<p>I have an Ender 3 3D printer, and I upgraded the extruder driver to a metal drive one. Since the gear that drives the filament was pressed onto the factory stepper motor I replaced the motor with a similar-sized NEMA 17 stepper I had laying around. I successfully completed some prints when I noticed the Z-axis was skipping steps and had lost most of its torque. I swapped the Y- and Z-axis motors around and sure enough the problem moved to the Y-axis. Figured I had blown something in the motor driver but wasn't sure what.</p>
<p>I ordered a 4.2.7 mainboard, swapped the boards over, and turned it on. Tried homing the machine and all axes worked other than the Y-axis. This time it's not skipping steps just not working at all.</p>
<p>I'm very confused and 2 mainboards deep and still unsure what the issue is. I did test the resistance across the phases of my new extruder motor and it measured about 2 ohms whereas the other motors were a bit higher. So I'm thinking maybe it's that motor but the extruder driver has been working fine.</p>
<p>I've also noticed on both boards one of the diodes next to the blown driver has some white stuff on it. Not sure if they're blown or that's normal.</p>
<p>Any help will be greatly appreciated.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-01T13:35:59.363Z
I'm not sure about this (wait for answers from someone who understands it), but if the stepper drivers are old non-TMC ones with a pot-adusted vref, it sounds vaguely plausible that you'd have to adjust that to avoid exceeding the current limits when the resistance is lower.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-01T23:22:26.923Z
If the problem axis followed the motor swap, that eliminates the driver as a cause. Can you post a pic of the "white stuff"?
dandavis
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-02T13:20:10.400Z
So the (now) Y stepper is not moving while it barely moved after the Z to Y conversion where the (now) Y stepper was the Z stepper which already had issues in Z movement in the first place? Isn't this just a stepper that is not working (strange because to my knowledge steppers are pretty robust). I'd by a new stepper to be sure to troubleshoot the issue. P.S. I hope you did not pull the stepper wires while the board and steppers where powered, it is known that that may harm the stepper drivers.
0scar
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-03T05:31:19.793Z
Sorry for the confusion, with the old board the z barely moved. I then, (with the board powered off),  switched the x and y motor leads. After that the y axis barely moved. So the issue went with the driver not the motor. 
Now with the new board, the y axis doesnt work and swapping the motor leads with any other axis causes that axis to not work. So ive somehow blown two drivers but not sure what. Not entirely sure how to link a photo of the diodes sorry
benjaminhk12
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-04T23:06:38.417Z
@benjaminhk12 you can [edit] your question and upload the photo with the button with 2 triangles and a circle on it.
0scar
<creality-ender-3><stepper-driver>
Blown two Ender 3 stepper drivers
benjaminhk12
# Blown two Ender 3 stepper drivers

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-03-01)

I have an Ender 3 3D printer, and I upgraded the extruder driver to a metal drive one. Since the gear that drives the filament was pressed onto the factory stepper motor I replaced the motor with a similar-sized NEMA 17 stepper I had laying around. I successfully completed some prints when I noticed the Z-axis was skipping steps and had lost most of its torque. I swapped the Y- and Z-axis motors around and sure enough the problem moved to the Y-axis. Figured I had blown something in the motor driver but wasn't sure what.

I ordered a 4.2.7 mainboard, swapped the boards over, and turned it on. Tried homing the machine and all axes worked other than the Y-axis. This time it's not skipping steps just not working at all.

I'm very confused and 2 mainboards deep and still unsure what the issue is. I did test the resistance across the phases of my new extruder motor and it measured about 2 ohms whereas the other motors were a bit higher. So I'm thinking maybe it's that motor but the extruder driver has been working fine.

I've also noticed on both boards one of the diodes next to the blown driver has some white stuff on it. Not sure if they're blown or that's normal.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

**Tags:** creality-ender-3, stepper-driver
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm not sure about this (wait for answers from someone who understands it), but if the stepper drivers are old non-TMC ones with a pot-adusted vref, it sounds vaguely plausible that you'd have to adjust that to avoid exceeding the current limits when the resistance is lower.  
> **username_2**: If the problem axis followed the motor swap, that eliminates the driver as a cause. Can you post a pic of the "white stuff"?  
> **username_3**: So the (now) Y stepper is not moving while it barely moved after the Z to Y conversion where the (now) Y stepper was the Z stepper which already had issues in Z movement in the first place? Isn't this just a stepper that is not working (strange because to my knowledge steppers are pretty robust). I'd by a new stepper to be sure to troubleshoot the issue. P.S. I hope you did not pull the stepper wires while the board and steppers where powered, it is known that that may harm the stepper drivers.  
> **username_0**: Sorry for the confusion, with the old board the z barely moved. I then, (with the board powered off),  switched the x and y motor leads. After that the y axis barely moved. So the issue went with the driver not the motor.  Now with the new board, the y axis doesnt work and swapping the motor leads with any other axis causes that axis to not work. So ive somehow blown two drivers but not sure what. Not entirely sure how to link a photo of the diodes sorry  
> **username_3**: @benjaminhk12 you can [edit] your question and upload the photo with the button with 2 triangles and a circle on it.  

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