SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T16:47:07Z

Take a close look at the terminal where the power supply connects. If the connection isn't good, they can melt. Maybe the problem is that yours is already damaged, but not enough yet to appear charred. Here is what mine did-

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T14:32:46Z

Oh! A fan on the board is critical as you suspect. The X motor also needs additional cooling. I have found that a heat sink stuck to the bottom is very effective. Others print a fan mount from Thingiverse and add a fan. The other motors use the frame as a sink and require no additional cooling.

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T14:29:44Z

That board is a Sanguinololu and is a good little controller. The drivers are removable which is nice if they fail or you want to upgrade E: steps to 1/32 microsteps. It is difficult to tell from pictures but the SD3 had a rough build area of 200x200x200. The SD2 was 150x150x150 but everything else was the same in design. Yours has the wood Z platform and in my opinion it's more stable than the newer aluminum platform.
As for your power issues, strain relief is important but those screw terminals are the preferred connection. Always check the polarity as the stock SD PSU wires are a little backwards. The bare stranded wire is the positive and the insulated wire the ground.
It is very common for the Stock SD printed parts to fail. Plan on printing replacement parts first thing. We can guide you as to which files and where to get them from.
Absolutely plan on replacing the acrylic extruder assembly as it will break. Print an MK5 as a spare for when you need it. Since you've already had hot end issues that should be your first upgrade. Due to your location you can buy direct from E3donline.
That's it for now but feel free to ask questions as you get into things further.

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T12:58:55Z

no heat sinks on stepper chips either...

Needs an on/off switch as well, and why doesn't the board enclosure have a small fan! Case would be better with leveling feet and a two axis micro spirit level...

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T12:53:11Z

Some pictures and thanks for the welcome, apears I bought it the week they went bust, but everything is out there to support them so shouldn't be an issue.

Power seems to be if you touch the connector to the board it goes off, and appears the whole strain of the cable EMF shield and probably power supply hangs off the block screw connector on the board, crappy design, think I will mount a chocbox and block connector on to case and solder small block onto board carefully and fly lead to the choc box. This will relieve the strain on the connector.

Quality of the printing on the X servo mount is terrible is this normal?

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T01:08:54Z

Just bought a Solidoodle ?I say ? as unsure which one, the previous owner wasn't sure thought it might be a 2 but the bed seems to big it has a glass heated bed 210mmx210mm came in a wooden enclosure

Sounds like a SD3 that someone built a case for. the $ is almost the same as the 3 but a nice case with metal sides and top door and injection molded plastic front door.

came with no manuals no software a couple of meters of ABS, a dodgy power supply

Pretty typical for a solidoodle. I do not think they even came with a manual or software when new one was expected to download needed info. As far as the power supply get a supernight and connect the cord from the old one to it. the stock PS are a little light on power. Although mine works fine . Not a bad thing to upgrade anyway.

Never had one before, I work in software and ok with a soldering iron and a meter and have a tool kit so time for some fun, just may need some guidance.

Starting with a used solidoodle is not a bad way to go. Having the skills to fix and tinker pretty much a must have. The people here are very helpful to those wanting to learn.

Spent an evening tinkering and have mostly cleared the clog but when feeding when 30 mm off the bed the extrusion kind of curls back round on the nozzle so may need some further cleaning.

I would not worry to much about the curing . It may need some cleaning but make sure you power down before taking a brass brush to the nozzle . several here shorted out the heat and main board was bricked.

Have it hooked up to pronterware and Repetier and can manually move the extruder around trying to print it just causes a mess, seems the nozzle is moving in the melted ABS on the bed.
So will dial in Z axis and then the extruder feed and then need a decent test print file.

yes dial in the Z and level the bed just leveling the bed by tightening the thumb sres and making sure you can slip a piece of paper or card stock under the nozzle with just a little resistance, is a good place to start.
Also always home the machine before attempting to print .
this is a cool little test. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:763622

tin

Re: Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-18T00:16:37Z

SD3 if 8x8
Get us some pictures to be sure.
A picture of the control board and I'll tell you everything you need to know.
For the PSU you can crack it open and check the solder joints where the mains power enters. That's a pretty common failure and if that doesn't work there are plenty of replacement PSU's available. Don't waste a bunch of time on a stock hot end. Go with a genuine E3d and an Mk5 extruder assembly. Pretty much anything you need we can help you with.
Here's a link to a store a few of us started to help the community.
http://www.printitindustries.com/

Welcome the the addiction and as always happy printing.

Greetings from Coventry - England - Just bought a Solidoodle ?

2016-03-17T23:47:44Z

Just bought a Solidoodle ?I say ? as unsure which one, the previous owner wasn't sure thought it might be a 2 but the bed seems to big it has a glass heated bed 210mmx210mm came in a wooden enclosure, came with no manuals no software a couple of meters of ABS, a dodgy power supply (works if in just the right position) and sold on the well known auction site. Bought unworking as the extruder was clogged and the previous owner had handed his notice in and was moving the OZ so selling all his gear off. Bought it cheap but need to sort it out. Never had one before, I work in software and ok with a soldering iron and a meter and have a tool kit so time for some fun, just may need some guidance.

Spent an evening tinkering and have mostly cleared the clog but when feeding when 30 mm off the bed the extrusion kind of curls back round on the nozzle so may need some further cleaning.

Have it hooked up to pronterware and Repetier and can manually move the extruder around trying to print it just causes a mess, seems the nozzle is moving in the melted ABS on the bed.

So will dial in Z axis and then the extruder feed and then need a decent test print file.

Look forward to some help then helping others and finding out what I have.

Paul