Simple Arithmetic (or whether to buy and/or when to dump your DaVinci)

Just wanted to chime in real quick in regards to controller swap. My machine was bought used and has no warranty. So I have no issue cutting into wires and such. In fact I have already replaced the power supply with unit rated at 50 watts higher just to run the extra LED strips I installed over both side rails. That required me to patch the existing power harness into the new power supplies output lines.

But on the subject of the controller swap. The board I got for this purpose is the Azteeg X5 mini from Panucatt. It has screw down terminal on all of its connections unlike the stock board that has standard pin type connectors. For my swap I intend to cut the connector of each harness and connect each wire to it's respective screw down terminal. Being a tech by trade and having done this twice already I have not given it a second thought about not doing it. In fact I insist on doing it simply to make my printer instead of XYZ's printer on lease.

If you wanted to go this rout and still be able to revert back then you could but you would need to get headers that are the same style as the ones in the stock board. Then solder flying leads (wires) to the board side of those. Insulate with shrink wrap, then attache the flying leads to your new board making sure polarity and phases on the steppers are correct and then plug the modded connector ends into the stock harness. That way you don't have to cut wires and you could revert back not that you ever would want to after seeing the difference.

My issue with cutting and making short connections versus a modded harness is simply digital noise reduction. Steppers make a lot of electrical noise and you dont want that getting into your logic. It can cause freezes and crashes and other errors. By keeping wires as short as possible you minimize them being antennas for this digital noise.

Excellent post and perspective.. I am just starting to have my qualms with the xyz and the extreme measures to get me to upgrade.

sub rant[#@!$]
I have always hated the mainstream printer model of epson, hp, cannon, ect... Buy a printer for 79.99 and the 39.00 for black + 39.00 for color cartridges. How many times have I told myself just buy another printer. Load the new software, get every one of my too many devices to connect to it. Then realize that they always give you a half size cartridge,  two weeks later i am in the same  boat and in the loop. Errrr...Like the playbook of the facial shaving industry, Gillette & Norelco.
end rant

My view is, if xyz can give me a filament for a competitive price for the quality in the cartridge. Lets say a simple $30(amazon is $23 & free shipping on 600g  on most colors in USA) for 1k  of quality filament. Put the effort and money into the software & firmware for kick ass prints instead of trying to implement the old playbook.

My point, I would then recommend the davinci to everybody and buy the cartridges from xyz because it would make the most  logically sense for me.

My .02

You listed the printer outlet filament as 0.215 cents per gram but it should be 0.0215 cents per gram.

I bought a 1.0A from Newegg for $399. I also have an Ordbot, and did have a Smartrap. My 1.0A prints great out of the box. I've used cheaper filament in my other printers with varied results. Once I bought a better quality filament I had less problems with them. Yes, the XYZ filament is higher, but it prints well for me. Right now I have no plans to use a reseter or change the firmware. I just ordered 3 more cartridges. I've been pretty happy with the entire experience. I will save the tinkering to my other printers.

I am glad folks are hacking it though, because if XYZPrinting were to go under... We'll need to be able to get past the no cartridge supply problem.

So what is an DaVinci worth? I don't think its a total piece of garbage, my personal experience of the machine is that it gives prints of comparable quality to other machines that cost much more, but i'll concede that there seems to be a lot of subjective evaluation about how well one machine prints over another.
And that's why I conclude that the smartest thing to do is buy a DaVinci printer then load it up with Repetier and treat the whole purchase as a preassembled homebuilt. You no longer have an XYZ printer, but a capable Repetier open source printer for a lot less than buying a kit or the next most expensive machine of similar capability.
Is the Solidoodle that goes for $1,000 worth $500 more than a DaVinci? There is nothing to suggest it gives superior prints or from the standpoint of hardware has better quality components, and reading the Solidoodle message boards reveals that it has its own problems. I'm not convinced that a $1000 machine is a superior machine just because it costs more. The reason the Solidoodle costs more is simply because Solidoodle is wanting to make a profit on the machine whereas XYZ is playing the longer game of making their profit on higher priced filament.

What's the point of the OP? To convince himself that *not* buying a DaVinci was the right thing to do? Or to convince DaVinci owners that they did the wrong thing? Just seems like a lot of effort for not much reason - I can't imagine anything but a tiny minority of prospective Davici buyers would visit this forum before purchasing one.

Is it possible to refill a cartridge and reflash the EEPROM to its virgin state?
Of is there another gotcha in the XYZ that stops this?

Thanks darkhawk, your reply was very useful. Wow - printer and 7 cartridges for $580 ! You got yourself a great deal.

We don't get prices like that over here. A $499 printer in the US is £499 ($755.51) over here - it should really be £395.50 ($598.80) if one takes the current exchange rate at £1 = $1.51 and adds 20% VAT. So the mnf are making a tidy profit from us Brits.

My cartridges with postage cost £32.83 which is $49.71, hence the need to refill the cartridges with lower cost ABS/PLA.

we won't talk about 1.0A.... I have just bought a Da Vinci XYZ 1.0A! Have I made a mistake?

I bought it for 3 reasons - off the shelf/ready to go, good price and I thought the filament cartridges could be refilled by resetting the EEPROM.

But I now find that if I use non XYZ filament by refilling my cartridges and use a refilled cartridge whilst on line, the XYZ software or the firmware is likely to contact XYZprinting corp and they can disable my printer. Is that correct?
Or can the FW disable the printer without being online?

Repetier Host would be a great workaround but understand that the installation for the 1.0A board is currently under development. Has anyone successfully upgraded the new 1.0A board (FW 1.0.1) with RH?

Thanks rockosmodlife for the link.

It looks like aversano.tyler has tried downloading and is having difficulties, I hope the problems he is facing will soon get resolved and I will look forward to his solution.

@lachupacabra thanks for those links - I had seen the "new-davinci-10a-with-repetier" but I think only a few people have reported success. There was still an issue with the LCD screen, do you know if it has been cured?

The replacement board looks very interesting and appears to have the same facilities as the Da Vinci XYZ 1.0A motherboard. The print example with the very smooth (no steps) curves was very good.  Unattended long prints are a concern especially when there is a 200+ degrees heater in the machine so the stop / start facility would be useful.

@lachupacabra Thanks for those links.

Luc & Garry572 (and others) have done a brilliant job at getting Repetier working on the 1.0A motherboard and it looks like the LCD issue is fast disappearing.

The upgrade to RH is fantastic news for using filament from any source.

I would like to upgrade a bit later - probably when I get frustrated with XYZ or am forced to if they disable my printer because I am resetting the cartridge eeprom.