This is about people requesting spare parts for their printers without having to send in the old part and wait until Zortrax sends out a repaired or new one.
But as always you did not understand the topic, just like Google Translate mislead you or just your closed helmet.
Ah old banned troll with new account, I think that I know you're :) Do you have M200 ? Do you have problem with receive the spare parts from Zortrax ? Or you just came here for write nonsense posts like always? :)
Ah old banned troll with new account, I think that I know you're :) Do you have M200 ? Do you have problem with receive the spare parts from Zortrax ? Or you just came here for write nonsense posts like always? :)
Anybody reading the forum thoroughly can see who is the troll here. Every time it gets concrete, about facts that you don't like to hear you start trolling around.
I own printers, I own an M200. I tried to order a spare controller in the US, in Europe last year and was told that this is not possible because Zortrax only accepts send in of a defective controller for repair / exchange.
And that is exactly the issue that others have also including resellers that provide repair services. But you will enlighten us now and tell us where to order a spare controller, yes?
I'm here. Just came back from sick leave.
I do get your point but its not up to me directly. We've achieved that kind of quality thanks to our closed ecosystem and firmware itself, no wonder that we are bit cautious about that. Users are trying to crack Z-Suite and ZCODE. We dont want to make it easier for them to reverse engineering our firmware.
However, idea given by CPS is kind of reasonable. I will talk about it since that could shorten 'out of order' time.
Thank you Marcin,
And could all you other self proclaimed "davinci coders" please bugger off from my post?
One point that seems to be missed here is that this software/firmware is Z's intellectual property, that when I bought the machines it was clearly stated that it wasn't an open system and that no one is entitled to own what they made.
Certainly Z comes off a bit paranoid about this sometimes, but all this "we're gonna crack your stuff" crap certainly isn't helping.
I've been told that they're looking at ways to free this up, and I'm fine with that.
No need to be rude or to use unappropriate terms like "cracking". Reverse engineering for the sake of interoperability is considered legal ("fair use") in most civilized countries.
Mixing this up with copying their firmware doesn’t make any sense and isn’t helpful. And nobody threatens Z. Actually all the reverse engineering happened months ago and the results are held back to respect Z’s wishes.
This is a mere act of kindness though and it should be clear that someone with less desire for harmony will sooner or later release a converter. So it would be wise for Z to consider this and cope with it in a user friendly way.
No need to be rude or to use unappropriate terms like "cracking". Reverse engineering for the sake of interoperability is considered legal ("fair use") in most civilized countries.
Mixing this up with copying their firmware doesn’t make any sense and isn’t helpful. And nobody threatens Z. Actually all the reverse engineering happened months ago and the results are held back to respect Z’s wishes.
This is a mere act of kindness though and it should be clear that someone with less desire for harmony will sooner or later release a converter. So it would be wise for Z to consider this and cope with it in a user friendly way.
I'll delete my comments, but disagree with your point of view.
Your lack of manners and knowledge of legal and other common terms makes me shudder. As do your woozy statements about bombing and Fox News.
You Sir, have some serious problems.
[deleted rude and childish statements]
Your lack of manners and knowledge of legal and other common terms makes me shudder. As do your woozy statements about bombing and Fox News.
You Sir, have some serious problems.
Again deleted, but would you kindly stay off my thread as I don't enjoy your company either.
OK,
Back on topic.....
The machine in question has blown 2 boards since new.
I had bought one new board back when they were releasing them, which also blew a couple of weeks later.
Both blew the same mosfet mentioned earlier by Julia, after both exhibiting the same runaway temp on startup without a print being initiated.
I sent the second blown board back to the distributor as Z had implemented the exchange thing and I'm waiting for a replacement.
In the meantime I managed to replace the mosfet on the first board that i had here, and it's been working normally until this morning.
Same thing....turn the machine on and the extruder temp begins heating right up without a print being initiated. Thank god I hadn't fitted a third board.
1. Checked the other 2 machines and nothing like that, the bed warms but the extruder stays cold (basics I know, just covering bases).
2. Plugged in a spare complete hot end in case thermocouple sensor was causing it, did exactly the same thing.
What next?
I've got ribbon cables here, but is that likely to be it? When the other machine did the same thing (I've got 2 broken with this same fault, and 2 that have never had a problem) I changed the ribbon cable but it didn't fix it.
It seems that the issue is about the board initiating the extruder heating sequence by itself without receiving the command via the display/switch to start a print....I think there's something else being missed here.
Marcin/Zortrax, I think there's something else going on here that's triggering this, and would really appreciate one of your techs putting a step by step of things to check for this issue.
I do know of one other case in Brazil with the exact same fault, and he has bought a new mosfet as well, but my guess is that his problem will come back as well and we are only curing the symptom not the fault.
I'll start with the service center, but this is really getting to be a pain in the arse.
I just started catching up with orders with 3 machines available and here I am again with 2.
What strikes me as odd is that you describe "runaway extruder temperature", but the MOSFET that was blown is (if I remember correctly) the one for the bed heater. Nothing having to do with the bed heater goes through the ribbon cable. The control systems for the extruder and bed heat are entirely separate apart from the CPU on the motherboard which controls both.
The small PCB above the extruder stepper is intimately involved with the extruder temperature control system.
.
What strikes me as odd is that you describe "runaway extruder temperature", but the MOSFET that was blown is (if I remember correctly) the one for the bed heater. Nothing having to do with the bed heater goes through the ribbon cable. The control systems for the extruder and bed heat are entirely separate apart from the CPU on the motherboard which controls both.
The small PCB above the extruder stepper is intimately involved with the extruder temperature control system.
Actually no, I think it was the other machine that had the bed heating issue, this one the extruder.
I've got one of those PCB's here, so I'll give it a go.
Thanks very much.
Also... it's the firmware obviously, that controls the heating processes. We've seen several cases on this forum of people having faulty installations where some of the firmware was working but other parts were malfunctioning, and after they do a re-install, maybe from a new download, or try a new memory card, everything is OK.
Also... it's the firmware obviously, that controls the heating processes. We've seen several cases on this forum of people having faulty installations where some of the firmware was working but other parts were malfunctioning, and after they do a re-install, maybe from a new download, or try a new memory card, everything is OK.
I did just go through the lot and update the firmware using the same SD card, but it's worth a shot.
For the dummies like me out there, how do I reinstall the firmware?
* Got it, it picks up any Bin file new or old on startup. Thank you*
And thank you for this suggestion by the way, as I haven't tried this yet.
Changed the PCB and reloaded the firmware.
I used an older version of the firmware, current version, brand new and reformatted SD cards.
No difference. Turn it on and it just starts heating up immediately.
I guess it's changing ribbon cable time, but comments above suggest that won't be it.
Makes me wonder if it's not an open/short in the wiring harness, as it's pretty crowded and packed in there.
What is the LCD showing? If the machine thinks everything is idle but power is still being supplied to the heater, then it's probably either a short in the wiring or the MOSFET is shorted or being held on by a faulty gate drive signal), holding the heater on.
What is the LCD showing? If the machine thinks everything is idle but power is still being supplied to the heater, then it's probably either a short in the wiring or the MOSFET is shorted or being held on by a faulty gate drive signal), holding the heater on.
The LCD is showing all clear and normal.
I have just replaced the ribbon cable with a brand new one and exactly the same.
At this point I feel that I'm receiving no support at all from Z, and only very slightly more from the distributor.
It's pretty hard to make me change brands but I'm getting there, and once I do I will never come back, especially if I have to pay for new machines and adjust all my files to suit them.
I feel sorry Julia that you so often find yourself dragging these guys arses out of the fire (unpaid and all), but feel you're my only chance of sorting this out.
If you don't mind helping me through this via email, please do as nothing's happening here, and I'll put you on my Christmas list.
I try not to be belligerent when something goes wrong, but this is beyond any reasonable joke now.
Cheers again.
OK,
Back on topic.....
The machine in question has blown 2 boards since new.
I had bought one new board back when they were releasing them, which also blew a couple of weeks later.
Both blew the same mosfet mentioned earlier by Julia, after both exhibiting the same runaway temp on startup without a print being initiated.
I sent the second blown board back to the distributor as Z had implemented the exchange thing and I'm waiting for a replacement.
In the meantime I managed to replace the mosfet on the first board that i had here, and it's been working normally until this morning.
Same thing....turn the machine on and the extruder temp begins heating right up without a print being initiated. Thank god I hadn't fitted a third board.
1. Checked the other 2 machines and nothing like that, the bed warms but the extruder stays cold (basics I know, just covering bases).
On V4 hardware v1.0.3fw, this definitely doesn't happen on my machines, whether coming out of sleep or turn on cold.
When you turn the machine on, led D5 on the motherboard should briefly flash once and then stay off until extruder heater is initiated (at least for v4). If you see D5 staying on when you boot the machine, something is probably wrong on the mb. Unplug everything from the board except power. Turn machine back on, if D5 stay on, something is almost certainly wrong on the mb. As julia mentioned, the mosfet drain to source maybe shorted or the gate is being held on. If you find the gate is held on, then see what Q6 is doing.
If D5 is on after disconnection everything but the PSU, the only other possibility that is not motherbaord related is the psu is somehow faulty, causing things to flip out. You can 100% check that by connection the motherboard to a known good psu from one of your other machines to see if D5 remains on.
Another alternative (but slightly more work) is to swap the motherboard from the faulty machine into a non-faulty machine chassis. If you get run away, it's definitely the motherboard, if you don't it's something else.
Do not swap the motherboard from a non-faulty machine into the faulty machine chassis; the repeated reacurrence of the problem in the same machine (am I understanding correctly?) makes me think there is something wrong on the chassis, blowing out the motherboards.
On V4 hardware v1.0.3fw, this definitely doesn't happen on my machines, whether coming out of sleep or turn on cold.
When you turn the machine on, led D5 on the motherboard should briefly flash once and then stay off until extruder heater is initiated (at least for v4). If you see D5 staying on when you boot the machine, something is probably wrong on the mb. Unplug everything from the board except power. Turn machine back on, if D5 stay on, something is almost certainly wrong on the mb. As julia mentioned, the mosfet drain to source maybe shorted or the gate is being held on. If you find the gate is held on, then see what Q6 is doing.
If D5 is on after disconnection everything but the PSU, the only other possibility that is not motherbaord related is the psu is somehow faulty, causing things to flip out. You can 100% check that by connection the motherboard to a known good psu from one of your other machines to see if D5 remains on.
Another alternative (but slightly more work) is to swap the motherboard from the faulty machine into a non-faulty machine chassis. If you get run away, it's definitely the motherboard, if you don't it's something else.
Do not swap the motherboard from a non-faulty machine into the faulty machine chassis; the repeated reacurrence of the problem in the same machine (am I understanding correctly?) makes me think there is something wrong on the chassis, blowing out the motherboards.
Thank you CPS,
I do appreciate you taking the time to type that all up, and Julia as well for her help.
I can do all that, and will get back.
Only thing I didn't catch is what is Q6? Another LED? I don't understand the operation of mosfets or how to test them at this stage sorry.
Yes it is a repeat occurrence, 2x new boards and now this one I repaired, so definitely share your suspicion that something on the chassis or in the loom could be blowing boards.
I'm trying to be reasonable/pragmatic, and something like this step by step technical checks is all I need to make some progress.
Q6 is for driving the power mosfet. The gate of the power mosfet is not driven at logic level and additionally may have significant capacitance / emi. So another transistor the mcu can drive, is used to drive the gate of the power mosfet. Q6 I think is a BCW72, but need to get microscope out
edit - think Q5 might be involved as well
Q6 is for driving the power mosfet. The gate of the power mosfet is not driven at logic level and additionally may have significant capacitance / emi. So another transistor the mcu can drive, is used to drive the gate of the power mosfet. Q6 I think is a BCW72, but need to get microscope out
I think I may have not communicated clearly my lack of understanding of these things lol