Software Settings for FT-5?

[composed]

I had problems with the heaters on my FT-5 and could not even start my first print, so I installed an older version of Arduino along with the oldest version of Marlin that I could locate on the Folger Tech website, and although both heaters are working, another problem has reared its' ugly head.

As expected, all three axes will home, but once I attempt to print, the printer is loud, and instead of the Y Axis moving away from home toward the front of the printer, the Y Axis appears to try to move through home and off the back of the printer. If it were wired incorrectly, I would expect the axis to move away from home during the homing process. I have checked and double checked the wiring and all appears correct. How and where should I look to determine that the software is sending the Y Axis the correct direction, or should I look somewhere else? Any suggestions are welcome.

[mstrauss]

Make sure you have home correctly orientated in your configuration.

[composed]

I took vacation this afternoon to look through both Cura and Marlin, but I did not see anything obvious, however, my programming skill is low. Using Pronterface, I manually moved the gantry to the front of the printer and found that I need to add the following information.

Each time that I press the -Y the gantry will slowly move toward the back and stop after a short move. If I press +Y, the gantry moves toward the back of the printer at a faster rate, and when it reaches the end-stop it becomes loud. If it were wired incorrectly, I would expect the axis to move away from home during the homing process. I have checked and double checked the wiring and all appears correct. My assumption is that this is a software issue, but I am not a programmer, so my next question is how and where should I look to determine that the software is sending the Y Axis the correct direction? Perhaps I should I look somewhere else?

[mstrauss]

-Y the gantry will slowly move toward the back and stop after a short move.

Sounds correct. You are moving closer to 0 (home).

If I press +Y, the gantry moves toward the back of the printer at a faster rate

does not sound correct. You should be moving away from 0 (home). That is +Y should move towed the front of the printer.

[composed]

Agreed. But either one sends the gantry to the back of the printer. The only differences are the speed of travel and the level of noise. I’m definitely confused at this point in time.

[composed]

For the record I located and corrected the problem,

I switched the wiring for the X and Y Axis on the board and the problem moved from the Y axis to the X axis. I then pulled the driver for the Y axis and replaced it with the spare driver. Once I replaced the driver, the problem disappeared. I assume that the FT-5 may require some fine tuning, so are there any certain things that I should look at first?.

[mstrauss]

Good work diagnosing the issue. Regarding tuning, Take it slow. I would first check all the steppers for overheating (over current) or issues moving (possibly under current). Once you have your end stops all working and the printer homes, you can work on testing and tuning the hotend and bed heater. Run a PID on both. Of course this is assuming you have checked alignment of all the moving parts. I found that to be the most time consuming part of the printer tuning. I also think it helped in alleviating some of the issues I see reported on the board, like binding of the Z-axis.