Thank you very much for your reply.
Yes, since I am using MArk2, I already use the 5th driver for the second extruder. It was my Corona-time project and took me a lot of time. It is done nicely, but to be honest, I newer really use it. Still, it wouldn't be nice to throw it away...
Do you think that this is the correct main board for me:
Can you also point me to the detailed instructions how to use the E2 for the Z axis. It may be the easiest way to solve the issue.
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gr5 2,225
I was going to say it could be one of the 4 wires to the stepper but you said you switched to the other drivers and it moved so yeah it's definitely the stepper driver chip.
Some people are really good with surface mount soldering and have the right equipment (speical hot pad, hot air blower, I don't know what else). I have been soldering electronics off and on for decades and consider myself extremely good at it but I can't do SMDs. Well I can do two pin smds only. Some people in this forum have replaced a driver chip.
The older UM2s and UM2+ printers have a spare stepper driver for the second extruder. There is an extra connector for that second extruder. You can flip the controller over and see if the chip is mounted. The driver chips are lined up near the servo connectors and are large and square.
Unfortunately Ultimaker stopped including these chips on the UM2 controller boards at some point. If you order a new UM2/UM2+ (same board) controller board from Ultimaker it will not include that extra extruder driver.
Now if you are doing the mark2, you are probably already using that second extruder (E2?) which is unfortunate.
If you don't care about the dual extrusion much then you could change the firmware such that the X axis uses the second extruder. It's just a few lines of code change in the file "pins.h" which says which pins control which servos etc. You could swap the ones between X and E2. I can point you to very detailed instructions on building the firmware. I'd do the Tinkergnome firmware.
If you really want your dual extrusion to still work then your only option is to buy a chinese version. There are 2 flavors - one flavor has the exact same stepper drivers. The other has socketed drivers so you can (sometimes must if it doesn't include the drivers) choose your own drivers. Which is a nice option if you are into really customizing things and modifying firmware. The drivers would be "pololu" style drivers which you can google about if the board you order clearly has missing (but socketed) drivers.
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