Extruder not heating

Hi Neilarmstrong,

First of all thank you very much for replying to my post. It's my first post on this site actually, as i'm trying to learn the ropes of fixing these things or troubleshooting them.

Hmm a few very noob questions:
1. what is RMA'd?
2. So the issue really is with the black connector thing, and a solution would be to open it and solder the wires together? (game for this if you think it's not too hard to do)
3. I hear these terms a lot but i'm really unsure what the "female connector:" and the " male side" are. I understand if it's trouble for you to post pictures, but yeah if you have time any reference would be super awesome. i'm looking at the printer but have no idea where those things are exactly O_O (or the board for that matter). i swear i've been looking around these forums for some time now but haven't really confirmed to myself where these things are on the 1.0.

I'm currently on one of those 3 day waiting periods from xyz, but if they do suggest a new extruder heater (which i need to ship back to asia (where i am)), will they help me know how to install it?

I know these are all pretty basic, but i guess i have to start somewhere right Thanks again man, really appreciate the help!

kristofhaoko wrote:

Hi Neilarmstrong,

First of all thank you very much for replying to my post. It's my first post on this site actually, as i'm trying to learn the ropes of fixing these things or troubleshooting them.

Hmm a few very noob questions:
1. what is RMA'd?
2. So the issue really is with the black connector thing, and a solution would be to open it and solder the wires together? (game for this if you think it's not too hard to do)
3. I hear these terms a lot but i'm really unsure what the "female connector:" and the " male side" are. I understand if it's trouble for you to post pictures, but yeah if you have time any reference would be super awesome. i'm looking at the printer but have no idea where those things are exactly O_O (or the board for that matter). i swear i've been looking around these forums for some time now but haven't really confirmed to myself where these things are on the 1.0.

I'm currently on one of those 3 day waiting periods from xyz, but if they do suggest a new extruder heater (which i need to ship back to asia (where i am)), will they help me know how to install it?

I know these are all pretty basic, but i guess i have to start somewhere right Thanks again man, really appreciate the help!

RMA'd = Return Manufacturer Authorization. In short did you get them to tell you to send it back and give you a number to write on the package or paper work. In most cases the manufacturer has to give permission and assign you a number before you can just return a bad product.

On point 2 I would just replace the connector with something more durable. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and ask for male and female bullet connectors. You need the red ones. They are color coded based on wire size. The blue ones in my attached image are too large for the wire size used in the printer.  All you need is wire stripper and crimps which most are cheap and in the same tool.  The issue with soldering is the off chance you ever have to remove the head for deep cleaning with acetone you will have a harder time doing so. 

On point 3 it just like humans.. The male side is the part that goes in, and the female side is the part that receives the male part. When we talk about connectors, we are talking purely about the metal part that actually conducts the electricity. Some have a plastic shell where one will slip into the other. Do not pay attention to the shell. Male and female refers strictly to the internal metal parts... See the below image for reference the bottom is male and the top is the female and are the actual connectors I referenced in point 2.

Thanks Carl!,

I get it a little more now and I had a filament roll replaced before where they gave me an RMA so now it registers (sorry it must have totally gotten lost).

Regarding your suggestion for point two though, i'll go check out my hardware store and see if i can get these things, but again the noobness strikes -> What would i do exactly with the pair of male and female bullet connectors, and the wire stripper and crimps (i know, horribly basic questions, please excuse).

Super appreciate the help and the lesson though, now it's becoming a little clearer. This forum's pretty awesome regardless of how this issue turns out. I should have probably joined earlier..

Anyway, looking forward to the advice on the noob questions above Really helpful guys!

carl_m1968 wrote:

kristofhaoko wrote:

Hi Neilarmstrong,

First of all thank you very much for replying to my post. It's my first post on this site actually, as i'm trying to learn the ropes of fixing these things or troubleshooting them.

Hmm a few very noob questions:
1. what is RMA'd?
2. So the issue really is with the black connector thing, and a solution would be to open it and solder the wires together? (game for this if you think it's not too hard to do)
3. I hear these terms a lot but i'm really unsure what the "female connector:" and the " male side" are. I understand if it's trouble for you to post pictures, but yeah if you have time any reference would be super awesome. i'm looking at the printer but have no idea where those things are exactly O_O (or the board for that matter). i swear i've been looking around these forums for some time now but haven't really confirmed to myself where these things are on the 1.0.

I'm currently on one of those 3 day waiting periods from xyz, but if they do suggest a new extruder heater (which i need to ship back to asia (where i am)), will they help me know how to install it?

I know these are all pretty basic, but i guess i have to start somewhere right Thanks again man, really appreciate the help!

RMA'd = Return Manufacturer Authorization. In short did you get them to tell you to send it back and give you a number to write on the package or paper work. In most cases the manufacturer has to give permission and assign you a number before you can just return a bad product.

On point 2 I would just replace the connector with something more durable. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and ask for male and female bullet connectors. You need the red ones. They are color coded based on wire size. The blue ones in my attached image are too large for the wire size used in the printer.  All you need is wire stripper and crimps which most are cheap and in the same tool.  The issue with soldering is the off chance you ever have to remove the head for deep cleaning with acetone you will have a harder time doing so. 

On point 3 it just like humans.. The male side is the part that goes in, and the female side is the part that receives the male part. When we talk about connectors, we are talking purely about the metal part that actually conducts the electricity. Some have a plastic shell where one will slip into the other. Do not pay attention to the shell. Male and female refers strictly to the internal metal parts... See the below image for reference the bottom is male and the top is the female and are the actual connectors I referenced in point 2.