1

Dear all,

I’ve recently purchased my first 3D printer; a low budget CTC i3 Pro B, which is essentially a clone of the Geeetech Prusa i3. Assembly went quite well, and at first glance the printer seemed the be working fine. However, I soon discovered that the extruder motor isn’t spinning, therefore not feeding the extruder with filament. This doesn’t only occur when trying to print, but also when trying to move the motor manually through the ‘move axis’ option in the ‘prepare’ menu.

So far I’ve tried the following to resolve this issue;

  • I took the extruder assembly apart and tested the stepper motor separately to see if anything was blocking the motor from turning. No luck, the motor won’t move.
  • I’ve replaced the cable which connects the extruder motor to the board; this didn’t resolve the issue.
  • I’ve swapped the driverboard on the controlboard with one of a different (functioning) axis; no luck.
  • I’ve connected a different axis to the ‘extruder motor port’ on the controlboard. When manually controlling the motor speed, nothing happens. The problem therefore seems to lie within the control board, or the stock firmware on this board.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Any help is greatly appreciated!

2

I am guessing that the stepper will work when connected to another port on the board? It is sounding like a bad board.

If you can get all parts working then move them like I think you already did then it would seem to indicate the board. Not sure if a firmware reflash will help.

3

Thanks for your reply. I have connected the stepper to a different port on the board and the motor itself seems to be working fine. I’m afraid you’re right about the malfunctioning board, so I’ve contacted the seller and asked him to ship me a replacement part. I’m a bit reluctant to flash firmware on my current board as no official firmware has been released for this particular clone. Flashing a version of Marlin suitable for the Geeetech Prusa i3 might do the trick, but it may as well brick my board and void my warranty, so I’m playing it safe. In case anyone else is experiencing similar issues; I’ll keep you updated on possible solutions within this discussion.

4

Sounds like the right approach.