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?

Jump to solution

blacksmithforlife•1/30/25, 12:44 AM

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

0x42OP•1/30/25, 10:01 AM

when I turn off the motors and move by hand it goes smoothly i don’t feel any friction…

00x42 when I turn off the motors and move by hand it goes smoothly i don’t feel any fr...

blacksmithforlife•1/30/25, 2:04 PM

and is the geared pulley attached to the steppers attached firmly with one of the grub screws on the flat of the shaft?

Bblacksmithforlife and is the geared pulley attached to the steppers attached firmly with one of th...

0x42OP•1/30/25, 9:13 PM

yes they are, just checked

0x42OP•1/30/25, 9:14 PM

i tried to lose and tight the belts, indeed seems like the pulley is moving when it shouldn’t

0x42OP•1/30/25, 9:15 PM

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•1/30/25, 9:59 PM

Check if any belts have slipped their position.

~~ bitbash Check if any belts have slipped their position.

0x42OP•1/30/25, 10:24 PM

they haven't

0x42OP•1/30/25, 10:37 PM

does this look too tight or too loose?

blacksmithforlife•1/30/25, 11:03 PM

Looks ok to me

0x42OP•1/31/25, 8:14 AM

at this point should I just disassemble the pieces holding the steppers and see if there is something wrong inside?

Solution

0x42•2/1/25, 9:51 PM