MB board Repairs now possible.

[Rodney Wells]

Thanks to the goodwill of one very generous forum member I have obtained the information I was looking for about the 3d system boards.

I have repaired and reprogrammed the Micro controller. 

 

I am now offering a turn around repair of the MB boards Only at this stage.

I also plane now to re manufacture the boards. with or with out system restraints.

 

With KISSlicer back on deck thanks to Jonathan.  The BFB code extension will live on.  

 

If you have a MB board and need it repaired.   Email me. worst case repair 50 Dollars US pulse Potage.  best case 25 to 30 dollars. If any more. No repair its a right off.

[Peter Gregory]

You da man!
Nice to know we have repair options now.

[Ryan Wheeler]

Do you reload CubeX firmware version 1.07 or do you put something else on it? 

And thanks for the good work!

[Rodney Wells]

I can load it with what ever you like. I have tried a few versions.

I can load it with out the need for there activation code. 1.07 is good to go.

When you get it back it ready to go. 

 

At the moment unless you really know what you are doing the board will be repaired loaded as it was.

I have a many different test and configurations I want to try. I will document rewiring for the firmware 5.4.2.  In the very near future.

I run 5.4.2 it totally frees up the system and is much more functional and prints better. Never refuses a file unless its corrupt. This is the firmware Jonathan originally created KISSlicer for.  If you want to try 5.4.2 I need to chip the board with another processor.

 It is a small modification and if you want the full board add-on you can change the setting in the add on board. This give you independent control over extruder RPM output. All modification will be reversible so you can return to original if not happy or selling the machine. You the owner can do that.

You can still use the Post Processor. and remove all interlocks cartridge bays and the wiring.

 

I am just getting started .I like what I have seen so far the architecture is very friendly.

I will post any thing I find of interest.  at the moment I will be spending a few days drawing a circuit diagram.   

[Paul Wells]

Way to Go Rodney!!! 

I've been going 10 months without any electronics issues, but it's great to know you can repair & hack things for us!!

Big Thanks!!!
-Paul

[Rodney Wells]

Here is the beginnings of something nobody has ever posted.  

And I have the back yard wire-rap vero board construct to go with it.  

[Peter Gregory]

What do you use for surface mount PCB construction?

I got an inexpensive X-Tronic 5400-XTS hot air reflow workstation.

I haven't had a chance yet to use it for SMT yet, but I'd like to hear what you use.

[Rodney Wells]

I wish I had one. 

I don't have a rework station. I have used them and I would like one that is true.

In one of last position the company I worked for put me through  military soldering training and I have years of experience in this field.

 I can do with a good set of Weller irons what any machine can do OK except for ball grid arrays. lol. That said. I still needed to tool up for the work.  

 This little chip is what all the fuss is about.  This is where it all happens the last processor to read the code before your object appears on the build platform.  

I just purchased a tube of 25 of them.   and  other support devices.  

[Peter Gregory]

You can pick up that hot air reflow station up for $130. They are on sale now.
Check out ebay xtronic 5400.

[Rodney Wells]

I didn't know they had come down in price so much. never even thought about it.  this stuff was always out of the private price range . Cool NOT any more  

[Rodney Wells]

Hi and thanks for all the support, the repairs are coming in.  

lucky I love electronics as there is not much money in it. system theses day where not designed to be repaired .

I am working on the new board design.   

Making changes to the will be testing the new changes soon. 

 

  

On Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:32:35 UTC+10, Rodney Wells wrote:

[Rodney Wells]

The work continues

Not the Stepper control modules The use of rep rap A4988 Ramps I have wanted to try this for a long time 

On Thursday, 1 May 2014 18:32:35 UTC+10, Rodney Wells wrote:

[Rodney Wells]

[Rodney Wells]

Its not only possible to repair them But you can Make your own at home if have a good soldering iron and the chips.

[Rodney Wells]

[Peter Gregory]

Looks good!

Did you hand solder that 100 pin chip?

Now it's time to design the PCB and get a fabrication house to make you a board!

[Rodney Wells]

I certainly did. Not just once.  through the RND stages . its easy to damage the chip and need to replace it many time I have a 100 devices on shelf now.

I still need to test noise and other factors.  There is still the upgrades and bypass electronics to test.  

thanks.

[Rodney Wells]

After the design of the processor embedded circuit is complete and ruining bfb code  am going to put a long term project on the bench, If you read this Jonathan I will start developing my own open source firmware.   This may be an opportunity to right the firmware specified for a Gcode writer.  

Of course the software will read standard gcode files but some other requirements could be much better implemented.  As is the Firmware has the last say on the print job.  

On Friday, 16 May 2014 07:45:08 UTC+10, Peter Gregory wrote:

[Rodney Wells]

Starting to finally finish the schematics and looking at new boards. Here is the CubeX MB rewired and piggy backed and re flashed All working.    

[Jetguy]

I have to say thanks to you in public for sorting all this out!!

It's so great to see a real solution to the problems of blown boards. The fact you have also produced schematics for torubleshooting is just amazing as well.

[Rodney Wells]

Thank you. 

The work I did on the MB was about Learning, helping others and being involved in something I am really enjoying.Even a bit of financial reward.

The projects on the CubeX MB is still moving forward.  Because we cant get access to the source code, controlling the firmware is very difficult, the ultimate solution is to write a new operating system.  To do this is a big job and a big learning curve. So to take this on board it requires a one step at a time approach. 

I am now writing code for a PIC CPU that piggy backs the main CPU. it reads code coming and going from the system.  I have connected many processors to the main PIC32MX

in order to locate valid DATA that can be read and manipulated.  I have been able to over ride the main CPU and add new building parameters to the construction.  MY CubeX is finally behaving its self. Last nights prints where the best i have ever seen from this machine. I have been able to force the main CPU to do things its not programmed to do.   

As I learn the picture of how the operating system works is slowly falling into perspective.      I knowledge learned will be posted if it helps.

[envisi...@gmail.com]

Rodney, are you accepting motherboards for repair? If you have seen my posts on "Filament Flow Failure", I am still having trouble. I am at the point where I am done with Cubify support (they are useless) and ready to move on to a solution.

We can pay anything you need. Contact me at hammett(at)puiaudio(dot)com

Regards,
Aaron Hammett

[Rodney Wells]

Yes I will be happy to look into your MB and repair it. Just so I understand.  The problem is filament flow is that correct.  The board is work as far as starting a print but fails the moment it starts the extruder?  

Just be aware That I am located in Australia.  This seem to put off some people because of the distance I assume.  Then there are others that don't care. 

I send boards all over the world I am very failure with over seas postage for electronic equipment.   

[Aaron Hammett]

On Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:07:59 PM UTC-4, Rodney Wells wrote:

Yes I will be happy to look into your MB and repair it. Just so I understand.  The problem is filament flow is that correct.  The board is work as far as starting a print but fails the moment it starts the extruder?  

Just be aware That I am located in Australia.  This seem to put off some people because of the distance I assume.  Then there are others that don't care. 

I send boards all over the world I am very failure with over seas postage for electronic equipment.   

 

Great!  We ship to and from China every week, so Australia is no problem.

The printer will start a print and extrude for 30-60 seconds. It fails with a Flow Error. If I go to the 240°C menu, it will fail with a Flow Failure after 10-30 seconds of extruding. Everything else works fine.

Items I have replaced on Cubify's direction:

1. Print Jet Assembly (Motor with PCB attached)
2. Extruder (Hot End)
3. Print Jet Driver Board

We can arrange a call tag so you can ship it back at no cost to you.

[Aaron Hammett]

I have found the problem!  The PIC16F1512 RB1 port (on the 401379 PJ board) is internally shorted to VDD (23 ohms resistance). It cannot see the port transition so it reports a Flow Error.

I was dealing with Simon Coleman at Cubify Support. He is supposedly the CubeX Guru. I ended up sending an email to the CEO of 3DS due to the lousy support they were giving. Their troubleshooting cost us nearly $400 for parts we didn't use!

[Jetguy]

I found both of my cubex boards dead too. Is there a way to fix these or is it a protected flash the we cannot flash to a replacement PIC? Sad to repair the main board only to find the next problem.

[Rodney Wells]

You are the first person who has asked to right question.   They are protected. Its the boot loader that protects them. you need to load the boot loader to set the correct Address. 

[Matt Kusak]

If you have a MB board and need it repaired.   Email me. worst case repair 50 Dollars US pulse Potage.  best case 25 to 30 dollars. If any more. No repair its a right off.

Hi Rodney - I have attempted to send you message through the Google group - 'send private message' (not sure if you received anything ) I am just looking to contact you for details / address to send a failed MB to you to look at.

Thanks