Hey all!
I'm deep into printing parts for my mpcnc build, only have a handfull left. But my trusty Ultimaker 2 just had two steppers die on me :-(So I’m gonna need new ones fast! So I figured I’d ask here are ebay banggood and alike steppers ok? Or should I try getting some genuine parts? Or something in between? I’m in Norway keep in mind so international delivery a must.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me!
If they are within spec (specifically, do they fit and do they have enough torque and current capability) then they are commodities. I don’t know the Ultimaker specifically, but any other printer, and I would easily say that any middle of the road stepper would be fine. Surely there are some ultimaker folks out there that have a good link to some that work?
Taking a step back. Steppers rarely fail. And two at once seems extremely unlikely. Are you sure it isn’t the drivers or something else? Are they visibly damaged, like a bent shaft or something? Steppers are the dumbest parts on a printer, almost.
I agree. Unfortunately, I believe the Ultimaker uses integrated stepper drivers.
Which 2 died? If you have a DMM perhaps check the coil resistances or do the “short the coil and try to move the stepper” test.
I’m pretty sure it’s the motors, I took them off and one is way worse than the other in that one I can barely turn over manually and the other feels like the bearings are about to go bad in as in its not smooth to turn. I’ve disconnected them from the board so no short circuit there, and they are not dead dead they do turn when powered just not at all properly(at least not the really bad one).
I found 2 on banggood with the same serial number for almost nothing, I haven’t dobbel checked the measurements yet but at a glance they seem right. Would you guys try them or are they probably so bad it’s not even worth it?
Edit: forgot to say these are the steppers for x and y.
Steppers do prefer certain angles, because of the magnets. So they won’t turn smoothly like a brushless motor. The one that’s not as bad might be ok.
I would try the banggood ones, but I have a high tolerance for failure and low tolerance for overpriced stuff.
I think my mpcnc kit is coming today so I can compare the feel of those steppers with the semi bad one.
The banggood ones are crazy cheap and they are fairly easy to swap out so I might as well try them. I have no experience with buying steppers so I was worried that they were completely worthless.
Thanks for the help, I’ll update this tread when I decide what to do and if I go for banggood I’ll be sure to let you know if they work out.
To rule out the steppers being at fault, you could try to swap the presumably faulty motors with the good ones on the printer, and test if they behave the same way.
That’s a little to much work unfortunately but good idea otherwise.
I think maybe it was just the one that’s really dead but i’m gonna change both just to be sure.
I ended up buying original parts from a local ultimaker affiliate because shorter delivery time and I ordered a bunch of other stuff and got an OK price, still way more than banggood but since I’m buying in Norway I get basicly a 5 year warranty.
[attachment file=106525]
So I swapped out the x and y steppers on the ultimaker, both were very stiff. The results speak for themselves, the one on top was my last successful print.
I also bough the extruder upgrade for the machine, seems way better but haven’t really put it to the test yet!
Hope the picture works…
