CubeX main board swap

[Bill Dempsey]

I was sent a new main board for my CubeX Trio. After installing it, I now get the message "Activation error" on the touch display after pressing on the logo screen. I can't get past this message to do anything else. This means I can't get to the activate screen to (theoretically) fix the problem.

Any ideas?

[J.Andre.]

Hey Bill.

I've received a new main board as well, but i haven't installed it yet (i'm a little nervous.  I'm not really a guy to tinker with electronics much).  Were you able to get past this problem?

I was emailed instructions from Cubify on how to do the replacement, but you have be scared to do it.... and definitely not to do it on a holiday weekend, when Cubify Support has no chance of being reached!!

.

I hope you got your machine running again!

[J.Andre.]

Hey Bill,

I don't know if you're past this point now...  But i just finished installing my new main board.

it wasn't a joy, as it turned out that they stripped one of my screw heads at the factory, but wasn't too painful.  (it took about 10 minutes; for the others out there)

the directions were sparse to say the least from Cubify.

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upon plugging the machine back in, it loaded right to the start screen --- so that makes me feel your mother board (main board) might have gotten fried in the mail???  I did have to activate the machine again after installing the main board, and i noticed that it was pre-installed with v1.05 firmware, so i had to back that up to v1.04.... i had to reset the offset of the wiper twice, and the z-gap..... Then was ready to go again.

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other than that, i just layed down the first layer of a print that was incorrect last night (shifting in layers in the Y direction while printing) -- and the first layer was so smooth.... it was by far the best 1st layer i've seen the machine lay down!!

.

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Also, i noticed a MicroSD card (2gb) on the board.  any idea what that might be for (anybody)?  and i thought for sure that the cartridge info would be stored on the main board -- so when the new main board was put in, i expected the cartridges to read as full again, even if they had been partially used........  but they all read exactly as they did before.... so the info on the filament level must (my guess) be stored on the chip itself.

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Anyone an electronics expert?

Could this board help anyone figure out how the chips are used?

I have a slightly erratic main board that would like to sit on your psychiatrist couch and be figured out.  LOL

[amf]

I could have a look, and figure out some/most of it probably.

[Kevin]

Hi,

I took a look. The chips are EEPROM and all data is stored in each chip itself. The specific chip is a DS28E01, and if you're inclined you can read more about it here: http://www.maximintegrated.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/4766

I'm pretty new to hacking electronics in general, and would have more confidence in trying stuff, but I currently only have a single cartridge to test on =/ I don't want to break my only chip unfortunately.

On Saturday, July 6, 2013 7:52:30 PM UTC-7, J.Andre. wrote:

[amf]

That's the chip in the cartridge which is the DS28E01.  J. Andre is talking about his main board that reads that cartridge chip's ID and then controls the rest of the machine.  He got a replacement of his entire main board.  

J. - are the cartridge reader's contacts mounted directly on your main board?   My contacts are bent and intermittent so I asked for a replacement and they said they'd send it.  At the moment, I have some test clips/cables attached to those contacts on the reader, and I've soldered the far ends of the wires directly to an ID chip (so no cartridge installed at all).  I took the filament out of the cartridge (it had gotten tangled inside anyway) and hung it on an external spool.  Works great.

[J.Andre.]

Hey Kevin & amf,

Thanks for the info on the chip Kevin.  I'm unfortunatly not an electronix type guy, for the most part, but good to know what's in there!

and 

Amf, here are some pictures that might answer your question?

it seems to me that there is a removable cable that connects the main board and the contacts you are talking about?

[J.Andre.]

also i'm bummed to say that after all that (waiting for parts, and replacing the main board)..... I'm still having the same problem.  The prints are NOT coming out correctly on my machine.  Grrrrr......  I guess i"ll be on the phone and sending emails to Cubify today and tomorrow!  #frustrating.

[amf]

Hmm, my theory is that "it's always a connector problem".  I always suspect that first.  Maybe something is loose?  (one person on this google group had his z-axis stepper screws come loose).  Maybe go around and check and tighten everything.  I think you've probably run more builds than all the rest of us combined.  With all the motion, could something have vibrated loose?  My next hypothesis would be the reader contacts, as I know those can get bent down and sometimes make intermittent connection, but that seems like an unlikely culprit for this problem.  

What else could it be?  earthquakes???

[J.Andre.]

LOL

you made me laugh.... "earthquakes???"

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yeah, it must be earthquakes.  hehe.

.

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I'll try to go take a look at all the connections to see if anything is loose.  Might as well start there!!   Thanks Anita!

[amf]

Well, you know, just trying to brainstorm hypotheses here.  After all, what can go wrong, will go wrong. 

Okay, here's another hypothesis:  One of your belts is missing a tooth and it "skips" and loses the equivalent of a "count" and the nozzle moves over too far on that row. -  i.e. did you get a jump-edge along just the X direction, or did you get a jump-edge along both the X direction and also the Y direction (the perpendicular face of your part)?

After connector problems, I always blame mechanical things second. (okay, third, after external events like someone jumping hard on the floor or large trucks driving by or ....earthquakes).

[Roberto Gehlen Oliveira]

The CUBE 3D FREE device blocks the printer to write on the protection chips ..... www.cube3dfree.com

[james-willia...@charter.net]

In my opinion, this was most likely caused by a small amount of warping in both misprints. I'm going to say that in both cases your print head hit the build causing the alignment to be shifted. Notice that both the X and Y axises have been shifted by nearly the same amount, while the Z axis in both misprints was unaffected. The odds that an intermittent electronics problem would occur to two of the axises at the same time and not the third is pretty slim in my opinion. :)