External stepper “blacking out” on parts

MaracMB

Building myself an IDDEX printer (dual IDEX) and i needed an external stepper.
Being a build, that largely represents whatever i have and just making ‘one to rule my office’ kind of thing for a while. Instead of having 4 of them, i opted having one as 4 of them.

The problem with the system is external stepper. i thought it would make sense to wire it first as an extruder to actually see if a failure happens...i do see it... just “blacking out” on segments. Like, working fine, then not working on a segment and then it gets his stuff together and starts working again...

I only had tmc2100 stepsticks available so that’s what i went with. They are hot as hell. Not sure how these cheap sticks do, i used duet all my printer life actually...
Anyhow.
Placed driver on an old stepper breakout board. soldered cfg pins to 1/16 microstepping, no interpolation.
Breakout board is wired directly to PSU (24v)

Is the driver overheating? Connected to 3.3v
I set it to 1.36v and that decyphered via fysetc site translates to aprox 950 mA. As for Hemera. Set that in config also. Not sure it matters.. does it ?

Will post a picture also.

MaracMB

Picture
https://ibb.co/K2tzWm9

Veti

@MaracMB said in External stepper “blacking out” on parts:

I set it to 1.36v and that decyphered via fysetc site translates to aprox 950 mA

are you sure? i thought thats rms you set on the driver.
touch the driver and see how hot it gets

MaracMB

@Veti i did set it on the driver via trimpot...

dc42

@MaracMB said in External stepper “blacking out” on parts:

The problem with the system is external stepper. i thought it would make sense to wire it first as an extruder to actually see if a failure happens...i do see it... just “blacking out” on segments. Like, working fine, then not working on a segment and then it gets his stuff together and starts working again...

That probably means the driver is overheating. I suggest you either turn the current down or use fan cooling on that driver.

engikeneer

@MaracMB ...what these guys said

FYI, I have three TMC2130 stepsticks on external drivers for my z axis and have had problems with them overheating and cutting in and out when I first started. I now have mine set to ~900mA, with large heat sinks and a big axial fan blowing over them, and they just about seem okay, but they're not doing lots of long moves like and extruder or X-Y motor would.

MaracMB

@dc42 thanks. Will do... The problem now is i messed up my duex5 board very, very badly... i fixed the external driver breakout board on the corner screw of duex5, where the stepper 10th driver is, twisted the board for reasons, snapped C40 component... fffffffffffff!!!! With a big F. And ofcourse i didn’t saw that and turned the machine on. ;(
Hopefully, i just fried duex5? Will try to solder that smd on but it makes me cry. Stupid, stupid me!
If you know if i fried the whole thing or just duex5 or hopefully it will work after resolder that component, let me know. If you can please.

So the overheating driver is now a laughable problem.

@engikeneer thanks to you also. I will have to find a cooler external stepper solution. Once i fix the main issue i have now. 900mA would be plenty for hemera i guess. Any suggestion for a cooler external stepper is more than welcome.

engikeneer

@MaracMB you could always try a TMC5160 stepstick. They're rated for higher current (4-5A). I believe they achieve it by lower losses, so they'll run cooler for your 900mA.

Either that or a bigger/better cooling. I only have one 40mm axial fan blowing on all three. The driver closest to the fan stays pretty cool, but the others get warmer. The furthest is ~15cm from the fan with stuff in between, so doesn't get very good air flow... with only one driver, you should be able to cool it pretty well

Good luck with the Duex rework! Fingers crossed for you that it's nothing too serious

dc42

I don't think as the DueX would be damaged by a missing C40, but it might cause the associated driver to register over-current in error. With no motor connected to that driver, the DueX should behave normally.

MaracMB

@dc42 thanks. I feel so much better now.
I just turned it on, it homed, then after restart it never established a server... will see.

Anyhow, now that i can breathe, getting a better driver is mandatory. I can’t just put fan on every single thing, because it will become unbearable.
@engikeneer 5160 is what i was looking at. Given the costs spent in this thing, a driver isn’t a problem. The wait or control board...well, that’s whole different story.

So, in the mean time, while waiting for that little 5160 driver to swim half the world over, i noticed a local guy sells a bunch of new unused TB6600’s.
I know these are over the roof overkill, but would it run cool? silent? Silent-ish? On an extruder...

engikeneer

@MaracMB well you'll 'only' get 32 microsteps but sounds sensible enough I have never really looked at them but think a few people on here have used them successfully.

Would be interested on how your TMC5160 turns out when it arrives. If it keeps your setup cooler, I might get a set myself and ditch the noisy fan too!

MaracMB

@engikeneer sure, will post.
But why not get help when we’re here

@dc42 can i use official BOB?
Like https://si.farnell.com/trinamic/tmc5160-bob/breakout-board-stepper-controller/dp/2846895

That can be delivered fast...

dc42

You would need to work out how to add a potentiometer to set the current. You would also need to fit the electrolytic capacitor that they have made space for but not fitted.

MaracMB

@dc42 oh crap. I see the capacitor slot, feared that, but the little potentiometer... Just getting that and fixing it to the board is deterring.
Well, too bad. Chinese it is again then, sadly.

MaracMB

@engikeneer i will go with tmc5161 as they have CFG pins to run in standalone. Probably the easiest way to do it