3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

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[Help] My Ender 3 isn't powering the extruder motor. Do I need a new motherboard? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The extruder suddenly stopped working after I cleared a jam that caused it to grind.

I tried every combination of motor and cable to trace the problem. It seems the only fault is the extruder's motherboard connector.
The motor is functional. I connected it to the XYZ motor cables and it spins on every one.
Nothing happened when I tried plugging the other axis cables into the extruder port on the motherboard.
Finally, I am comfortable using a multimeter and soldering iron, but don't have immediate access to them.

I really appreciate any advice on this because I miss printing!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I'm assuming this is a stock motherboard with motor drivers soldered directly to the board without daughter boards and sockets?

Without digging in deeper it sounds like your motor driver is dead. If it's a stock board you need to replace the entire thing. If you don't already own a soldering iron and multi-meter then we can skip past the fantasy that you could replace a surface mount stepper driver yourself.

Good news is replacement boards are very cheap. There are great replacement options from both Creality and BigTreeTech. I would go with one of the drop in options, BTT will have E3 in the name. If you're feeling more adventurous and don't mind putting in more time and effort you can get a non-drop in board that has sockets instead of hard wired stepper drivers. That would allow you to drop in a replacement driver if this happens again. However it's going to take significantly more effort, especially on the software side, before you get your printer running again.

Also, my advice is if you're going to own a complex hobby electronics device like an Ender 3 you need to own your own multi meter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

we can skip past the fantasy that you could replace a surface mount stepper driver yourself.

The MBs on these cheap printers are usually so cheap it isn't worth the hassle, even if you have the skills and tools.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I only brought it up because they brought up the soldering iron in their post. I could probably replace one of those surface mount drivers, but I also wouldn't. Not when you can buy a whole board for $20usd.