Suddenly losing steps on X-axis

Hornetrider

Hi there,

I am experiencing step losses on the X-Axis while printing. This came up a few days ago.
I am using Duet2 Wifi since more then 3 years on this printer and it has been working fine so far.
The motor has always been is a Nema 17, 1.8° with 1.2A rating.

What have I done so far without improvement:

Installed a brand new Nema 17 with same rating
Cleaned and checked the X-axis guide for easy movement (without belt)
exchanged the GT2 9mm belt by a new one
latest FW update to see if there is any improvement

What I haven't done so far:

changes to the config file in matters of acceleration, speed and current limits

Here is the section of the config file for the motor settings:
; Speed & Acceleration

M566 X600.00 Y600.00 Z80.00 E1200.00 ; Set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X8000.00 Y8000.00 Z450.00 E6000.00 ; Set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X800.00 Y800.00 Z45.00 E3000.00 ; Set accelerations (mm/s^2)
; Motor Current
M906 X1200.00 Y1200.00 Z1000.00 E950 I30 ; Set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
M84 S5 ; Set idle timeout

Still experiencing erratic loss of steps, sometimes you can even hear them while printing. And then the prints are not good at all...not usable.

My guess right now is that the x-axis driver on the board or the wiring to the motor might have an issue.

Is there a way to run a diagnostic procedure to find any issues?

In case the driver should be the problem, is there a possibility to use the E1 driver instead for the X-Axis?

Looking forward for your inputs.

droftarts

@hornetrider Please post your full config.g and RepRapFirmware version (send M115).

My guess right now is that the x-axis driver on the board or the wiring to the motor might have an issue.

To test, you could swap X and Y motor wiring and see if the problem swaps to the Y axis. You will need to update the driver assignments in config.g: assuming your M584 is something like M584 X0 Y1 Z2 E3, swap the assigned driver for X and Y, ie M584 X1 Y0 Z2 E3.

Is there a way to run a diagnostic procedure to find any issues?

For diagnostics, run a print until you get some loss of steps, then send M122, and post the response.

In case the driver should be the problem, is there a possibility to use the E1 driver instead for the X-Axis?

If the E1 driver is free, then yes. Again assuming your M584 is something like M584 X0 Y1 Z2 E3, change the assigned driver for X, ie M584 X4 Y0 Z2 E3 and move the X motor wiring to the E1 driver connection.

Ian