My touchscreen is broken (form submitted), so I can’t do the Z-axis test from there, however I’ve tested both via OctoPi and Ponteface and my Z-axis won’t move at all (not even a peep from the motors).
Checked:
- Jumpers are installed
- Red stepper is correct
- The joiner is correct (red wires the same on both ends)
- Tried flashing the firmware again and still no love
- Z-axis probe works fine
- Tried swapping stepper drivers
- When the printer is off, by-hand, the Z-axis motors twist and the gantry moves freely
Any ideas as to what’s wrong?
Update: Following some discussion back and forth via email, it appears my screen is faulty (capacitive layer doesn't register touch) and the control board (CB) has a faulty Z-axis interface.
Went through the following for the touchscreen:
- Screen displaying and updating (hotend temps) once flashed: Yes
- Checked ribbon cable: Fine
- Checked all screws: Fine
- Checked pins on both screen board and MB: All fine
Replacement screen being sent.
With the control board:
- Checked for signs of damage: Nothing
- Checked pins: No damage / bent pins
- Tested extruder connection:
To do this, if you don't want to waste filament / heating the hotend, hold the lever arm on the extruder in the open position and while holding select extrude in Ponteface - you should see the centre gear rotate confirming it works.
- Testing Z-axis using extruder connection:
Having confirmed the extruder worked, I moved the parallel joiner from the Z-axis pins and connected it to the working extruder pins. Once connected, I selected extrude in Ponteface and checked that both Z-axis motors moved. They did and this confirmed that Z-axis interface is faulty.
End result - faulty z-axis connection - new CB being sent.
Quick thing to check is to make sure both the touch screen and control board are not mounted on too tightly, loosening the screws may solve the issue.
Have you checked your Z-axis motor cables and the Z-motor cable adapter for any signs of damage?
Are both the z-motor cables identical, wire colours in the same order on the same side of the connector?
Try plugging in just one motor at a time, does it work?
You mentioned swapping stepper drivers, do both the extruder motors work (you will need to heat the hotends to check, this can be done in pronterface).
Do you have the three jumpers installed on the board under the stepper drivers?