New User: Trying to get started

[mrjohnk 0]

I finally got done building up my machine. It has taken about 5 evenings. In addition to the standard issue UM, I added a 400W power supply and heated bed with a glass top. Generally, I followed 3DTOPO's example http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:30655 for parts to use, but used borosilicate glass instead of aluminum. I've covered the glass with the kapton tape, installed the 4.7K resistor and hooked up both the thermister and power for the heated bed.

I had tested all the standard parts yesterday using ReplicatorG on the included power supply before adding the new heated bed additions. All motors and switches worked. The heater came up to temp in the extruded. All was well.

After adding the heated bed and new power supply, I tested again with ReplicatorG and was still able to jog around and everything was still good. I knew I needed to update Marlin to support the heated bed, so I got that together with the online Marlin builder and uploaded using the batch file. After loading that, it of course broke communications with ReplicatorG since the baud rate was faster. I lowered the Marlin baud rate to 115.2K to get ReplicatorG working again, however, this time, it didn't work. I could connect to the Arduino and generally send commands, but the machine simply didn't respond. I figured something was broke between ReplicatorG and the new version of Marlin I had loaded.

Moving to the next step, I loaded up Cura and ran through the setup check which went fairly well, except testing the extruder. The heater block was only luke warm to the touch and the extrude kept running while testing, but just chewing a hole in the filament since there was just a cold extruder it was pumping into.

Moving on, I loaded up PrintRun and noticed that it too could connect, however, not actually get the machine to do anything with the controls. At this point, I began to suspect the power supply.

Upon inspection of the power supply, the LED was on, but dim and it was emitting a slight buzzing sound. I checked the voltage output and it was at only 4.7V. I disconnected it, along with the heated bed and went back to the power supply that came with the UM and was able to get PrintRun to operate the machine, so I was sure the 400W power supply was toast.

So, I guess, after that long winded explanation, I'm looking to see if I did something wrong or the power supply I bought was just not any good.

Thanks.

-John

[joergen 2]

pictures and schematics about your wiring might help to pinpoint what went wrong

[Daid 303]

Also, which 400W powersupply did you use? Some PC powersupplies say 400W, but only deliver 150W on 12V.

[mrjohnk 0]

I've been printing with PLA today just to get some printing experience under my belt. The printer is working very well on the standard power supply as I was able to get some belt tighteners and a new fan shroud printed and mounted to the machine. Liking Netfabb, Cura and PrintRun. I'm getting excellent resolution and great looking prints.

Attached are some pictures regarding the heated bed I added. I used 12 gauge silicone insulated wire on the heated bed, however, the terminals on the shield are too small to accept the large cables, so as you can see in the attached picture, I spliced in some 16 gauge wire in the last few inches. They are soldered and properly insulated at the joints. The resistance is exactly 2.0 Ohms up to the heated bed circuit board. The power supply was tuned down to 22V (the lowest it would go), so that would be 11 amps load if I calculated that correctly.

I had a picture of the cable from the power supply to the UM, but apparently 4 attachments is the maximum for this forum. It is simply a 16 gauge dual conductor cable with a type N DC power connector soldered to the end with heat shrink tubing. It plugs into the standard power port on the UM. It is open on the other end where I connect it to the power supply screw terminals for positive and negative.

Let me know if you need any additional details. Hopefully the pictures are clear enough to see where I connected everything.

Thanks.

-John

[mrjohnk 0]

I see the views on this thread going up, but no responses. I'm interpreting that to say that I hooked up my heated bed correctly despite blowing up the power supply. Perhaps the power supply was simply not up to the challenge of a real load.

[Whitelamb 1]

Hi,

I'm sorry I can't help you but I'm dealing with a similar problem, so I post it here.

The recent Ultimaker 2 Go I used the first time yesterday doesn't turn on when I connect the power supply to it.

I suppose the problem comes from the power supply itself : its diode doesn't light on in a continous way and blinks in blue with a little noise.

What's wrong ? Contact failure inside the chargeur ? How to fix it ?

Thank you all for your help.