3d-oodler
We have had most parts arrive early for the hotends, we are packing them now.

We are waiting on the final part - heaters. They are in the hands of FedEx right now - but there are a LOT of defective cartridges on the market right now, so I won't drop the lead time until I have parts in my hands, inspected and tested.

Best case scenario is that we will be shipping on next Monday (12th Aug) - all depends on the heaters coming in and being within spec. I refuse to ship substandard product, it comes back to bite me long term.

Thanks for the explanation SanjayM.  Looks like the best case scenario played out as I just saw the shipped notice. :-)

And I have the new ATmega1284 installed, up to date, and responding so I'll be ready  to install the new hotend when it arrives.

3d-oodlerI refuse to ship substandard product, it comes back to bite me long term.

[You make us swoon. This is what develops love]

We are waiting on the final part - heaters. They are in the hands of FedEx right now - but there are a LOT of defective cartridges on the market right now, so I won't drop the lead time until I have parts in my hands, inspected and tested.

Best case scenario is that we will be shipping on next Monday (12th Aug) - all depends on the heaters coming in and being within spec. I refuse to ship substandard product, it comes back to bite me long term.

I have 2 ATMega1284P with marlin preloaded. I will sell you one for the cost of shipping and a beer :-) ~$8

Thanks for the offer 2n2r5.  I'd take you up on it if I hadn't ordered one from eBay last night (also with marlin preloaded).

Thanks for the responses.  Chip came out easily.  Best I can tell the buzz test passed.

The board was in it's original mount position (SD3) with the pins held away from the case.

I did have the thermistor positioned a little different in that last run and a bit contorted.  I took another look at it and it seems  one of the lead wires is loose, moving inside of the bead.  It's possible the leads were touching outside of the bead as well the way I had it taped.

This all happened shortly after I ordered an E3D.  So I'll be out of commission until I receive a new ATMEGA1284P as well as hotend.

Anyone know if the E3D lead time is still 4 weeks as it reads on their site?

I have 2 ATMega1284P with marlin preloaded. I will sell you one for the cost of shipping and a beer :-) ~$8

Anyone know if the E3D lead time is still 4 weeks as it reads on their site?

It should be less, call it 2 weeks.. consider that 4 weeks 'worst case'... But theres a new batch coming in early this week so depends I guess...

The board was in it's original mount position (SD3) with the pins held away from the case.

I did have the thermistor positioned a little different in that last run and a bit contorted.  I took another look at it and it seems  one of the lead wires is loose, moving inside of the bead.  It's possible the leads were touching outside of the bead as well the way I had it taped.

This all happened shortly after I ordered an E3D.  So I'll be out of commission until I receive a new ATMEGA1284P as well as hotend.

Anyone know if the E3D lead time is still 4 weeks as it reads on their site?

As for solving your situation - You are better off ordering an ATmega1284.. since its cheaper anyway : http://www.botronicz.com/atmel-atmega-p … ololu.html

Buying from mouser, you will need a ICSP as it comes sans-bootloader. The URL above is for a 1284 (more RAM, Program Mem) and includes a bootloader.

Removal and replacement is simple - its in a DIL socket.. it just plugs and unplugs....

But before just replacing the IC.. I'd be using a DMM to 'buzz test' all the VCC lines on the board, as something has or had a nasty short somewhere ...

And that 'bad smell'.. well.. Its a unique smell that relates to inherent electrical componentary death.. and is a sure sign of things are dead and almost universally includes a component or 3 having 'released their magic smoke' (as everyone in the industry knows, all electronic components don't run on electrons, but rather magic smoke... and once you let that smoke escape from a component, it ceases to work.. Q.E.D.. electronics are made from magic smoke... )

There's a small hole on the surface:

And corresponding black schmutz on the acrylic

How can I know if that's a symptom or root cause?  Or no way to tell without first replacing it?

For $13 delivered I suppose it's worth trying:
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Atm … Qgod-XIAjQ

If I can figure out how to remove it without damaging the board.

In the process of doing so the fire cement around the resistor in the heat core flaked off little by little to the point where the resistor was rotating in the core while handling it.

After putting things back together I turned the printer on a set the extruder temp @ 50C.  After a minute or two I raised it to 75C and shortly after I saw a puff of smoke from the back of the printer (ie. the board), followed by a bad smell.

Repeatier Host reported a COM error.

I shut everything off and took off the hot end.  While inspecting the heat core one of the resistor lead wires broke in front of me.  Could this really cause damage to the board?

Now when I turn everything on, the computer can't connect to the printer.

The board is getting power and I hear the usual sounds when  the USB connection is live (some initialization sound on the extruder, not the exhaust fan).  I checked the stepper chips' voltage and those are reading normal.

What else should I check?

Thanks for the help!