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Use EXTERNAL stepper driver when your board's driver won't work - Monoprice Maker Select IIIP

Updated: Oct 25, 2020

My 3D printer won't extrude filament! It won't load or unload either!


I checked continuity of the wires all the way to the end of the ribbon cable -- all good. I swapped the extruder stepper motor with the x-axis motor -- stepper motor worked. I edited firmware and swapped extruder pin setting to another axis -- stepper motor worked too.


Conclusion: Motherboard's extruder stepper driver is defective. But since it is soldered unto the mainboard, it cannot be replaced.


Solution: Modify firmware and redirect extruder commands to an external stepper driver board (as suggested by zcornelli on this post from ADVI3++ forums).


I believe this solution is not limited to just the extruder driver. You can use this if any of the other axis drivers are defective. You just need to know what to modify in the firmware to make the adjustments.


Overall Steps:

  1. Prepare stepper driver board beside EXT connector

  2. Wire EXT pins to driver

  3. Connect external stepper driver

  4. Update firmware


Materials:






Regarding the stepper motor cable, below picture is what you want -- BUT GET THE 2 meter ONE. And be careful. When I bought this one from amazon, the connector that arrived was a dupont connector (black) instead of the white XH2.54 4pin female terminal. So since I already had 4 pcs of 1meter cable, I just soldered 2 of them to get a 2meter cable. And I also had to change the dupont connector to XH2.54 connectors. Grrrrr!




1 pc. -- 10 pin header (optional)

You can solder the wires onto the board if you would like to. That's a lot of work for me so I wanted a solderless option. I couldn't find one in amazon or ebay (at the time of this writing). However, I saw this at silence3D (check out the hammer header in their video). If you get in touch with them, they also have an alternative solution -- to use their own external stepper driver.


1 pc. -- M3 x 6mm screw

Jumper wires



1. Mounting:



2. Wirings:


Driver and EXT wirings


3. Stepper motor connection:


Stepper motor wirings if you are using the existing moons stepper motor.


Stepper motor wirings if you are using a winsinn pancake stepper motor. TAKE NOTE THAT THE WIRES ARE NOT THE SAME as the image above for a moons motor.



Power can also be taken from the z-probe port (as long as it is not set to 5v). Refer to this image that I copied from the creator of ADVi3++ firmware.


If you have a different stepper motor, maybe this will help you figure out the wiring.



Don't forget to make sure the trimmer resistor on your stepper driver is set to the optimal resistance for your motor. You can google how to measure this. Here is what I have on my drivers so far.


4. Firmware update:


There are various ways to modify and update the firmware. I use ADVi3++ on my printer and there are various links in there that describe how to do this. I use the arduino IDE (lots of youtube videos on how to do this). Essentially, you need to find the file that defines what pins are used for the Extruder motion. Then modify it so that it points to the EXT connector pins.


Since I use a Monoprice maker select IIIP, I edited the file pins_i3_PLUS.h



Another update that you need to do is to invert the direction of how your extruder spins. With the wiring pictures I posted above, sending a load filament command will actually unload it (and vice versa). So we need to flip this behavior. There are 2 ways to do this. You can invert the cabling on your motor or you can modify the firmware file "configuration.h". I opted to modify the firmware since I was already working on it anyway. See below.



Save your changes, compile, and flash your firmware. Remember that if you update your firmware to the next version, do not forget to edit these sections again.


Finalize..... notice that the extruder motor has its own wire that goes along the ribbon cable.




-- The End --




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