Resin Printing AnyCubic went down :-(....

Went to print on the AnyCubic Photon Mono today and it decided to quit. This was after about 6-7 prints since I started printing with it. Bought it a couple years ago and let it sit so way out of any warranty. It came on with the opening screen where you could pick print. Wouldn't respond to any finger input (only option). This happened a time or two before but on/off/on would usually fix it.

I had Dottie come out and try also since my fingers don't always make things work like the O2 thingies you put your finger in to read your O2 level. But no go with her also. Took it apart to played with the cables to the display with no results there and then the plastic on one just broke. Very thin plastic and it broke like old brittle plastic.

Thought about switching brands but decided to stick with AnyCubic at least one more time. Ordered a Photon M3 for $209. Didn't want to go larger at this time and this one is a tad larger than the Mono so will still fit easily where the printer and wash/cure station goes. So the 2 Enders printed what the Mono was suppose to be printing so still up and moving forward.

Sumner

 

That sucks! Shouldn't have broken like that. However, one thing to check is the usb drive, earlier anycubic machines were very picky about the drive, and just trying another usb drive may have solved the problem.

When the screen on my mono x died I switched to an elegoo Saturn 2. I had nothing against anycubic, except the price of a replacement screen at 200$ CAD. Elegoos spare parts are substantially cheaper and easier to get here in Canada. I still have my mono x, even tried to sell it at a discount saying the screen needed replacing but never had takers. The machines these days cost so little it's easier to buy new than fix!

 

Yep, the initial screen would come up, with or without the USB drive, but wouldn't respond. The ribbon cable to the display is very small with a ton of connectors, not like any ribbon cable I've seen. The ends of the bare cable go into little tiny connectors. One end I could open the connector and put the cable back in (hopefully better than it was) and close the connector that clamped it down. I though the other end was held the same, not easy to get to the end. Popped what I thought was the connector/clamp on that end up and it broke off.

No easy way to fix that situation so end of repair. Then the question wasn't so much spending the money as it was what should I buy. There are so many models out there now, just from AnyCubic alone. Very confusing. I'd considered going bigger and did slightly but for now and what I want to use it for and the space I setup for it decided to go with a model that is about the same overall dimensions.

I'll be setting this one up and using it right when I get it to make sure there aren't any initial problems,

Sumner

 

That is the one when I tried to open it broke into a number of pieces. Kind of like if you leave some plastic pieces in the sun and it ages and becomes real brittle. The other end of the cable went into a black connector, probably like what you mentioned. It snapped open and close with no problem. The white end like above was on the PCB so I had no desire to buy another PCB.

Hard to believe they need that many connections for the display.



For the display of the WiTcontroller throttle above there are 4 wires total to it. 2 from the ESP32 and the positive and negative power wires.

Thanks for the pic and info,

Sumner

 

Bummer. My AnyCubic Photon M2 is due today. I will have to go back to see my old Uni students in the 3D lab for some coaching. We had over 25 units- filament, multi-filament, resin, powder plastic, powder metal (mostly superalloys), and multi-material units, and microscopes, and an SEM for analyzing the builds... So, the plan is to make some small details, a few buildings, speaker boxes, speeders, loads for cars, and vehicles. Stay tuned.

 

So some gremlins must of gotten into the shop.

I have an Ender by the computer in the house and a second one in the shop. They have been very reliable, printed hundreds of items but..............yesterday go out and turn the shop one on and get the 'Blue Screen' and nothing else. So first a display problem on the AnyCubic and then the Ender. The Ender is more mechanical inside so doesn't intimidate me as much so pulled it apart and couldn't find any thing obvious. Tried flashing the hardware but that didn't seem to fix the problem. Found out I could get a little better main board for it for $40 so ordered it. Hope that fixes the problem.

So took a second look at the AnyCubic and saw that the main board comes out real easy (the one with the broken connector) so thought I'll see how much one is. Found one left on a site that was marked way down to $35 (they probably don't think anyone is going to still order one). So will order one on the hopes it brings that printer back to life.....but......now I can't find the ribbon cable I was trying to re-seat when the connector broke. Having a hard time finding that on line (available in England I think). I have recollection of maybe throwing it in the trash when I was frustrated by the whole deal but can't find it there but took some of the trash out yesterday and that got picked up

If I can find the cable or one on line I think I take the chance and put the $30 to $50 into trying to fix it also. I like having spares of things I use...

Sumner

 

The gremlins are here too...

Today I kicked off the first print after reverting my shop from improptu storage back to a shop. Frame and boiler assembly, frame came out fine but there was nothing but supports and a big blob on the FEP for the boiler. Inspecting the print file, found out I hadn't switched the support contact diameter back to 0.3mm from fooling with supporting the oh-so-small handrail stanchions with 0.1mm (I ended up not supporting them at all). Tomorrow, replace the FEP, I've already modded the print file, go at it again.

I'm sorry you're having such challenges. Resin printing is persnickety enough as-is, let alone encountering infantile hardware mortality.

 

Well, my just-received AnyCubic M2 arrived DOA. Sad. Of course, support is off-shore, and not particularly good- abysmal is a starting description. So, PayPal will sort out the return. I will just go to my university lab and use the printers that we set up when I was a professor.

 

My update: Got the replacement board in for the Ender but got a problem. The bed does not stop heating....gets to 60c and keeps going so have to turn it off. Might of been a problem on my part as I reversed the plug for the extruder and bed initially when I plugged them in . Not the thermistor wires but I'm assuming the wires that power both, not sure.

Solid blue screen is gone at least. Put a SD card in with the firmware on it and the printer came up with the right screen and it worked fine. Just the problem with the runaway bed temps.

The extruder heats normally. Amazon is sending a new board. Should be here Wed. and will probably get the AnyCubic board before then.

Sumner

 

sumner it might need update to the board. i use octo print so updating is easy. there is a thing in there about runaway temps. also could be old board

 

The board was/is a brand new 4.2.7. I also put the newest firmware on it. Not sure what is wrong but hopefully the new board will take care of it and it is going back under Amazon's return policy.

Sumner

 

one of the very first things i did with my ender 3 was get a new board to quiet those motors. still have the old board for just in case.
now my other printer the ender 3 pro. its very problem matic. so its just parked for now till i get funds to replace the board with an older board.
its got a few new mods to it like to steppers for the Z axis (that improves the print quality a lot) at least on the ender 3 it did.
ive replaced the hot end a couple times on my ender 3 and wound up using stock as it has worked the best so far , i tried all them fancy supposed to be better ones .. haha ya right better . maybe i need to put my old board in the pro model ??? have not tried that yet....for a 90 dollor machine the pro has not been a good machine (bought it used could not turn down the price , came with 5 rolls of filament and some other stuff )
thats one good thing i like about amazon return policy is fantastic no questions just return the dang things.......

 

Don't have much to loose, I'd try it.

My first Ender finally went down last year and I saved it for parts but now I can't remember why it went down so don't know what part is probably screwed up. Must be the main board as I did try the screen on the one with the blue screen problem the other day and the screen also came up blue. Now that I know the main board is only $40 maybe I'll try one in it and put it back together (I broke it all the way down, now not happy that I did that ).

Sumner

 

Spent more time trying to get help from Anycubic. Since I found it defective from the start, I contacted them through customer service (a misnomer), and the tech line (they respond, but not useful). So, I called PayPal. I will get a refund in about 10 days. Now to start researching resin printers again. Oh well. I may just go over to my old University lab and use the printers there. I did design several speaker boxes for different engines. I bought an STL file for a speeder and trailer- why reinvent things? Stay tuned.

 

Zero for two on repairing the Ender and the AnyCubic. Put new main boards in both and still same problems. The Ender has run-away bed temperature...need to research that more. The AnyCubic's touchscreen still doesn't respond with new main board so ordered a touchscreen from China. It was $26 including the freight so figured I'd give that a shot as it is the only thing left.

The AnyCubic Photon M3 came in a couple days ago so will get it unboxed and setup.

Sumner

 

have you replaced the thermocouple thingy boobber do on the ender.....if not try that but im pretty sure its a firmware problem unless wires are plugged in different holes.

 

Finally got back to the AnyCubic and the Ender 3 today and got both working.



To rehash the Photon Mono wasn't responding to the touchscreen. Messing with trying to figure that out I broke the connector between the main board and the touchscreen board for the ribbon cable. Since I needed a new main board decided to start there and got one in for $40 delivered from a U.S. firm. That didn't fix it so decided to throw more money at it and found a touchscreen in China (couldn't find one in the States). Got it in a couple days ago and it was $25 delivered. That fixed it so that would of been the cost to of fixed it if I hadn't screwed up the main board. Still for $65 I've got it back up and running and will try a print on it soon. The touch screen is much more responsive than the original one and it had quirks from the start so glad I got that fixed.

The Ender 3 Pro problem happened right after the AnyCubic went down and it was the 'blue screen' thing where you turn it on and only get a blue screen. I decided to update with a newer 32 bit board and put it in and it came right up and seemed fine except the bed heat would runaway as soon as it was turned on. So had a screen and controls but thermal runaway on the bed. Figured it might be the new motherboard so sent it in and got a new one a couple weeks ago and let the printer sit as with the new one in it did exactly the same thing (sorry Amazon for requesting another one).

So then today figured it had to be the thermistor on the bottom of the bed. I had an old Ender 3 that I kept for parts. Can't remember what was wrong with it now. Stupid for not putting a note with it. I was about sure it wasn't related to the bed heat so took that bed and put in on my problem one. Still bed thermal runaway. This didn't make sense as there isn't anything else that could cause this other than the main board and the bed. Was going to forget about it for a while but got back on the internet and found the solution.

When I took the older main board out I took pictures of all the wiring connections (smart). So the new 32 bit board looks like the original one so referred to my pictures and plugged wires into the new board following the pictures. What I found out on the internet was they swapped where two sets of wires connect into identical plugs next to each other. I took a closer look at the small wiring diagram that came with that I should of paid more attention to (dumb). Yep two wires that go to a fan go to where the two wires ran to the bed thermistor and visa versa. Swapped the two wires and screen came on and no more bed thermal runaway. So if I would of been more observant the Ender would of been back up a few weeks ago for $40. Still cost $40 as Amazon swapped the boards for no charge.

I left the bed from the older one in place but did put in aftermarket springs under that I bought a couple years back but had never installed. Leveled the bed in a few minutes (thank goodness no 'auto level' to deal with) and did the test print in the image above.

So I'm back to two Ender's and now 2 AnyCubic's since I spent $209 for the Photon M3 when the Photon Mono went down. I'll use all four I'm sure.

Sumner

 

Back on line! Nicely done. I broke down and ordered an Anycubic Photon Mono 2. I hope this one works! Stay tuned.