1 Topic by pirvan

  • pirvan
  • pirvan
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  • Registered: 2013-03-27
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Topic: Solidoodle stopped working

LAst night I printed my first test, and after that I turned the printer off by unplugging the AC cord from the power supply.

Tonight, I plugged the power supply cable in, but the printer doesn't respond at all to any commands.  I tried unplugging the USB cable and I can hear the USB Plug N Play connection sound, I can also see the USB serial port device loading in the device manager, but the printer does absolutely nothing.

If I click any of the manual controls it appears to send the command, but nothing happens.

I looked at the back of the unit and there's red LED in the upper left corner next to a connector marked "E".  Something else I noticed, which I didn't pay attention the other day, is that the power brick LED iv very faint, and it's only lit if the USB cable is connected to the computer, otherwise it's off.

So what could be wrong with this thing?

To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

2 Reply by pirvan (edited by pirvan 2013-04-11 17:19:32)

  • pirvan
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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

I found the problem with my printer, and I think that this may shed some light on some of other users problems with the current crop of power supplies.

After posting the first message, I decided to open up the power supply to see if there's anything I can do about it. And what I found may be the reason why we ar seeing so many defective power supplies with the current crop of Doodles.

As soon as I opened the brick, the AC connector fell off the PCB, and was hanging by the ground wire.  I simply resoldered the connector back to the board, and everything is working fie, but it was when I tried to put it back together that I noticed the real problem. 

It appears that the AC connector cutout in the bottom shell of of the power supply is not low enough.  When the connector bottoms out in the cutout, the pcb is still about 1/8" above the screw posts.  When you put the top cover on, the posts press down on the PCB corners, effectively bending the PCB.  So you have the pcb being pushed down in the corners, while the connector is trying to hold it high, so eventually the solder joints give up.

Take a look at the attached pictures and you'll see what I mean.

Hopefully the Solidoodle tech guys will see this post and check their existing power supplies, because this looks like it's going to be a real problem across the board.  The solution for those of us that got a defective PS is to cut down the opening for the AC connector to lower it and relive the stress (Image 4)

Post's attachments

doodle_ps1.jpg
doodle_ps1.jpg 81.86 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Doodle_ps2.jpg
Doodle_ps2.jpg 80.88 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Doodle_ps3.jpg 99.87 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Doodle_ps4.jpg
Doodle_ps4.jpg 101.34 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

Doodle_ps5.jpg
Doodle_ps5.jpg 96.76 kb, file has never been downloaded. 

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To print or, 3D print, that is the question...
SD3 printer w/too many mods,  Printrbot Simple Maker Ed.,  FormLabs Form 1+
AnyCubic Photon, Shining 3D EinScan-S & Atlas 3D scanners...
...and too much time on my hands.

3 Reply by Riddick (edited by Riddick 2013-04-11 12:24:28)

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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

Mine had the same problem. 

After resoldering, I filed away the plastic to sit the connector lower.  Notice how high it was, I had to file away about 4mm.  On the picture it is not even sitting at the bottom, as the PCB is all bent, even though I made exactly the space it needed.

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4 Reply by solijohn

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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

pirvan wrote:

I found the problem with my printer, and I think that this may shed some light on some of other users problems with the current crop of power supplies.

After posting the first message, I decided to open up the power supply to see if there's anything I can do about it. And what I found may be the reason why we ar seeing so many defective power supplies with the current crop of Doodles.

As soon as I opened the brick, the AC connector fell off the PCB, and was hanging by the ground wire.  I simply resoldered the connector back to the board, and everything is working fie, but it was when I tried to put it back together that I noticed the real problem. 

It appears that the AC connector cutout in the bottom shell of of the power supply is not low enough.  When the connector bottoms out in the cutout, the pcb is still about 1/8" above the screw posts.  When you put the top cover on, the posts press down on the PCB corners, effectively bending the PCB.  So you have the pcb being pushed down in the corners, while the connector is trying to hold it high, so eventually the solder joints give up.

Take a look at the attached pictures and you'll see what I mean.

Hopefully the Solidoodle tech guys will see this post and check their existing power supplies, because this looks like it's going to be a real problem across the board.  The solution for those of us that got a defective PS is to cut down the opening for the AC connector to lower it and relive the stress (Image 5)

Good work. We came to the same conclusion and have spoken with our supplier.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

5 Reply by jrudd193

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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

I have the same problem with the SD3.

6 Reply by jonjonrocketman

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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

I did a long print over night and came back to fined printer off. Took apart power supply 400v capacitor was very bulged. Leads me to believe it over heated. I have asks soolidoodle for a free one just for ha ha's but have gone with an American built supply http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004P472X0   This supply works only with soolidoodle 3 I think. It looks like it has better fentallation for the heat.

7 Reply by shields1

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Re: Solidoodle stopped working

how do you get these bricks open?