1 Topic by Photog (edited by Photog 2014-04-17 06:41:20)

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Topic: Did I kill the board?

I was adjusting the trimpots. Caused a small spark on the board when metering.

Now my computer will not recognize the SD3 no matter where it's plugged into which port.

But the printer is still getting power to the board when not plugged into wall, the green LED is on but it doesn't blink and the COM port will not show up no matter what I do! So it is getting power through the USB.

Any ideas or is the board toast?

Oddly enough I started having issues earlier before I did the trimpots, having trouble connecting, but it was fixed when I moved it to a USB port directly on my computer. But now .. nothing

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

2 Reply by grob

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Sad news! Sounds like toast to me I'm afraid. Try lots of power-on combinations: USB then 12V, 12V then USB, etc. I've had trouble sometimes with communication when the 12V is not in. If that doesn't help, then something on there has died. Can you see / upload a photo of the burn mark? Someone might be able to guess what's gone pop based on the printrboard schematics...

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

3 Reply by Photog

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Re: Did I kill the board?

grob wrote:

Sad news! Sounds like toast to me I'm afraid. Try lots of power-on combinations: USB then 12V, 12V then USB, etc. I've had trouble sometimes with communication when the 12V is not in. If that doesn't help, then something on there has died. Can you see / upload a photo of the burn mark? Someone might be able to guess what's gone pop based on the printrboard schematics...

No burn mark.

Just a small spark from where I touched something with the multimeter near one of the driver chips.

I just unplugged the12v AC adapter from the socket and it sparked like a mother when I pulled it out though. What the heck?

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

4 Reply by grob

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Re: Did I kill the board?

1) Uh-oh. Sparks happen like that when there's a whole lot of current being drawn while you disconnect it (like when electric trains spark as they go across joints in the overhead line) - I assume the heaters aren't on / getting hot (even if the board is dead, maybe they're switched on by the fault?). Anything on the board getting hot (stepper driver chips particularly)?

2) Measure the output of the supply (stick a voltmeter in the barrel). Should be 12V +/- 0.5V

3) Plug it back in, measure the input voltage anywhere convenient on the board (socket preferably), make sure it's about the same 12V +/- 0.5V. If it's drawing current it will sag, possibly a lot.

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

5 Reply by Photog (edited by Photog 2014-04-17 07:44:21)

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Measured the DC supply from wall. 12.7 volts.

Measured the DC socket on the board (with USB plugged in).  3.4 volts.

With just USB plugged in, the big chip in the middle is hot. The stepper chips are not hot. (EDIT: Y CHIP IS HOT SEE POST BELOW)

Getting 5.1 volts from the USB supply coming from computer.

With DC adapter plugged in, I'm getting 4.9 volts at the USB socket on the board.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

6 Reply by Photog (edited by Photog 2014-04-17 07:37:41)

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Think I may have figured it out.

With DC wall adapter in and USB in,  the Y stepper chip is extremely hot. This is interesting, as I was having problems getting the Y to do any moves earlier in the day (kept saying "Y at endstop" or something, even though it wasnt). It was doing this before the board quit.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

7 Reply by Photog (edited by Photog 2014-04-17 07:44:01)

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Voltage at Y chip is .501. When I measured it there was a blue spark at the Z chip just now. Now there IS a burn mark on one of the metal pins coming out of the Z chip.

I give up. I am too shaky to do this lol.


edit: after burn mark on Z chip pin, the Z chip is not getting hot like the Y chip is.

Maybe the burn mark on Z chip didn't do damage. I do not see any burn marks on Y chip though.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

8 Reply by Photog

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Any ideas. I'd like to try to fix it before buying a new $170 board sad

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

9 Reply by adrian

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Buy one of the very latest batch from Geeetech - they are back to 4 layers, have fixed the track issue, have mount holes, and are $30.....

10 Reply by Photog

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Are those set to go?

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

11 Reply by wardjr

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Re: Did I kill the board?

You'll have to flash the firmware.  Think of it as a chance to upgrade from the stock firmware. smile

Printit Industries Model 8.10 fully enclosed CoreXY, Chamber heat
3-SD3's & a Workbench all fully enclosed, RH-Slic3r Win7pro, E3D V6, Volcano & Cyclops Hot End
SSR/500W AC Heated Glass Bed, Linear bearings on SS rods. Direct Drive Y-axis, BulldogXL
Thanks to all for your contributions

wardjr's Website

12 Reply by Photog

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Ehh I just got the new board in from Solidoodle today, ordered it before you guys suggested that one from Geeetech. Everything working again now.

Anyone want to buy my old Rev E printrboard and try to fix it? Make an offer. Damn thing was expensive.

My SD3:  Clear plexiglass case, case heater, X axis stabilizer, Z axis stabilizer, thumb screws, filament guide, heatsinks on all motors, extruder fan, controller fan, heatsinks on motherboard, Y rod pillow block, USB and Power on/off switch, fully calibrated including trimpot tuning. Am I missing anything?

13 Reply by XistenZ

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Re: Did I kill the board?

I think I may have done the same thing (printer not connecting to computer after I trimmed the pots). 179$ for a new board sounds like poo so I checked that geeetech and they have about a billion boards. Which one am I supposed to get? I have SD2.

14 Reply by adrian

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Re: Did I kill the board?

http://www.geeetech.com/new-version-rep … p-653.html

Every couple of weeks they will turn up in the Weekend Specials..

The most recent batches are back to 4 layers, and have mount holes again (they tried to make a cheaper 2 layer board, then goofed the track sizes, and forgot mount holes... The latest ones I got from weekend sale about 3 weeks ago was $29 each, and are back to 4 layer + mount holes (i.e, 'original printrboard').

15 Reply by XistenZ

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Re: Did I kill the board?

adrian wrote:

http://www.geeetech.com/new-version-rep … p-653.html

Every couple of weeks they will turn up in the Weekend Specials..

The most recent batches are back to 4 layers, and have mount holes again (they tried to make a cheaper 2 layer board, then goofed the track sizes, and forgot mount holes... The latest ones I got from weekend sale about 3 weeks ago was $29 each, and are back to 4 layer + mount holes (i.e, 'original printrboard').

Ok, so what does 2 and 4 layers mean? Is this something I should be looking for if I'll get one?
I don't know much about these things, if I hook it up to my solidoodle would I have to configure a shitload of stuff or would it just work after I tuned the pots and somehow got the firmware onto it?
It's powered by a 4-pin ATX, the powersupply that comes with the solidoodle is this ginormous adapter, is the ATX sufficient to drive the entire board?
One last thing, what is the reason Solidoodle charges 140$ more for these boards if they do the same work?

16 Reply by adrian (edited by adrian 2014-04-24 23:34:43)

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Re: Did I kill the board?

2 and 4 layers is the number of layers that make up the PCB. Its relevant, but nothing to loose sleep over if its all 'greek' to you...

The Solidoodle plug, whilst looking all nice and industrial, is nothing more than a 10Amp rated barrel connector.
Genuine Molex P4 connectors (aka, "4-pin square atx plugs) are rated to 13Amp *per contact* - giving a total safe current load of 26Amp...

So yes - a Molex P4 connector housing ( Male plug - Part # 39-01-2040 - Datasheet http://www.molex.com/webdocs/datasheets … USINGS.pdf ) is actually rated to almost 2.5 times that 'industrial looking' Solidoodle barrel plug is rated to and more capable than the stock connector.  (And further evidence that looks can be very deceiving and the devil is always in the detail in the datasheet wink )

Re Firmware/Hooking up - you have to do nothing other than load the latest Community Marlin Firmware... this is covered numerous times across the forum/wiki.

Finally - Because Solidoodle love a good price gouge and they rely on people just clicking 'buy now' without researching anything first. They charge more than anyone for anything they sell besides the printers themselves... and then combine it with the ridiculously slow and overpriced freight costs... *shrug* (Like, the $45 they want to ship me a $25 t-shirt that will take 3 weeks to arrive... when for $50 I shipped two entire all-aluminum printers from Hong Kong *overnight* to Australia... ) Another example - $19 for a single piece of 200x200 Kapton Tape for the bed. Can buy it in Rolls of 200mmx100ft for $49; even less on DX/Aliexpress.... Or their $59 for a new hotend that is largely nothing other than a Makergear V2 PEEK GrooveMount + HeatCore + Nozzle ($39 from Makergear for all the bits...) I could go on.. but I wont as it would be unfair to dismantle their entire spare parts list wink  Basically - All the items listed in their 'spare parts page' are hideously marked up compared to getting it from the original manufacturer or any other reseller that competes in the open market place and you'll get it 2-3 times quicker for around 1/2 the freight cost.....

17 Reply by XistenZ

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Re: Did I kill the board?

Haha, thanks Adrian smile for someone like me that have no idea what you should be looking for when researching these kinds of things the "original spare parts" or what you might call it is simply the safe way. I'll trust you with my life that this board will work perfectly, who'd lie on the internet! I'll most likely order it if it enters a "weekend sale" and if it seems like I could manage to cram some juicy firmware into it (I have had bad experience with flashing BIOS and routers before... the word firmware makes my toes curl).