LCD cable plug notches backwards, hot end cables too short, eccentric instead of fixed guide for Z-axis sent, power plug nut pretty much stripped the plastic power plug right away... everything but one thing seems to be working well. Er, also blue knob and/or screen seems to be locked up while printing my first print.

Main concern I have is that the Heated Bed can't seem to accept a setting above 45-degrees Celsius. I thought it was just Pronterface/printrun. The terminal session would say Setting Bed Temp to 60c ... but the status line on the left under the XYZ controls would say 45.00 degrees. It would hold steady at 45.00/45.00 as well. I can't see that I've done anything wrong, line 417 in Arduino IDE is "#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 1" was already there and I didn't change it. Looking for "BED" in the IDE, I see this on line 461: "#define BED_MAXTEMP 55" - I'm not sure if that is degrees, or a percentage or a number out of 255 or what... but it isn't 45, so I don't think that is it either. Any ideas?

Benchy first print from SD-Card also said 45-degrees Celsius even. I can't get back to the info screen either. Benhcy has been printing for about 25-minutes so far (looking good), but turning the blue knob or pressing it does nothing. Just sitting on the "Info Screen up arrows", then Pause Print, then Stop Print, then Tune... but pressing or turning the blue knob does nothing. I disconnected my laptop before starting the print.

Benchy finished up, definite "waviness" on the cabin wall, assuming I should try to make things "tighter" but not sure how to do that and actually have them moveable. After the print was complete the knob control and screen became unlocked again.

Glad the build mostly worked. My first 3D printer build. We got a Prusa i3 MK3S as well a couple weeks ago, but that was pre-assembled, that's what printed the fan shroud.

Stuck on this screen while printing Bency from SD Card.

First print from newly assembled Axis printer - benchy

Nearly complete first print

4 answers3 replies

7 Comments

Jay M

Sep 02, 2020

Best Answer

Looks like the Kickstarted email pointing to the Tips & Tricks FAQ has a new Configfuration.h file... looking through that, line 461 changes:

#define BED_MAXTEMP 70

So, there we go. Mine was set to 55... assuming with that number that it is -10 for whatever is setable so, 45 before and with 70 it would be 60. Also changed the printhead from 250 to 270, again, so I bet I can set 260 now instead of 240... not that I have a bed hot enough to actually need to set that.

My Mean Well LRS-350-24 came today. Need to print a cover for the terminals (and the switch). I have metal couplers, reading the FAQ though, sounds like that might not make too much of a difference since I don't think I have Z wobble, I just have Y wobble or the bed/X wobble. I've greased on the rails that slide against the guides and it helped a little, but not completely. Will put the metal coupler on and again will re-adjust all my guides.

FAQ also addresses the TMC Error... but I've done all that, so they don't say how to tell WHICH TMC2022 driver is having an issue. I'll look at the output again in Prontoface and see if I can figure it out... maybe go ahead and finish the Dual Extruder... perhaps everyone who has had issues are using the older version of Makertech Cura files? Since I'm later in building, I am using the later ones (just checked) but they mention retraction length changes in there with the 2.0.1 version so maybe folks should investigate that. Okay, only have an hour to work on this, so off to it!

Jay M

Aug 31, 2020

Hmmm. I used 5. XYZ, extruder 1 and extruder 2. Though I don’t have the dual extruded configured yet, so that might be the problem. That said, I don’t remember putting a number anywhere about the drivers, just changing the definition over and the inverting the directions from true to false and vice versa for the one. Did double check the Arduino setup yesterday... hmmm. Maybe I zapped the E2 driver... or forgot to put a jumper on all the UART pins... will double check tomorrow.

Thank you!

Here was my final first print.

Michael G

Aug 31, 2020

Replying to

That benchy came out nice! I could never get one to print that nicely.

For the TMC issue: Make sure you have the TMC2208 setup in Configuration.h.

#define X_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2208 #define Y_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2208 #define Z_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2208

The above would be if you had the white TMC2208 drivers for X, Y, and Z. If you have the red drivers for E1 and E2 then you would leave the rest of the lines in that section commented out. If you have the TMC2208's in all the positions then set those as well:

#define E0_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2208 #define E1_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2208

You could have the same issue I had, one or more of your TMC drivers could be bad. I had at least one. If you accidentally put the driver in backwards and turn the board on then there are issues too. The drivers don't like that at all.

On the bed, when you start the printer up and the bed is at room temp, does the screen (or Pronterface) show it as room temp? When you send the command to heat it to 60 does it move up gradually to 45? Try swapping the supply that you're using to run the printer with the one for the heated bed. What does the LED look like on the bed power supply when you set the temp? It seems like some people are getting bum supplies.

Jay M

Sep 01, 2020

Replying to

@Michael G Thank you! I do have the configs correct, verified all the UART jumpers were own, and verified the trim pots were all facing in the right direction. Generally everything seems to be working, so perhaps it is something I still need to do with E1 to fully configure for Dual Extruder, I haven't read those instructions yet, just plugged the TMC2208 in and set the jumper. If there is something else I need to do, haven't done it yet.

Swapped power supplies around, same 45 Celsius locked max for the bed. The new Mean Well is in a box downstairs, not sure if I'll have time to work on it or not.

Yes, both printhead and bed are showing at room temps 20-21C. And both show up to what I set them to 200-215C and only 45C (max) after warm-up of a couple of minutes.

I did not put any in backwards (didn't change any around), touched the chassis and the house ground when opening the TMC2208s, before placing the heat sinks on each (never touched any pins), and before picking each up by the heatsink and board edges and plugging them in. That said, perhaps somehow I messed up the E1 (2nd extruder) one and that is where the issue is. I'll see about getting the second extruder installed sometime this week and see if the issue goes away there.

The blue LED on the power supply? I haven't looked at that, are you asking if it dims when it start heating or something? It does heat, the red LED under the warming plate does come on whenever heating too.

Michael G

Sep 01, 2020

Replying to

@Jay M I suppose it's possible we got some bad 2208's. As I mentioned I got this error on a different mainboard (SKR 1.4 Turbo). I swapped all mine out for known good stepper drivers and the issue went away. Another way this would show up is if you've enabled E0 and E1 and have a 2208 setup in Configuration.h for either and not have the driver plugged into the board.

For instance, if you have the dual setup but are waiting on doing all the steps for the dual extrusion and you haven't plugged in the stepper driver into the E1 spot, and you have 2208 set for the configuration in Configuration.h you'll get that error because the mainboard cannot communicate with a non-existent driver over UART.

All that said, if the printer is moving on all axis and extruding then I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

The more concerning thing is the heated bed. I was asking about the blue LED on the power brick that is attached for powering the heated bed. When the heater comes on if the LED goes dim or flickers it may be a bad or failing power supply. There have been reports of them on the forum.

Re-reading that post I see you're trying to set it to 60C via pronterface. There might be something odd (Marlin bug perhaps) that is causing it to revert to 45. What happens if you send it 55? You could try changing the MAX_BEDTEMP variable that you mentioned in your first post to something ridiculously high. I've compiled Marlin for my SKR board in the AXIS starting from a default configuration and have it set to 150. All the PLA I print likes a 60C first layer and then I drop it down to 55C.

I think the Mean Well would be much nicer addition. Once I can get the mechanical situation set I'll probably switch to using one. Since I haven't actually sat down with on in person I can't show you how to wire it but I can explain what you want to achieve based on how my other printer's Mean Well power supply is set up and how it is fed into the board.

Full disclaimer. You're going to be working with wall mains power and 24v DC. You'll need to be careful and thoughtful. You could electrocute yourself or destroy your equipment. All of what I'm describing below should be correct to the best of my knowledge. I cannot, however, be held responsible for anything bad which may occur which may include but is not limited to, electrocuting your self, frying the electronics in your printer.

One thing you might also want to get is a fused jack and switch for mains in: https://www.amazon.com/BIQU-Rocker-Switch-Socket-Module/dp/B07KS2TQ45/ That will make sure that if anything goes bad that the fuse will blow and cut power to the printer. It also is grounded. Gotta be safe. It also gives you a really nice on off switch instead of pulling plugs or barrel connectors.

When you build your enclosure you'll want to make a spot for that switch to be mounted. From the switch you'll get common, neutral, and ground. Those will go to the appropriate places on the power supply. From the supply you should be able to get a direct 24v out. I'm not sure if the Mean Well operates where you would have to bridge 2 12v rails and I doubt that it does. So you should have a single positive and negative 24v out.

I suggest making a wiring harness here. So out of the power supply (enclosure) you'd have your two wires. Then you'd go to something like a XT60 (https://www.amazon.com/MCIGICM-Upgrade-Female-Bullet-Connectors/dp/B07Q2SJSZ1/) plug. You