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stevekerikeri

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Everything posted by stevekerikeri

  1. Just to kill this one. I replaced the board after buying a new one. This burnt out again after about 6 months. I was given a new one free of charge but bought a new power supply. So far so good. Been in about 6 months so if it is going to go again it will go soon. I am not expecting it to burn out again.
  2. Hi. I have been looking for an easy way to get a bitmap traced and then use that traced outline as part of a design in Inventor Pro. In this way we can extrude images such as the outline of a bulldog to include in a design for a speaker mesh / guard. I have yet to find a way to do this easily that students could use. Anyone got any ideas? Thanks.
  3. Yes it looks like that would add up. They were both authentic boards. Do you think that due to the fact that the elevated voltage is not that much higher than the max rating it would have basically burnt out over time. This would explain why it worked fine out of the box and for a period of months after the new board was installed. So basically the power pack could have had a fault from the start or it could have developed a fault after the warranty ran out. I think that the second board did not last as long as the first so I suppose it could have gone later on in the life of the printer rather than straight away. Looks like its time to cut off the plug and throw it in the bin.
  4. The first board burnt out not long after the warranty period ran out. The machine was being used in a school where it was active for part of the year then unused for quite a few months. We have two machines running in the same room. The same one has blown again on exactly the same chip. But the other is fine. In the same room over the last 8 years or so we have been running a cnc router, a cnc engraving machine, a Replicator 2 (last three years or so) along with two computers. This is the only machine that has had a problem. I have been offered a replacement board by my reseller. Which in its self, is not bad as the machine was technically out of the warranty period. If only by a few months. However, I was hoping to build up to around 6 3D printers running in this room over the next two years. The two Ultimaker 2s, a dual head machine and some smaller bed ones such as the new little Ultimaker. The problem is not the $400 or so for the burnt board. It is the down time and the uncertainty of investing quite a lot of capital in further machines if similar problems are going to turn up. I am trying to get a course of around 20 students using this room next year. This is to be based around 3D printing and electronics. The idea of having machines dropping out of use once a year with 6 machines is a cause for concern. In both boards it has been the U6 chip that has gone. I have a co-worker at the school who used to build missile systems for the US in a previous life who is currently checking out the power supply. He seems to think that a power surge would have wiped more than just the U6 chip as other parts of the board do not draw power from this chip. So they too should be damaged. He did get a reading of 54v from the pack but wants to check this with a second multi meter to ensure that it was not just his meter that was faulty. I have some understanding of electronics but nothing like his. Anyway he seems to think that this would destroy the U6 chip (I can understand this) because it is dealing with around 5v (this is all from memory of my last conversation with him yesterday). Anyway it is strange that the chip did not blow instantly as far as I am concerned if it were the power pack producing a voltage of this level. Anyway I can not see the point in putting a new board into this machine until I have discovered exactly what the problem is as it will more than likely blow again. I have been looking into the cost of UPS and other protected power supply systems to power the room even though I am quite sure it has nothing to do with a brown out or a spike as none of the other equipment (which was not fitted with spike protection where as the 3D printer was) has been damaged. This would cost around $2,000 for a system that would protect possibly all the machines in the room. Which is not that bad as I may be able to get some help with this from the school. I would of course rather spend this on more printers. Anyway at the moment I have one working Ultimaker 2, one working Replicator 2 and a very expensive paper weight. Any suggestions on how to find the fault or how to prevent it from happening again would be useful. I have been using CNC equipment in schools for around 20 years and in the past have always had the luxury of being able to take the machine back to a dealer who was able to examine, identify and repair faulty equipment. Where this was not possible, in the case of large machines such as the big Boxford CNC router we used in the UK an engineer was able to come out and identify problems. I suppose this is the problem with living out in the beautiful winterless north of New Zealand.
  5. Hi. I have replaced the main board in one of my machines once already and it seems to have blown again. In both boards there is a distinct small hole in the chip U6. Has anyone had any issues like this. The two machines have had relatively little use in relation to what I would expect to cause a board to burn out in a machine that costs what the Ultimaker 2 did. I have been looking for schematics to see if I can find out exactly what this chip does. If I can work this out it may point out where the fault actually is and provide some indication of how to fix it. I have been in touch with the supplier to see what they think as well. Thanks.
  6. Ok just ignore that post. I looked in the how to document for the original machine. Removed the cover for the display board and the control wheel and matched up EXP1 and 2 on the display board with the EXP1 and 2 on the main board. Should work I would expect.
  7. Hi. I have to install a new board in one of my machines. Like a good little boy I took a photograph of where all of the wires went before starting. However, for some reason I must have disconnected EXP1 and EXP2 (connections for ribbon cable for display and control wheel) before using my brain. Is there anyone out there that knows how to tell one cable from the other. It may be that they are both low voltage input and out put but I do not want to take the risk of damaging the board so please only advise if you are 100% sure. Thanks.
  8. Took the back off the machine to get at the main board. Clearly it is not a firmware issue as the laptop would not detect the machine when connected up via usb. The board is totally dead with no green led on the board lighting up when the power is switched on. I am not happy. I have had this machine for 18 months. However it has had limited use. It has not been used much this year as we are just hitting the time in the year (used at a school) when we print. I have two Ultimaker 2 machines both purchased at the same time. I also have a Makerbot that is 3 years old and is still buzzing away. I would expect moving parts to wear out and be replaced or heaters to burn out but not this type of fault after limited use. My only course of action seems now to be to buy a new main board. I am not very impressed. Is there a direct line of complaint to Ultimaker rather than just contacting the retailer. I would have thought this was a manufacturing issue rather than an issue for the retailer to deal with as they are simply an outlet for the machines. By the way the NZ supplier of the machines is a great bloke who is very keen to support, quick to respond and always very helpful. No complaints with him at all.
  9. Tried to update firmware but laptop does not detect the machine. Looks like its time to get the screwdriver out.
  10. Thanks mate. This seems like a very good first check to perform. I have juggled the power bricks around. A software check would seem a good place to start. If this fails then I am going to get the screwdriver out and start checking each system block at a time.
  11. I think it will be over the year. May be time to get out the screwdriver.
  12. Just dead when switched on the next day after doing a normal print. Have not tried it without the card in but as the screen is also blank I am not sure if this will make a difference. I will still give it a go thanks.
  13. Thanks but that was our first check. No luck.
  14. Hi. One of our Ultimaker2 machines has just totally died. The blue light on the power block is lit up but apart from that nothing on the machine is working or lighting up. The cooling fans do not run. It is stone cold dead. Has anyone come across this and found a simple quick solution like a reset or a fuse? Just looking to pull out the trouble shooting section of the instructions now. Thanks.
  15. Thanks. Just got a bit of time to have a play with them not seen much use for a while. Will try the by hand method and also check out the firmware.
  16. Hi. We seem to have found the cause of the problem. In Inventor it will model a thread really easily in a 3D design but when you output it it does not work. You have to go back to the old long way of drawing a spiral along with the shape of the thread and combine the two to form a 3D thread. It quick way of doing it is just for design purposes. It will show up on designs and drawings but does not print out as a thread. This is a real shame as this was the main reason we chose to use Inventor as it was simpler for kids at the school to use. Seems there is not an easy answer.
  17. Hi. I am having real problems getting threaded components to print on the Ultimaker 2 using Inventor as the CAD package to draw designs. Has anyone encountered the same problem. I am not an expert so it could be something really simple. Thanks Steve.
  18. We have two ultimaker 2 and a replicator 2. The Ultimaker is now working better than it was but still tends to stall more than the Replicator I am afraid. I wish this were not the case after watching the movie Printing the Legend. Worth a look if you have not seen it. What tends to happen is that as the machine cools down after a print job the plastic seems to shrink back from the nozzle. After a bit of testing the problem seems to happen in about one out of three prints. This means that the plastic simply does not come out of the machine. To avoid this now I just pre heat the head and check that the material is fed through correctly before each print. The Makerbot started without fault. However after watching the above mentioned movie I want to hide the makerbot away in a cupboard. Watch the movie and you will understand why. Anyway apart from this the print quality and tinkerability (take that one autocorrect) makes the Ultimaker more fun and far more flexible. It is just not as good for kids at the school to use as I do not want them playing around with the feed tube. It is also not so good for some of the staff who throw their hands up in the air at the first misprint and want to make the item out of wood. This will improve with training. Anyway now want to get my hands on some of this new conductive material. Have you tried it? Just about to see if there are any posts on it.
  19. Hi. Sorry if this is a common question. I have a new machine and it works fine apart from one point. Every time I want to print I have to remove the feed tube, remove the end of the material, put the heater on and then advance the material forward. Next I have to fiddle around getting the end of the PLA inserted into the head. Then replace the tube and clip. This seems a bit mad at the start of every print. I also have a Makerbot Replicator 2. The print quality and speed are clearly nothing like as good. However all you do with this is level the bed and print as long as you do not want to change the material. Am I missing something or will I just have to get used to removing and reinserting the material at the start of each print job?
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