Now that we know that VBB is getting power, we are going to check if each stepper motor driver is capable of making a stepper motor rotate.
To do this we will use Pronterface to send G-Codes that will instruct the board to rotate the motors, and check if the motors do indeed rotate.
First, connect Pronterface to your Smoothieboard.
Then, turn your Power Supply ON, and make sure Smoothieboard is powered ( RED VBB LED should be ON ).
Then here are the instructions for each motor :Â
Test M1 ( XÂ axis )
Make sure you have a stepper motor attached to your M1 stepper motor driver.
In Pronterface, send :Â
G92 X0 G1 X100 F1000
You should see the stepper motor turning, if you do, move to the next test item. If not, answer No.
Test M2 ( Y axis )
Make sure you have a stepper motor attached to your M2 stepper motor driver.
In Pronterface, send :
G92 Y0 G1 Y100 F1000
You should see the stepper motor turning, if you do, move to the next test item. If not, answer No.
Test M3 ( Z axis )
Make sure you have a stepper motor attached to your M3 stepper motor driver. If you do not have a Z axis ( like in a simple laser cutter ), ignore this step.
In Pronterface, send :
G92 Z0 G1 Z100 F1000
You should see the stepper motor turning, if you do, move to the next test item. If not, answer No.
Test M4 ( first extruder )
Make sure you have a stepper motor attached to your M4 stepper motor driver. If you do not have an extruder ( like in a laser cutter or CNC mill ), ignore this step.
In Pronterface, send :
T0 G92 E0 G1 E100 F1000
You should see the stepper motor turning, if you do, move to the next test item. If not, answer No.
Test M5 ( second extruder )
Make sure you have a stepper motor attached to your M5 stepper motor driver.
If you do not have a second extruder, ignore this step.
Make sure you correctly configured your Smoothieboard for dual extrusion, see Dual extrusion guide
In Pronterface, send :
T1 G92 E0 G1 E100 F1000
You should see the stepper motor turning, if you do, move to the next test item. If not, answer No.
Did they all turn ?
If all of the stepper motors turned when instructed, answer Yes
Otherwise, answer No.
Note on deltas and other non-cartesian machines
This series of tests assumes a cartesian machine, in which you can independently control your X, Y and Z axis, and therefore independently move your M1, M2 and M3 motors.
But on a delta or H-bot machine, several motors must move at a time to move one given axis.
Therefore, on those types of muchines, simply move your head around, and see if one of the motors does not move. If one does not move, answer No, if they all move, answer Yes.
This is not relevant to the extruders.
