Gantry stopped moving smoothly after changing extruder!?

Hi all! I’m starting to lose my mind. After changing the broken hotend and doing a pid tuning now the gantry does not move as smooth as before…. the only thing I did was changing the hotend and the pid tuning. Before then I worked to fix my mesh following the docs but I could always create a new one after every frame adjustment as the gantry was moving perfectly. So i don’t think it’s a sudden mechanical issue? Could be related to the change of temperature after the extruded and bed pid tuning? What can I check?
Solution:
after too much time i figured it out: a stepper motor cable was not connecting properly to the motherboard… just enough to send the signal and look fine but not firmly enough to avoid losing steps which begs the question: these are the standard cables from the kit, what can I do to improve the connection? should I re-crimp them myself, hot glue everything like a savage or what else?...
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12 Replies
blacksmithforlife
Something is skipping steps or binding. When it is homing Y you can clearly see that x is moving as well which shouldn't happen. Double check your geared pulley and that all the belts move freely
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
when I turn off the motors and move by hand it goes smoothly i don’t feel any friction…
blacksmithforlife
and is the geared pulley attached to the steppers attached firmly with one of the grub screws on the flat of the shaft?
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
yes they are, just checked
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
i tried to lose and tight the belts, indeed seems like the pulley is moving when it shouldn’t
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
I am a bit lost tbh not sure what to do. The puzzling thing is that everything was moving fine until I changed the hotend and pid tuned it and the bed
~ bitbash
~ bitbash4w ago
Check if any belts have slipped their position.
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
they haven't 😦
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
does this look too tight or too loose?
blacksmithforlife
Looks ok to me
0x42
0x42OP4w ago
at this point should I just disassemble the pieces holding the steppers and see if there is something wrong inside?
Solution
0x42
0x424w ago
after too much time i figured it out: a stepper motor cable was not connecting properly to the motherboard… just enough to send the signal and look fine but not firmly enough to avoid losing steps which begs the question: these are the standard cables from the kit, what can I do to improve the connection? should I re-crimp them myself, hot glue everything like a savage or what else?

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