Zortrax M200: Troublshooting

These are a collection of the most common issues for the Zortrax M200.

A common problem with Zortrax printers is the shaft of the motor jerking back and forth rapidly or the shaft will turn and then suddenly click back. There are also unusual clicking sounds that will occur as a result of this. There are several reasons as to why your motor is skipping from poor cable connection, to faulty material ducts, and to faulty PCB’s.

Some times the extruder motor can skip because of a poor connection. A quick way to check if you have faulty connections is to see if any of the cables are out of place from what they should be. Here is a picture of what they should look like:

In order to check, simply remove the extruder cover and check to see if everything is plugged in properly.

This is particularly easy to notice if your material doesn’t want to load or unload properly.

To check that your material duct is functioning properly follow the steps below…

1. Unload the material by going to the menu screen and pressing “Tools”, “Materials”, and “Unload Material”.
2. Next follow step exactly except load your material instead. DON’T feed the material into the duct of the extruder. If the motor is not skipping, you can then feed the material into the extruder.
3. If the extruder is immediately skipping after you load the material, it is likely that your motor has a build up of debris in the gears which needs to be cleaned. You will need to remove the motor from your extruder. Follow this guide for detailed instructions and videos.
4. If your motor begins to skip or vibrate sometime after loading the material with little to no extrusion, it is likely that you have a faulty nozzle. You will want to remove the nozzle with the nozzle key by rotating counter clockwise from below. ONLY unscrew the nozzle head while it is hot so be CAREFUL! Follow this guide for detailed instructions and videos.
5. If it is still not extruding properly you will need to fix the hotend of the extruder. Follow this guide for replacing the hotend.

Sometime the motor can skip because of a poor cable connection. The cable in this case is the big gray one that dangles at the back of the extruder.

To make sure that your Extruder cable is not faulty follow the steps below…

1. Load the material by going to the menu screen and pressing “Tools”, “Materials”, and “Load Material”. DON’T feed the material into the duct of the extruder.
2. Move the extruder cable is different directions while the material loads into the extruder. If the motor stops skipping while the cable is held a certain way, then the cable is either not secured properly or needs to be replaced.
3. Follow this guide to remove the back panel of the Zortrax . If the cable is secure in its port, then the cable needs to be replaced.
4. If the extruder doesn’t stop skipping while moving the cable around, make sure the cable is secure in its port. Follow the above guide to remove the above panel.

There is no real way to check if your extruder PCB is faulty without checking all of the other possible problems or just checking it directly. Here is a picture of where the PCB is located and what extruder cable is plugged into it:

Before troubleshooting, you need to remove one of the X or Y axis motors. Follow this guide for more detailed instructions and videos.

1. Unplug the cable from the first PCB motor and plug it into the second motor you just removed.
2. Load the material by going to the menu screen and pressing “Tools”, “Materials”, and “Load Material”. You will not actually be loading material because you are connecting the cable to the axis motor. Check and make sure the other motor is functioning properly.
3. Move the extruder to each end stop twice.
4. Check to see if the axis motor shaft is skipping . If it is then you need to replace/fix your extruder PCB. If not you need to check the extruder motor itself.

There is no real way to know if your extruder motor is faulty by simply listening or watching. You need to test the motor itself.

In order to check the extruder motor follow the steps below …

1. Remove the extruder motor. Follow this guide for more detailed instructions and videos.
2. Connect the extruder motor to the axis motor cable.
3. Use the options from the menu and start the calibration process. Check to see if if the motor shaft is skipping. If it is skipping, you need to replace the motor.

ABS is notoriously difficult to print. The main reason for this is that it tends to shrink as it cools, causing parts to warp and pull up off of the build plate.

Zortrax recommends applying “Z-ABS Juice”, or an ABS slurry onto the build plate. This “Juice” is ABS dissolved into acetone. When applied, the acetone will evaporate and leave a thin film of ABS on the build plate and inside of its perforated holes. When the printer begins to lay down more ABS, it will fuse with that layer and attach strongly to the build plate.

(Summarized from Zortrax’s article)

Cut up ~50g of ABS. This can either come off of a spool, or you can use old ABS support material or rafts.

Mix in ~200g of Acetone. ENSURE YOU ARE USING AN ACETONE-SAFE CONTAINER. Currently we have a glass bottle to store this in, it should be stored in the flammable’s cabinet in the wetspace.

Wait 6-8 hours for the ABS to dissolve. Shaking/ Stirring the solution can speed this step up.

Heat up the build plate.

Apply a thin layer of the solution where the print will sit on the build plate.

Allow the solution to dry.

Store the container back in the flammables cabinet.

Have fun with ABS that actually sticks to the build plate!

If you need further assistance you can go to Zortrax’s website or fill out this form that will be sent to Zortrax’s Support Center.