you're not measure high precision components.

with regard cost, the last time I needed a 9v box battery, I drove to a supermarket and bought 2 for £5 (GBP)

then I bought a multimeter online for £4 GBP from china, it was shipped, and delivered to my door, it had a battery installed and came with a battery... I'm still trying to figure out how they could get two batteries delivered to my door with a tool included cheaper that I could walk into a supermarket and get it.

basically, most of the solidoodle trouble shooting will be, does this have voltage, what is that voltage, does this have continuity, or no continuity/a break.
is this roughly near to that resistance. high precision tools are just not needed!

You're only putting it near 12v - the whole Solidoodle runs on 12v.

The only measurements that need to be accurate are the trim pot voltages. There's no need to measure current anywhere, and measuring heater resistance can be off 10% and still be fine - you're really just looking for ~5 ohms or open circuit. There's no AC, so RMS doesn't matter

Fair call... But I still think that doesn't make it a 'good' DMM, just an 'adequate one' - and I was responding to the question in terms of whats 'a good DMM'. I also was make an assumption that it was better to get something that could be used elsewhere than the Solidoodle without concerns.....

So yeah, happy to concede that the HF job is 'a DMM' and one that will achieve the currently desired goals.. but isn't what one would normally refer to elsewhere as good/great/sound investment in respect to a DMM... at least if I was recommending it myself anyway

On voltage maybe, but I'd be really surprised on Current or Resistance if that still holds true - particularly on lower amperages in the ma range.. I'm also guessing the $4 one is 2000 count versus the 6000 count of the 179 .. so its a bit like comparing apples and elephants  in terms of accuracy (since +/- 1% accuracy plus 3 counts on 6000 count is very different to +/- 1% plus 1 count on a 2000 count).. oh and true RMS versus averaged reading...

And there is a world of difference between safety ratings.. I have a heap of cheapy DMM's that are fine for benchtop work with low accuracy but I wouldn't be caught dead putting them near anything >12V There is a big difference between sticking a Cat IV 600V label on a DMM and it actually *being* Cat IV 600V

But hey.. maybe its a really amazing $4 DMM and I'm just talking out my backside - it happens quite regularly ... you got a link you can share ?

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function … 98025.html

You're only putting it near 12v - the whole Solidoodle runs on 12v.

The only measurements that need to be accurate are the trim pot voltages. There's no need to measure current anywhere, and measuring heater resistance can be off 10% and still be fine - you're really just looking for ~5 ohms or open circuit. There's no AC, so RMS doesn't matter

And there is a world of difference between safety ratings.. I have a heap of cheapy DMM's that are fine for benchtop work with low accuracy but I wouldn't be caught dead putting them near anything >12V There is a big difference between sticking a Cat IV 600V label on a DMM and it actually *being* Cat IV 600V

But hey.. maybe its a really amazing $4 DMM and I'm just talking out my backside - it happens quite regularly ... you got a link you can share ?

IanJohnson wrote:

They sell them at the solidoodle store, though I recommend this one - https://www.hotends.com/index.php?route … duct_id=83

You might need to print a new extruder for it though, I think it might be about .5mm too big for the acrylic.

I still can't get a good answer on which multi meter I should invest my money in to see what the problem is. Someone on here suggested a $4 one, and when I e-mailed support they suggested staying away from one that cheap and instead suggested a radioshack model and a high end $120ish model. I can't find the model they mentioned for radioshack, but I suspect it is pricy and of low quality just from knowing we're talking about radioshack. Could someone tell me exactly what the multimeter must be able to do, the degree of percision it requires, and why their suggested model fits the bill?

That $4 one reads within 1% of my $230 Fluke 179...

The one I use day to day for my hacking around with PCB's and microcontrollers etc is this one http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=QM1571 and a cheap chinese 'tweezer' SMD ones..

Have a read of this semi-salesy type but otherwise informative document from Fluke; a brand many consider the Ferrari of modern multimeters; http://support.fluke.com/find-sales/Dow … NG_M_W.PDF

Then really it comes down to 'will you use this more than once?' and if the answer is 'no', get a $30 one... If its 'yes, i can see it will be used about three times a year on the printer alone', then stretch it to a $100 one. If you did this professionally - then you could potentially drop close to a grand for a top quality fluke...

Regardless - be wary of 'cheap' ones on eBay and the low-low-cost RadioShack ones - there is a lot to be said for ensuring if you are trying to measure something to test/calibrate it, then you want to be damn sure you're ruler is accurate!

They sell them at the solidoodle store, though I recommend this one - https://www.hotends.com/index.php?route … duct_id=83

You might need to print a new extruder for it though, I think it might be about .5mm too big for the acrylic.

I still can't get a good answer on which multi meter I should invest my money in to see what the problem is. Someone on here suggested a $4 one, and when I e-mailed support they suggested staying away from one that cheap and instead suggested a radioshack model and a high end $120ish model. I can't find the model they mentioned for radioshack, but I suspect it is pricy and of low quality just from knowing we're talking about radioshack. Could someone tell me exactly what the multimeter must be able to do, the degree of percision it requires, and why their suggested model fits the bill?

You might need to print a new extruder for it though, I think it might be about .5mm too big for the acrylic.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function … 98025.html

The hotend fails because it's not a great design. It's been covered here on the forums already.

Well shoot. I wish I would have known that before. lol. I hope they design it better next time I'm in the market for a 3D printer. But seeing as that this one is hemoraging money from me I can't be sure when that will be.

The hotend fails because it's not a great design. It's been covered here on the forums already.

Rocketman wrote:

elmoret wrote:

It's been covered many times. I mean, there's even a sticky for it:

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/636/hot- … to-repair/

It looks like a really painful process to finding out what is wrong, and I'm worried that afterwards the only thing I might be able to do is replace something that will be costly. I mean I don't even have a multimeter, which will cost me something. I've only had the printer for maybe 2 months and it already looks like the equipment needed to keep it running will cost me more than the machine itself cost. I wish there was a technician that I could hire to take care of this business for me because I don't have the technical know-how for this type of thing.

Having a multimeter would just make it certain that what the error was. We get a decent number of hot-ends that can be fixed on the spot. With the multimeter we can check on weather the heating element itself has died.

What brand and model of multimeter should I invest in getting? And assuming it is the "hot end" as was previously said to be the problem 95% of the time, what causes this type of failer? The only real changes I've made was putting in a plexglas ceiling and walls and releveling the platforum, and in doing so needed to put the thermometer back in place under Kapton tape that I needed to order online.

The Hot end assembly is from the black thing (Peek) in your acrylic "jigsaw" (Where your filament goes) to the nozzle (Where the filament exists). This assembly is sold on the Solidoodle store for $59. The assembly is fairly easy to remove if you follow the video on the Solidoodle Wiki. Be careful not to break the acrylic Jigsaw when removing the hot end. The components of the hot end include the Peek (Black thing), clear acrylic spacer, wood spacer block, Brass threaded barrel, heater assembly (aluminum block where the wires go), heater resistor (In the aluminum block), Thermister( reads the temprature of the hot end and is located under the gold colored kapton tape), a black round piece if insulation, some kapton tape, and the nozzle. This assembly can come completely apart and each component can be replaced seperately....

Thanks for all those instructions. However I don't own a torch nor feel comfortable using one. Any plans that would not require playing with fire?