Where to get another Mightyboard?

[Wil Chung]

Hi all,

I have a Makerbot Replicator, and while it was printing, I noticed that there was a popping sound, and the LCD panel flickered. So I shut it off. When I tried to turn it on again, it popped. And now it doesn't turn on at all. I think something shorted, and the board fried. I don't know if it's an individual stepper motor driver, or the entire board itself. I checked for loose wires and there weren't any. Makebot support haven't gotten back to me in the last day or two.

So I figured I'd turn here. How do I get another Mightyboard? Or should I just forget it and get a reprap board, like RAMPS or another Reprap board?

Wil

Cubehero - Work on 3D printed projects together

https://cubehero.com

[Jetguy]

It's the entire board and KNOWN problem. The 5 volt regulator failed and sent 24 volts to every logic chip on the board.

For example here is one of the threads:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/makerbot/boGwLWit2R0/VcUB1q8zTAoJ

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/makerbot/wfSSc0n0uaQ/bhLK1V7H_VIJ

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/makerbot/Jrwqqxfiw8Y/geFQ7xUweTYJ

 

You should contact MakerBot support and see if they will fix it. If they want to charge you for it, no sense in buying that overpriced and still failure prone board from them. This is my gripe, they never fixed it and are going to sell you a $400+ piece of junk.

Shameful really this is STILL going on.

As far as replacement, you are better off getting a full kit from these guys http://www.mbot3d.com/collections/electronics/products/mightyboard-mbotcube 

Get the full $250 kit with power supply and botsteps. This version of board omits the 5 volt regulator and requires an external power supply that provide 24 and 5 volts so without a mod won't work with your existing power brick.

Anyway, still not a bad deal in all.

[Dan Newman]

On 20 Nov 2013 , at 10:21 PM, Wil Chung wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I have a Makerbot Replicator, and while it was printing, I noticed that
> there was a popping sound, and the LCD panel flickered. So I shut it off.
> When I tried to turn it on again, it popped. And now it doesn't turn on at
> all. I think something shorted, and the board fried. I don't know if it's
> an individual stepper motor driver, or the entire board itself. I checked
> for loose wires and there weren't any. Makebot support haven't gotten back
> to me in the last day or two.
>
> So I figured I'd turn here. How do I get another Mightyboard? Or should I
> just forget it and get a reprap board, like RAMPS or another Reprap board?

Contact MBI support. To date, they've been replacing blown Rep 1 motherboards
at no charge. At least for original owners of the bots impacted.

Dan

[Clinton Hoines]

That's not the case Dan from my last call to them. They told me after a year it's no longer covered since I'm not located in the US, price is $400 plus shipping etc. If mine ever goes I'll be going with Jetguys suggestion.

[Dan Newman]

On 21/11/2013, 7:17 AM, Clinton Hoines wrote:
> That's not the case Dan from my last call to them. They told me after a
> year it's no longer covered since I'm not located in the US, price is $400
> plus shipping etc. If mine ever goes I'll be going with Jetguys suggestion.

Sigh. Well, we knew it wouldn't last forever. I suppose some folks
overseas with stronger consumer protection laws might get 2 years
protection, but the clocks are running out even for that period. Thanks
for following up my post.

Dan

[BTHOON]

I'm at 1.5 years.

Blew up.  They sent another one.  Didn't notice for a while that it wouldn't connect via USB.  Contacted them and they're sending me ANOTHER one.  MIGHT help that we use it for outreach programs that give them some press, though.

[Clinton Hoines]

Are you in the US?
I'm in Canada and that's what they told me when I contacted them for bushings and a ACME nut. At 16 months for me so I'm out of the 1 year they quoted. I did the reg mod last week finally so hope I don't have to worry about it for awhile.

[Dan Newman]

On 21/11/2013, 2:20 PM, BTHOON wrote:
> I'm at 1.5 years.
>
> Blew up. They sent another one. Didn't notice for a while that it
> wouldn't connect via USB. Contacted them and they're sending me ANOTHER
> one. MIGHT help that we use it for outreach programs that give them some
> press, though.

Did they ask for the no-USB one back? It could be bad or it could be
that one or both of the uProcessors lacks its firmware. MBI has to
download the firmware to each of them (8u2 and 1280). If they let you
keep the old board, then someone like Jetguy or myself could possibly
fix that board leaving you with a spare for the future. (Fixing the
blown up one likely isn't worth it.)

Dan

[Jetguy]

I collect the blown up ones too.

If anybody has one, let me know.

 

I'm doing some franken projects and they help me immensely.

[BTHOON]

I am in the USA - I suspect that makes a difference!

[BTHOON]

They did NOT.   If anyone HAS the firmware for the 8u2, I can just flash one and throw it on there. I've got jigs for flashing those, and my reflow skills are at ninja level.

[Dan Newman]

On 21/11/2013, 3:35 PM, BTHOON wrote:
> They did NOT. If anyone HAS the firmware for the 8u2, I can just flash
> one and throw it on there. I've got jigs for flashing those, and my reflow
> skills are at ninja level.

See

https://github.com/makerbot/MightyBoardFirmware/blob/master/bootloader/8U2_firmware/Makerbot-usbserial.hex

I've actually used a slightly older version which they posted from back
when RevE and RevG had slightly different versions. But then they
appeared to "merge" the two. Then later still the RevH version
appeared. I know that the version I used worked. (And if you supply
C20, then you no longer need to press the reset button when downloading
firmware to the 1280.) If you want a copy of the slightly older .hex
file which I know works on my RevE board, just send me private e-mail.

Here's a sample 8u2 avrdude command,

/Applications/Arduino.app//Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude
-C \

/Applications/Arduino.app//Contents/Resources/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf
\
-p at90usb82 -F -P usb -c usbtiny -U
flash:w:/Users/dnewman/usbserial-rep1.hex \
-U lfuse:w:0xFF:m -U hfuse:w:0xD9:m -U efuse:w:0xF4:m -U lock:w:0x0F:m

Dan