Re: Replicator 2 Rev H Mightyboard on Replicator 2x w/ Rev H Mightyboard

[Ryan Carlyle]

Before you buy a new board, it really sounds like something is shorting somewhere in your bot. And then the interface board is shorting to the frame. Those two things combined will cause problems, possibly damage. If you put a new board in, it could have the same short, and then you're out $200 or whatever. 

Do you have a multimeter? It's really hard to troubleshoot this sort of thing without one. 

What I would recommend is starting to check if there is electrical continuity between the frame and any of the power terminals on the mainboard. Basically you just stick one probe on a metal screw on the frame (since most of the frame is powdercoated) and stick the other probe on the soldered pads on the 4-pin power plug, and check the resistance. 

It sounds like plastic spacers on the interface board are the way to go. You don't want any exposed metal on the interface board touching the frame or screws. 

On Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 1:29:30 PM UTC-5, D Ullom wrote:

Hi everyone,

My name is Dave, and I'm brand new here, and to 3D printing. I've been reading the groups posts since buying my 5th Gen Replicator a several months ago. I recently picked up a Replicator 2X because I wanted to use the dissolvable filament support feature. I like both printers, but have had issues with both of them. Most due to operator error, but some due to filament and jammed Smart and breaking Smart + extruders, and now my most recent issue with the 2X. Before I tell you guys what happened to my 2X, I will say I did try to search for an answer on here, and elsewhere first before ever asking for help. I usually avoid forums because as a soon as I ask a question, someone always jumps and and says "Did you try searching first?!!". So yes, I did, but I didn't see any specific answers on the exact subject, so I'll just explain what happened and ask.

So this is what happened. I was preheating the 2X and getting ready to load in new filament when I accidentally partially unplugged it. I caught the plug just as it was coming lose, and without thinking about it, pushed it back in (bad bad bad idea). I was trying to move the printer to access the spools and the power plug came loose, so my instant reaction was to push it back in. I totally forgot that it’s the 4 pin male style connector (on the board side), and the pins can easily short out (from what I've read here and elsewhere). I did however push it back in to it's correct alignment, but it may have been cocked to one side a little when I did it. After doing this, the LCD became very dim, and nothing would display.

Since I already bought spare interface assembly from MBI awhile back, I powered down the printer, removed the old interface assembly, and installed the new one to see if it made any difference after the printer was powered back up. It didn’t. Same issue. Dim LCD, that I can't see anything on. The M button is lit, and the rest of the printer lights up as usual, the chimes work, but pushing the interface buttons does nothing. I powered it back down, unplugged the printer, removed the new interface, then just plugged in the old interface, but didn't bolt it down. I plugged the printer back in, and powered it back up.

The old interface was not bolted in yet because I was seeing if the cables were possibly messed up somehow. I decided to bolt it back in since moving the ribbon cable around did nothing. As I was bolting the old interface back in, I noticed that the LCD screen on the interface would get brighter and dimmer as I screwed the two bolts back in on the chassis. I thought that was kind of odd. It shouldn’t do that unless there’s power going through the chassis somehow and affecting the board for the interface. This leads me to believe that the power cord plug probably caused a short, and it’s shorting out somewhere on the motherboard. I’m not an electrician, or a 'computer repair guy' (as in I have no idea how to fix the boards some of you repair or use a multi meter properly), but I know the interface shouldn’t be affected by merely bolting it back down, right? It’s in it’s own housing, and even if the printer is powered up, it shouldn’t matter, but it does. I did notice that the old interface has metal washers on the back side of the board that are used to shim the metal housing away from the interface board, and the new interface has plastic shims. I thought that was kind of odd.. 

I turned the power off, unplugged it, unbolted the interface again, and just laid it inside the print area. I plugged the printer back in, turned it back on, and the interface lit up as it should. It showed the the printer info and current firmware. It all looked normal for a couple min, then it starts scrolling asterisks and zeros. I tried to reinstall the firmware, and it showed that it was successfully installed, but it made no difference with the interface. I also tried to run the printer via USB. If found the printer, but it would not heat up. The LCD dimmed back out again as well. Everything else lights up, chimes and sounds normal. The green LCD lights on the Mightyboard and under the stepper drivers (Bot Steps? I think that’s what they’re called) light up too.

I powered it back down, unplugged it. Let it sit, flipped the power switch a couple times, unplugged the old interface, plugged in the new one again, but this time, just placed it in front of the printer. I plugged the printer back in, powered it back up, evertthing lights up and chimes, the interface lights up, the LCD displays the information, then shows the normal Build form SD, Preheat, Utilities selections. I put in an SD card, and tried to use the up down buttons. They did nothing. It was stuck on build. So I pushed the M button, and it loaded the files on the SD card. I chose the only one that I could, which was the first one, and it went through the whole heating process, and actually built the print.

That's all it will let me do if the interface is not bolted down, As soon as it's bolted down, you can't read the dimmed out LCD, and the up down buttons still won't work..

So, this is my question to the group. Can I use a Replicator 2 Rev H Mightyboard on a Rep 2X with a Rev H Mightyboard?

The reason I ask is that MBI wants $436 for a new board. That's a lot of money for a board... There's two new Rep 2 Rev H Mightyboards with the correct male connectors on eBay right now for $180 + shipping (assuming no one bids on them). I've searched everywhere online for the answer and haven't found it, so I'm asking the group who has way more knowledge about the Rep 2 vs Rep 2x Mightyboards for some help.

The only physical difference I see in the boards, is that I have a 5th stepper drivers (forgive me if I keep calling them the wrong name), which I'm assuming I could just use from my current board and plug into the empty slot on the Rep 2 board...

If MBI is the way to go, then I'll just have to bite the bullet and order the new Mightyboard from them...


Thanks for your time everyone. -Dave

[D Ullom]

Thanks for the reply Ryan,


I don't currently have a multimeter, but I can go buy one and figure out how to use it. In the mean time since your reply, I removed the Mightyboard from the chassis, with all the wiring still connected, then shielded it from any metal chassis parts so the Mightyboard is not touching anything on the chassis. With it like that, it has no way to short out onto the chassis unless it's doing it via a wire somewhere else. I also wiggled every single wire from the Mightyboard to the steppers, and wherever they were going in the printer to see if I could get it to do anything to the interface. Nothing happened. The only other thing I haven't checked is the wiring on the extruder assembly. I had just taken the hot ends apart and put it all back together before doing this, so I guess it's possible something shorted and when I turned it on, and accidentally unplugged it, I didn't notice if there was an issue yet, because I didn't have time to see it happen before unplugging it..

With the old interface, it will turn on, show Replicator 2x and firmware info, then show the usual three settings, BUILD FROM SD, PREHEAT, UTILITIES. If I try to insert an SD card, it dims back out. This is either with the interface mounted in the chassis, or not. The new interface however works exactly like the old one, except when you insert the SD card. I doesn't dim out the LCD, and shows the loaded files on the SD card. I can still choose the very first file on the SD card by pressing the M button, but no other buttons function. The printer starts getting ready to print, and will print, but only the very first file.

So, with the Mightyboard not mounted or touching the chassis, the NEW interface works now when it's mounted. It still only works for a few min, then starts scrolling like before but does not dim out. It would seem that there is a short from the Mightyboard to the chassis when the board is mounted. This would mean that the short in in the Mightyboard, no?

I would still like to know if the Replicator 2 Rev H board will work in the Rep 2x with a Rev H board.. And if I need to go that route, if the only thing I need to do is add the 5th stepper driver? Thanks, -Dave

[tramalot]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/makerbot-users/shorted$20tc%7Csort:relevance google will be your friend

[Ryan Carlyle]

Sounds like a bent pin in the SD card slot (possibly due to plastic debris) that is shorting two pins together when you insert a card. That could explain the interface board issues.

The problem we have is that we don't know what's shorted and we don't know what the short may have damaged. We have to find the short(s) before you can put replacement parts in the printer.