Here is a Printrboard

Here is a Sang

It sez: "shipped after June 2013 have a Solidoodle-manufactured proprietary Printrboard and use an ATMega 1286-AU."

That's mine. Then it sez: "Printrboard firmware update process
If you have one of the more recent Solidoodles with the Printrboard, follow the instructions [1] for updating the firmware. Ignore the rest of this section except for the table of changes to the Configuration.h file below."

However, when I click the [1] link it takes me to the Solidoodle wiki and "The page update-firmware-here you want to access does not exist."

So, where can I find the instructions to update the Printrboard firmware?

Thanks.

I wrote E3DOnline to ask but they haven't answered yet... why don't they ship the heater block with the thermistor already installed? It seems like that would save a lot of hassle on the customer's part and probably prevent a  few damaged thermistors and grounded thermistor legs.

It might be a good tip to advise people to do a continuity check with a multimeter to assure you don't have one of the thermistor legs grounded against the heater block.

And, how to test a thermistor with a multimeter (Ohms) and heat gun.

I like their hot ends but it appears to me that the thermistor is the weak part of the design. That is to say, it should either be made easier to install reliably (the little screw thing seems kinda... to me) or be pre-installed.

But, they may have a real good reason why they don't do it that way.

Because time, and because they're selling to makers, the overwhelming majority of which would rather install a thermistor themselves than pay someone else to do it for them.

What part of it is difficult? I've done probably a dozen of them with no shorts. Slide fiberglass over the legs, thermistor into the hole, usually check that the fiberglass followed the thermistor into the hole, insert screw, job done.

The instructions they provide for assembly are pretty clear cut for the materials they provide, and the images sure help. They've even gone down to the detail of pointing out which side of the washer you should put against the thermistor...

Thermistors are easier to interface with the electronics, and are relatively cheap for their accuracy and response speed. The tradeoff is they're quite delicate. A thermocouple is increasingly an alternative, E3D sells an interface board for these. These can be installed much more brutally (directly connected to the heater block is fine!) but note the cost increase when the amplifier is accounted for.

The screw-down thermistor installation is an improvement on the previous: which was kapton tape... The screw provides better strain relief, and is easier to assemble consistently compared to the tape method. With the instructions they provide, it should reasonable to achieve a good installation. Check out the close-up photos of the sleeving in the hole etc. I totally get your point about providing them with the sensor pre-installed. I've seen people discussing encapsulating a sensor inside a screw, and then the sensor would only need to be screwed in - but again, not sure this would have been as economical.

Continuity checks are always a great idea. Go for it. Results should be:
* Leg to leg: 100kOhm, or very roughly thereabouts depending on temperature (of course!)
* Leg to block: should be high impedance / not connected

It might be a good tip to advise people to do a continuity check with a multimeter to assure you don't have one of the thermistor legs grounded against the heater block.

And, how to test a thermistor with a multimeter (Ohms) and heat gun.

I like their hot ends but it appears to me that the thermistor is the weak part of the design. That is to say, it should either be made easier to install reliably (the little screw thing seems kinda... to me) or be pre-installed.

But, they may have a real good reason why they don't do it that way.

I'll pull the thermistor and resolder it. Is there a way to test the thermistor?

Thermistor should not be soldered. Please follow the E3D assembly instructions.

Firmware needs to be updated. Please follow the E3D assembly instructions.

The groove mount changed between v5 and v6.

Lite6's heatbreak and heatsink are one piece. All E3D heater blocks and nozzles (except Cyclops) are cross-compatible, even back to v5.

Mostly it's easiest to just have it plugged into the printer, and confirm that a sensible temperature is being read (via the temperature graph or M105). If it reads 0, this means it's open-circuit / broken connection, if it reads really high (off the chart) and triggers MAX TEMP then it may be shorted. If you wobble it, and the temperature graph jumps around then there's a poor connection/break somewhere that needs fixin'.

I can't speak on the compatibility of the v6 heat break with the lite cold-end - someone who has (or distributes? Tim?) both should confirm. Unlikely to affect the printer as you've described, but my instinct is they may not be entirely compatible as the lite needs the PTFE tube lining into the heatbreak, which the v6 heatsink probably won't allow - it won't fit properly, or you'll have extrusion problems when you get it going...

Grob, I did not update the firmware.

Here is one more thing: the Mk5 extruder I had printed would not accept the Ed6 Lite extruder, it didn't fit. All three of my spare extruder blocks would not fit either.

So I removed the (bent) heat break tube from my prior Ed6 (original version) and simply screwed the new Ed6 Lite thermistor block and thermisto onto that. A half Ed6/Ed6 Lite extruder. I was hoping to get it running well enough to print a Mk6 extruder mount to fit the entire Lite hot end. Could that be the problem?

Fan and lights mean you have power, but these are not controlled by the board.

Anything showing up on the temperature graph?
When you connect the printer, look at the terminal window and check for any errors.

Did you update the firmware at all? If not, we can assume it's not a configuration error!

Homing will work most of the time - not sure of the behaviour with a temperature error, but check the endstop status (M119) and reported position (M114) to make sure these are working/make sense (in Marlin, if the axis doesn't think it's homed, it will not allow you to move away from the endstop).