In the meantime, I have managed to get the PC finished (built) I just need to install an operating system. First thing I will be trying is if the board connects to the PC... If it doesn't, it looks like I will have to break out my other arduino 2560 board and utilize it with the driver boards I have.

Now Heartless, don't be so harsh. You might run him off to that Facebook group for good.

LOL, You wish, Carl! I need to lower myself to high school level to take JoAnne and Jacob seriously. All their post are ignored!

heartless wrote:

yizhou.he wrote:

Hmm, I think your kits may have been water damaged. It is just one of my wild guess since you did not show any picture of any part of the printer yet. Looking for signs of water damage on PCB board, it looks slightly different for different board, you can google "water damage pcb" in google image. If everything looks brand new to you, then something else is happening.

I got one of my Mono Price maker select V2 from ebay, x-axis motor can not turn by hand even with tools, water damage sign on power supply and display board. I WD40 all the motor and rods and lubricate them afterwards. Also cleaned the salt on water damaged spot on pcb with water and ethanol and wait for it to completely dry. And everything seemed to work just fine after that. Except the power supply smoked once. I replaced the power supple even thought I was able to fix it, simply can not trust the water damaged power supply anymore. Replace the main board is probably a good idea too, but I want to do that after it gave me trouble.

I don't know where you get your kits from, but some problem can be hard to tell from the picture on ebay, got to be careful with those deals that don't accept returns.

And yet again with the garbage from someone that knows nothing about anything.
Go back to your damn DaVinci's and just shut it.

I honestly can not take anymore of the garbage being posted by you, yizhou.he
You continue to post like you know everything there is to know, and yet you know NOTHING.
you spout piles of garbage like they are gospel - ENOUGH ALREADY!

You are making things harder for this person, not easier.

Now Heartless, don't be so harsh. You might run him off to that Facebook group for good.

we can only hope we're that lucky

yizhou.he wrote:

Hmm, I think your kits may have been water damaged. It is just one of my wild guess since you did not show any picture of any part of the printer yet. Looking for signs of water damage on PCB board, it looks slightly different for different board, you can google "water damage pcb" in google image. If everything looks brand new to you, then something else is happening.

I got one of my Mono Price maker select V2 from ebay, x-axis motor can not turn by hand even with tools, water damage sign on power supply and display board. I WD40 all the motor and rods and lubricate them afterwards. Also cleaned the salt on water damaged spot on pcb with water and ethanol and wait for it to completely dry. And everything seemed to work just fine after that. Except the power supply smoked once. I replaced the power supple even thought I was able to fix it, simply can not trust the water damaged power supply anymore. Replace the main board is probably a good idea too, but I want to do that after it gave me trouble.

I don't know where you get your kits from, but some problem can be hard to tell from the picture on ebay, got to be careful with those deals that don't accept returns.

And yet again with the garbage from someone that knows nothing about anything.
Go back to your damn DaVinci's and just shut it.

I honestly can not take anymore of the garbage being posted by you, yizhou.he
You continue to post like you know everything there is to know, and yet you know NOTHING.
you spout piles of garbage like they are gospel - ENOUGH ALREADY!

You are making things harder for this person, not easier.

Now Heartless, don't be so harsh. You might run him off to that Facebook group for good.

The kit arrived without a single transit mark on the box, that meaning things like tears, gouge's, dents, ruptures, leakages, crush and collapse incidents (how we used to term the package failure in the company I used to work at.)

The electronics was packaged in the static plastic film (Silver Mylar) stuff, some electronics were shipped in the red plastic anti-static bags but not the main board.

I have been looking at lead screws as the one way of dealing with this but I then need to remove a screw that became jammed because I didn't realize it at the time, was offset by about half a thou and may as well gone in sideways, so I thought what the f... Too late, will have to drill that bugger out.

I did give the old girl a run through autohome again and the Z axis was starting to turn and move but kept on stopping and needed a helping hand and then noted that the problem again of the wrong screw type stated that triggers the end-stop was 20 mm too short. So that occasion got a helping hand byway of the off switch.

I shall be passing my local DIY store, will have a look at what rod they have on offer, last time I needed something like that, the internet were quoting prices like £19.95 with free delivery and the local Home Improvement Chain Store was offering the same threaded rod for ... £3.95 , so naturally I bought the stuff off the internet... Really? No, you will be amazed at how much stuff on ebay is available in your local stores or companies who will likely do you a better deal and you could take stuff back...

Anyway, its progress as I now found out that despite tramming the bed so it is level, the hotbed is not straight and the glass I don't think is 100% flat because it can be level at the edges and dip at the center mark of the outer edge and also bow a bit in the middle, but then thats why I bought the bed levelling sensor that does not come with a mounting kit... but offer an STL file for you to print a mounting bracket for the probe. You know, a couple of pence for a metal part to be stamped out isn't much to ask for given the price these chinese sellers are selling their kit at. I figure that my motor mount and axis are pressed metal parts, granted not 100% accurate but made of metal, I have seen Acrylic parts being used on stress locations and I think that it is important to get this stuff out there on youtube to force vendors to stop over pricing, provide proper kit of parts that fit as described.

So far the Y axis has been modified to reduce the risk of belt tearing itself apart and I bought a part to grip the teeth to the aluminium block, I drilled and tapped an M3 hole, fitted the part and it fits better with zero stress on the connection points as they now travel parallel to the belt below it rather than a near tapeziod (belt not parallel) type drive. So I have reduced stepping errors at the outer edge of the Y axis.

So the hilarity continues.

In this image, I used a metal set square to set up right angles as a guide, then set a protractor up so I could set the Die faces so they were (eyeball) perpendicular to the baseline I was measuring from. I then inserted a lead screw and rotated the die along the axis of the rod so that I could see maximum divergence, The Die is not perfectly placed and the leadscrew is back on the printer but thought I would show just how bad these lead screws are. So the lead screw is the angled line and imagine the rod being threaded  5° from centre, IMHO this was a case of the tooling was off or the work was pushed too hard through the die, either way, a slower cut would have produced an adequate thread and a more accurate pitch.

In this image, the display is powered by a USB powerbank plugged in to the USB port of the GT2560 board, as you can see, the board powers via USB and there is software on there...

WHEN this works is when I will be stripping the electronics down and boxing the hardware so theres no cables trailing all over the place plus get the mains encased in a metal box (which I have) so it can be referenced to earth properly, I am not trusting the PSU with this machine as I looked at it and was horrified to find that there is no air gap in the board keeping High side from the low side from possible shorts and leakage in moist conditions. So it is going to be replaced.

So my lead screws are going to be replaced with a new set and for that I will have to wait for the bushings as I am not going to buy lead screw rod on-line when I know I can get it at a fraction of the cost locally.

Ciao 4 now()

Hmm, I think your kits may have been water damaged. It is just one of my wild guess since you did not show any picture of any part of the printer yet. Looking for signs of water damage on PCB board, it looks slightly different for different board, you can google "water damage pcb" in google image. If everything looks brand new to you, then something else is happening.

I got one of my Mono Price maker select V2 from ebay, x-axis motor can not turn by hand even with tools, water damage sign on power supply and display board. I WD40 all the motor and rods and lubricate them afterwards. Also cleaned the salt on water damaged spot on pcb with water and ethanol and wait for it to completely dry. And everything seemed to work just fine after that. Except the power supply smoked once. I replaced the power supple even thought I was able to fix it, simply can not trust the water damaged power supply anymore. Replace the main board is probably a good idea too, but I want to do that after it gave me trouble.

I don't know where you get your kits from, but some problem can be hard to tell from the picture on ebay, got to be careful with those deals that don't accept returns.

And yet again with the garbage from someone that knows nothing about anything.
Go back to your damn DaVinci's and just shut it.

I honestly can not take anymore of the garbage being posted by you, yizhou.he
You continue to post like you know everything there is to know, and yet you know NOTHING.
you spout piles of garbage like they are gospel - ENOUGH ALREADY!

You are making things harder for this person, not easier.

I got one of my Mono Price maker select V2 from ebay, x-axis motor can not turn by hand even with tools, water damage sign on power supply and display board. I WD40 all the motor and rods and lubricate them afterwards. Also cleaned the salt on water damaged spot on pcb with water and ethanol and wait for it to completely dry. And everything seemed to work just fine after that. Except the power supply smoked once. I replaced the power supple even thought I was able to fix it, simply can not trust the water damaged power supply anymore. Replace the main board is probably a good idea too, but I want to do that after it gave me trouble.

I don't know where you get your kits from, but some problem can be hard to tell from the picture on ebay, got to be careful with those deals that don't accept returns.

Ok, in summary, i only see two small issues, not something I would pull my hair or banging my head against the wall and blood.

1. Windows found USB device but not the com port.
2. Z-axis motor is weak.

For problem 1, looking for com port in device manager is not always good idea, it sometimes show up in com port, sometimes show up in usb device, or even in other devices if you did not install right driver. It is usually lot easier to check available port in Arduino. Also you need to install driver for FT232RQ from the cd-rom that come with the board or download from their website. See instruction here:
https://www.geeetech.com/wiki/index.php … nd_Setting

Yes I have already installed it, the driver was adjusted,

I already have seen a video and adjusted the trims to around the suggested 650mA

Oh I wouldn't be so strong in my wording, lets just say that "It's an experience" one I would rather not repeat but a valuable learning opportunity in all sorts of way... and yes, I am being a bit facetious.

I haven't had this much fun since the international paint drying championships and the scandal of the paint doping in the finals... Yes, someone managed to slip in some thinners to speed up drying... Tut Tut.

The computer detected the USB device, up popped the new hardware notice, the drivers were eventually installed but Arduino does not pick up anything and I can't see where in the Arduino settings you get to select the com port, I distinctly remember that a version of Arduino I have did list in a menu the option to select a com port.

So my PC can not communicate with the printer board, either powered on or powered off states, the board seems to pull its Arduino power supply from the USB when plugged in to the PC.

NOW THE Z- AXIS.

Holy Mother of ... What a head noodler they were, I was trying to figure out what is wron with the lead screws, well the problem is three fold.

1, the brass bushings that fit the lead screw had a tap size that is obviously off a worn tool as it was very tight.

Then the lead screws were... wait for it...
a) slightly oversized in their thread, the Die I sent down the screws kept on snarling up every so often and this indicated another worn tool.
b) the thread is not at right angles to the body of the lead screw, over the length I have extrapolated that the thread tool was not set right and was off by 5° which meant the longer down the thread you went, the more the divergence in the threads tendancy to rotate with some bias, making it bind up in the threads of the bushings because the lead screws are so bad. Both the lead screws and bushing appear to be off by 5° so this over such a short distance may not be an issue other than premature wear on the bushes.
c) The fan in the video is fitted to the frame and I am still scratching my head as the air flow is pretty poor and if fixed in the way it is designed to fit, the Z axis is blocked by it but mounting it on the other side in its proper orientation mean that the screws are too small by about 5mm

Really I wanted to buy this kit, it was so annoyingly obviously full of junk that it was begging to be bought and possibly turned in to a Youtube Comedy for the layman.

So what I did was my best to clean up the lead screw to bring it to diameter and also pass a tap through the bushing and the threads now turn much more evenly and a dash of WD40 on to the screw at the bushing join and it was rotating very freely.

I do need to get some decent lubrication for the linear bearings, this machine is constantly being taken apart to improve parts, got a set of linear bearings that I can replace the method that they had shown in the video... IMHO cable ties are just cheap considering that the kit once complete has lots of metal work left over. Makes you wonder how many iterations and substitutions have gone on.

The real aim is to get a look at and build one and then build my own and pass this machine to my son to use.

I do have components like the 2560 board and a RAMPS 1.4 board in case this Geeetech version is dud as the 2560 board I have accepts the Blink Script off the same machine that can't see the printer... Thats whats bugging me the most.

Also there appears to be software already running and the Z axis does not have the option to setp up or down but when auto home was attempted last time, it made a racket. I will be attempting to do another test tonight and I will update people.

I appreciate the feedback, input, ideas.

Ciao.

IMHO you are very close to getting this kit up and running. hang in there.

1. Windows found USB device but not the com port.
2. Z-axis motor is weak.

For problem 1, looking for com port in device manager is not always good idea, it sometimes show up in com port, sometimes show up in usb device, or even in other devices if you did not install right driver. It is usually lot easier to check available port in Arduino. Also you need to install driver for FT232RQ from the cd-rom that come with the board or download from their website. See instruction here:
https://www.geeetech.com/wiki/index.php … nd_Setting

For problem 2, two small issue can contribute to it.
1, z-axis motor wire connection is not solid. check for resistance with multi-meters. Also double check if the wire is in right order for z-axis.
2. Motor current is too low. There is small pot on motor driver on the GT2560 mainboard, you should google for instruction on how to adjust motor current.

moving z-axis in menu is a firmware setting, some machine only allow move z-axis in 1mm in menu but not in 10mm in menu. You can change this setting when you have access to firmware after solve USB port driver issue. In the mean time, try move z-axis from the 1mm section.

I have no experience with Geeetech i3 Pro B clone of a Prusa i3, but the problem you hit is very common small issues with most DIY kits. Most other people experience missing parts, bent rods, heated bed temperature increase slow, power supply issue etc. So I would not call your Geeetech i3 Pro B clone of a Prusa i3 kits junk yet.

did you actually research the printer, and all of it's known issues, before you bought it?
or did you just go with it because of the price?
yes, they are cheap, and there is a reason for that - they are known to be junk.
A similar mistake was made here with a Geeeetech Kossel - got maybe halfway through the build and gave up on it, it was so bad.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this thing really is not worth pulling your hair out over.
Save the motors, and maybe a few other bits as emergency back-up parts, but forget the rest of it and start over.
There are far better options out there. Do your homework before making a choice, however.
I can personally vouch for Folgertech if you want to do a kit - I have built 3 of their machines and while not perfect, they are decent kits.
They will also actually help if you have a problem - unlike Geeeetech.

As for the communication part - most "drivers" that are automatically installed by Windows (of any version) are NOT going to work correctly.
You need to download and install the correct driver for your board manually.