Probably a stupid question but has anyone tried to test each motor and limit switch as the build progress rather than at the end ?
I build an AR3 a few years back and overconfidently wired and closed the box as soon as the build was done - only to find out that my J3 motor had an issue and never found the courage to re-open the spaggethi bow to trouble shoot.
Fast forward a few years and I decided to convert the AR3 to an AR4 MK2, ordered the motors and the new teensy. I just finished to wire J1 and I was wondering is there is any drawback to just power it up, flash the teensy and start veryfying as I build along rather than at the very end.
Any thougths ?
I like the idea but I should do it a different way. The build is a long journey and the probability to miss something is quite high (maybe that's why Chris suggested to wait until the end before applying the liquid tape ..) I have no doubt that individual components (steppers, drivers, switches... have been tested by the suppliers. The biggest risk is .. integration and ... myself. My suggestion would be to test frequently but localy, not globaly. Here is an example for a simple switch: cut the wires , solder them and then run a simple circuit test with a multimeter. Once done, that "subsystem" is good to go. When it is not possible, a check-list could be great. Here is an example: a high-res picture of the top view of a each driver, with each wire color well identified. And last but not least, I suggest to add a section to this forum named "Oups..." where we could honestly document what we did wrong. I confess the followings: 1) wrong wire (color) soldered on a limit switch and 2) I put the big cable on the wrong side of the vertical axe, it is still ok but the cable is almost to short.