I just got an old Ender 3 for cheap and wanted to replace the crappy extruder with a nicer bowden extruder of my (now) direct drive Kobra Max. When I connect the new stepper, nothing moves. It’s a longer stepper and a different manufacturer. Is the wiring different or VREF wrong or are there other reasons why it wouldn’t move? The driver is good, since the old stepper is still working.

Thanks for any help!

  • sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net
    2·
    11 months ago

    I use a tevo tornado which is similar in many ways to an ender3 and added a direct drive extruder. I ended up needing to change the wiring for the stepper motor because it just sat there jerking around but not moving. I don’t recall if I used a meter to measure resistance or if I just swapped wires until I got it working but it prints perfectly today and has for years.

    To do it I think I had to use a small screwdriver to push in the little barb that holds the pin in the connector (on some you can lift a little plastic tab on the connector to pull it out) then I could just push it back in place. Make sure you don’t disconnect your stepper while powered, it can toast your controller.

      • sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net
        2·
        10 months ago

        Glad I could help! I know it’s really frustrating when you’re right at the 99% mark and it’s like “why isn’t this working?!”

    • callcc@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I checked the pinout with a multimeter yesterday and the don’t seem to be the same. I’m pretty sure this is the issue. Thanks for mentioning pinout as a source of issues.