Hi All,
I have just completed building my printer and I am unable to set up the connection to the printer from my Mac, running Mavericks.
Basically- I can connect my other Arduino boards no problem as the virtual serial port becomes visible. I’ve tried on both my Mac books. I’ve changed USB cables.
I’ve tried connecting to the board from the Arduino IDE, no serial port becomes available, but works for other boards (Uno)
I only get one green led flash when connecting or resetting.
When power is applied to the board no LEDs light up, but there is power coming in, 15.4v.
I’ve disconnected all the plugs to the board, no serial port becomes available.
Do I have a dead board?
Any ideas on what I should try now?
Hi there,
Thanks for the reply, I have checked the cables, swapped them out, changed the Mac for my other machine and no life. The only LED that comes on is the green one for a initial 2 flash on power up or reset. There is power to the board and I have set the motor voltages correctly.
I did inspect the board more closely and the connections look ok except for 2 pins on the Comms chip, using a magnifying glass I can see two sets of legs that have solder bridges which looks wrong to me. However I would expect that these boards are uploaded with the firmware before they leave to factory so it should have failed then?
I have sent an email to the company that I bought it from- CPC here in the UK who have requested that I return the goods, I’m just establishing whether that’s just the main board or the whole printer. Ideally I’d like them to test it but I don’t expect they would be able to do that.
This is very frustrating as I am so keen to get printing!
Hi Kuraasu,
Thanks, I can’t tell which pins they are, but if you say there are two sets of connected legs then I assume they are the ones that I can see.
There are no comms LEDs flashing at all, and I’ve tried connecting to a few PCs & Macs now. I know what I expect to see from my other Arduino boards that I have.
I suspect I need to send the board back to the supplier?
Hi kuraasu,
I checked that, no components were more than slightly warm, the power input is normal, 15v I’ve tried a USB few cables as well.
The supplier has asked that I return the whole kit as they don’t replace parts! Not sure that’s the route I want to go down.
I may approach Velleman, I’d be happy to buy a replacement board rather that build another whole printer, but it would be good to check what the issue actually is.
Cheers,
Pat
ok, then the board itself seems to be ok so far. Two possibilities remain, either it’s some internal defect inside the FT232R, or as VEL417 already suggested, a connection problem at the USB socket. The first would definitely not be home-fixable, but the second could be done (if you have some experience soldering SMD components).
If you want to investigate further, we can try to diagnose the connectors via a photo, but it would have to be a close-up with good focus on the pads.
I think VEL417 said in another thread that the support deptartment isn’t in tomorrow, so an answer from them about warranty will probably take till Monday. Usual way to go in cases where warranty applies is that you ship the board to Belgium and get a replacement back after a few days.
Hi Kuraasu,
Yes, I’ve come to that conclusion. The KIT supplier will only swap out the whole kit, not really a good plan after all the work in building the printer.
I don’t have the equipment to work on SM components and the time spent on that may not fix it in the end.
I have in the meantime purchased a new board (£161) from the Vellerman suppliers here in the UK, and I have written to the factory asking if they can look at the old board and reimburse me if it’s a factory fault. I just can’t wait too much longer and I did look at buying another type of printer as well.
So we will see what the outcome is from this.
Update:
I’ve ordered a new CPU board for the K8200 from vellerman.co.uk (ESR Electronics) for £161. I got an email from them and they have been very helpful and have even offered to send the board back to Belgium for repair for me. There are no main boards in stock anywhere and I’ve not got an ETA yet for new boards to become available. Having it repaired if possible is my best option, or send the whole kit back and buy from another manufacturer…
It’s all rather frustrating as I was looking forward to getting my own print off my ‘hand crafted’ printer
Hi All,
Just another update, I’ve received a new motherboard from velleman.co.uk and have got the printer up and running, so I had a rather dead board to start with, which I’ll be shipping back to the factory for repair.
I’m a happy bunny now
regards,
Patrick
