Makerbot Rep 2x Rev2 power supply chnaging

[Niall Mitchell]

So I have a Replicator 2 rev2 (mighty board rev H ) the power supply has packed in and I can't find a replacement in the UK for love nor money.

Am wondering if anyone has considered desoldering the naf male power socket of the board and replaced it with something much more common.

Was told today there are non of the rev2powersupllies in the uk and would have to have one shipped from USA which is going to cost a lot.

[Daniel Newman]

Because I don't like having the extra, external PSU on my Rep 1 and Rep 2 I long ago mounted
on the bottom side of the printers Meanwell SE-350-24 PSUs. "-350-" meaning 350W and "-24"
meaning 24V output. I did have to do some case work to then run a fused IEC inlet directly
to the printer's frame. As in some drilling and nibbling away of the metal (using a tool
called a "nibbler", but a Dremel or Foredom or similar would work as well or better.)

I ran the wires from the IEC inlet to the PSU's inputs. And then ran the 24V output
of the PSU with 16 AWG wire directly to the motherboard's 24V input. (And 18 AWG
should suffice -- at least within US code.) I also ran the safetfy ground (pulled
from the IEC inlet) directly to a bolt attached to the printer's frame. You need to
remove the powder coat on the frame to help make that effective.

Dan

P.S. There are also plenty of clones of the Meanwell SE-350-24 sold for less. I've
seen more then one of them blow. One was at a tradeshow on the show floor even. I'm
willing to pay an extra $10 - $15 more and use a genuine Meanwell.

P.P.S. Many of the Asian Rep 1 clones use SE-350-24 knockoffs. The use of such a
PSU is pretty well proven in MakerBot clones. And 350W is actually much more than
you need for a Rep 2. At 350W you have nearly 15A @ 24V. Since you only have one
extruder and no heated bed, something in the 250W range should suffice.

[Jetguy]

First, why desolder the socket? The most direct fix is soldering direct wires to the massive solder pads on the bottom side of the board.
Then second, don't buy the stupid external undoerpowered brick supply that failed, buy a good 15A rated 24V CNC supply and call it good.

Just saying, you are going about this the wrong way IMO.

[Jetguy]

I was hoping to find more examples and like Dan said, we see a lot of supplies out there, I pretty much only run genuine Meanwell brand, and pay a little more, but have abused them and so far had really good luck.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Switching-power-supply-MeanWell-RSP-320-24/dp/B00UANJYR2

Just like Dan was implying, there is generally more than enough room to stuff one of these under the bottom of the printer, still get plenty of airflow and provide more power than the stock brick could ever dream of supplying on it's best day.
Ignore the connector and just leave it and solder heavy wires to the large solder contacts on the other side.

[Jetguy]

FWIW, this is the new lower profile style so even more room for airflow.
A lot of newer printers are using this model these days as well.

[Daniel Newman]

And I just find the spec sheet for the PSU with the mechanical drawings.
I then use the mechanical drawings to make a template showing where to
drill the four holes for mounting the PSU. I then drill those holes into the
build chamber's floor and then use them to mount the PSU. (I seem to
recall that it takes M4 threaded bolts? I usually make some standoffs
using some larger sided nuts (e.g., M6 nuts) so that the PSU is not
smack dab up against the underside of the chamber's floor. Not sure
why I did that... Maybe I hoped it might help the air circ a little.
On the other hand, having the warm PSU sinking heat into the floor of
the build chamber in the winter wouldn't be such a bad idea?

Dan

[Niall Mitchell]

Hi Guys,

only reason I was thinking about swapping out the socket was because I have 2 other makerbot rep2 and 2x so was thinking I'd keep the connectors the same.

Been looking for several days just for the connector and use a different power supply but couldn't find those anywhere either.

I'll get the power supply ordered and my soldering iron warmed up.

Just out of interest does the rev H replicator 2x have any additional features improvements over the Rev G?

Thanks

[Daniel Newman]

Dave's in the UK so perhaps the part number for the switched IEC outlet he shows
here will work for you?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:441081

I don't recall if that one is fused or not. Mind you, the revH mightyboard already
has a fuse so you should be okay there. And those meanwell PSUs have short and over
current protection built in as well.

Dan

[Jetguy]

rev H replicator 2x have any additional features improvements over the Rev G?

No, only an internal change related to FCC RFI EMI testing.

[Jetguy]

However, I do think there were connector changes over time? So that again, also screws people over on these.

Just get rid of the connector on all your printers. Long term, the odds of it causing an issue of some sort of user or connector failure let alone a failing PSU.

[Daniel Newman]

On 24/10/2017 5:28 PM, Jetguy wrote:
> rev H replicator 2x have any additional features improvements over the Rev G?

rev H was done for FCC compliance. They made some changes in the 8U2 code relating
to the frequency it used to clock data to the 2560^h^h^h^h^h 1280. They also slowed
down their max SD card read/write frequency from 8 Mhz to 1 Mhz. And, from the software
side of things, it appeared that they also put in some new driver to handle that SD card
data line because when Sailfish tried to run at the older 8 MHz things didn't work. Not
at 4 or 2 MHz either.

Other than that, the g and h are, as I understand it, equivalent. They both have fuses
for example.

Dan

[Yogibear]

Thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated, I'll get the mods sorted when I'm back home.

Once I get it powered up I can start getting it dialled in 😀