HE3D 2 in 1 out extruders not working

eaton_chip

Hello,
This is my first post, and I am a total newbie, so please be kind and talk in as simple terms as possible.
I have just put together a HE3D EI3 printer that has 2 extruder motors, but only 1 nozzle. After opening up and connecting with pronterface, I can move the X, Y and Z. The extruder head and the bed heat up. I can turn the cooling fans on and off. I can not make the extruder motors work at all. I have done the following....

1-made sure the extruder head was above 170 degrees.
2-Have put the wire from the Z motor onto the extruder motors. The motors work fine.
3-Have switched the wires from the Z port on the board with the extruder motors. The motors work fine.

So I think I have established that the extruder motors and the wiring are fine. This makes me think that I have a problem with the firmware. Is this correct? I had looked at the configuration file. I'm not sure which settings I should change other than making sure it looks for a MKS Gen L board.
Can anyone please help me? I am about ready to pull my hair out and I don't have much left. LOL.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chip

Repetier

Send
M302 S1
to allow cold extrusion, so extruder temperature is not relevant.

Do both extruders share same temperature sensor?
Is it the same stepper driver? Make sure you have the same invert enable settings then as x,y, z or motor gets no power when it should move.

Make sure to use the right pins for stepper driver.

Check eeprom settings - it might have illegal values from old version with 1 extruder so steps per mm or acceleration are not a number/invalid.

These are main points that can cause failure.

eaton_chip

Repetier wrote
Send
M302 S1
to allow cold extrusion, so extruder temperature is not relevant.

Do both extruders share same temperature sensor?
Is it the same stepper driver? Make sure you have the same invert enable settings then as x,y, z or motor gets no power when it should move.

Make sure to use the right pins for stepper driver.

Check eeprom settings - it might have illegal values from old version with 1 extruder so steps per mm or acceleration are not a number/invalid.

These are main points that can cause failure.

Thanks for the info.
I have managed to get the firmware changed and can control the extruder motors.

Now, I have another problem....my z axis moves further than the x and y when I select the same movement amount. Where/How do I change this setting to get it back to the correct amount?
Also, my end stops are no longer working. So, I can't home in any direction because the mechanic stops don't stop the carriages in any direction.
One final thing is the LCD display on the machine no longer shows information. Most of the places are completely lite up.
I feel like I'm chasing my tail.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chip

Repetier

And all that worked before your changes?
Z axis sounds like steps per mm is too high so 1mm is more then 1mm.
En stops - Test with M119 if they trigger and show correctly. Are the associated to right direction and motors as well. Often I see wrong homing direction to move to right side just because direction of motor is wrong. And then you do e.g. x max move while end stop is x min and die to double inversion x also moves to x min. But it will of course never register end stop being hit since it is the wrong for max move. Direction -1 is to min, 1 to max direction.

LCD - well wrong display type or no pin definition for your board are the typical reasons.

eaton_chip

Repetier said:

And all that worked before your changes?
Z axis sounds like steps per mm is too high so 1mm is more then 1mm.
En stops - Test with M119 if they trigger and show correctly. Are the associated to right direction and motors as well. Often I see wrong homing direction to move to right side just because direction of motor is wrong. And then you do e.g. x max move while end stop is x min and die to double inversion x also moves to x min. But it will of course never register end stop being hit since it is the wrong for max move. Direction -1 is to min, 1 to max direction.

LCD - well wrong display type or no pin definition for your board are the typical reasons.

Thanks again. I have adjusted the steps per mm for the z.
As for the end stops, I have tried ever combination of 1, -1 and which port the end stops were plugged into and they still don't stop the carriages from trying to move. I have sent a M119 as you said, and all 6 stops come back as triggered. However the carriages never stop trying to move.
Is there anything else that might be preventing the end stops from working?
I'm still looking into the display. It worked before I updated the firmware the first time. It hasn't worked since then.

Thanks

Repetier

What printer type (drive system) do you have. Where are your end stops and what does the config end stop definition look like (please not full config just the endstop/homing configuration related settings).

eaton_chip

I hope this is the info that you are looking for....
I have a MKS Gen L board.
End stops are located so the nozzle would be at 0,0,0 (X,Y,Z)
Endstop configuration

// @section homing

//#define NO_MOTION_BEFORE_HOMING // Inhibit movement until all axes have been homed

//#define UNKNOWN_Z_NO_RAISE // Don't raise Z (lower the bed) if Z is "unknown." For beds that fall when Z is powered off.

//#define Z_HOMING_HEIGHT 4 // (mm) Minimal Z height before homing (G28) for Z clearance above the bed, clamps, ...

// Be sure to have this much clearance over your Z_MAX_POS to prevent grinding.

//#define Z_AFTER_HOMING 10 // (mm) Height to move to after homing Z

// Direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN

// :[-1,1]

#define X_HOME_DIR -1

#define Y_HOME_DIR -1

#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

// @section machine

// The size of the print bed

#define X_BED_SIZE 200

#define Y_BED_SIZE 200

// Travel limits (mm) after homing, corresponding to endstop positions.

#define X_MIN_POS 0

#define Y_MIN_POS 0

#define Z_MIN_POS 0

#define X_MAX_POS X_BED_SIZE

#define Y_MAX_POS Y_BED_SIZE

#define Z_MAX_POS 200

Thanks
Chip

Repetier

These are the homing settings and they are correct for min homing like you want.

Now the question is what drive system you use. Yesterday I fixed a problem in 1.0.4dev for corexy with fastcorexy that made it ignore x min endstops. So if you use that you should update to latest release and have a good chance.

Otherwise, what does M119 return and does all end stops trigger correctly when you hit manually and send M119?

eaton_chip

Repetier said:

These are the homing settings and they are correct for min homing like you want.

Now the question is what drive system you use. Yesterday I fixed a problem in 1.0.4dev for corexy with fastcorexy that made it ignore x min endstops. So if you use that you should update to latest release and have a good chance.

Otherwise, what does M119 return and does all end stops trigger correctly when you hit manually and send M119?

M119 returns triggered on all min and max.
How do I determine the drive system? I'm new to all this and learning as I'm going, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chip

Repetier

drive system is simpel caresian, core xy or delta printer.

M119 should not return high for all - it should only report high for triggered end stop or it might prevent all moves. So you might need to invert the output of endstops. Also do you really have 6 end stops? Most printers only have 3.

eaton_chip

When I manually push the stops, I hear the click of the trigger, but nothing happens. The carriages still move (X, Y and Z).

Repetier

You don't answer my question! Does m119 then switch to H? As I understood your comment all show H same time which is wrong. Only the triggered end stop should show H.

eaton_chip

Sorry for the delay.
This is a simple cartesian printer.
When I send M119 this is the output that I receive.

SENDING:M119

Reporting endstop status

x_min: TRIGGERED

x_max: TRIGGERED

y_min: TRIGGERED

y_max: TRIGGERED

z_min: TRIGGERED

z_max: TRIGGERED

None of the end stops were depressed then I sent the M119.

eaton_chip

OK. I have made some changes, and now when I send a M119, all 3 axis come back open. If I depress any of the stops and send an M119, the stop I am depressing comes back a triggered. Am I correct in this is the behavior I'm looking for?
If it is, I still have a problem as when I depress any of the stops, that axis will still move. This is not what I would expect. I would expect that no matter where the axis is, if the stop is depressed, it shouldn't move in that direction at all. Am I over looking something?

THanks
Chip

Repetier

M119 does not move anything just reports end status. But the output shows me clearly you are in wrong forum. This is for repetier-firmware and you are NOT using this firmware. You should better ask in a forum specialized for the firmware you use.

What I see is that end stops are not configured correctly. It is unlikely that you trigger all the same time. I even guess that you only have 3 of them.

eaton_chip

Thank you for the help that you did provide. I have managed to get the firmware corrected and the end stops are now behaving as they should.