Is the bed wire still safe to use?

At the moment my printer is very very necessary for a school project. I really cant afford to have it out of order again for another month. So I was wondering if it is still safe to use with the overheating bed clip.

 

You're definitely tempting fate running it. If the pin comes loose and overheats you'll quickly regret it. Do you have any soldering ability?

They estimate turnaround time is 48 hours after receiving the board and the silicone dies.

 

when you say pin do you mean a pin on the actual clip? and if so does that pin read the temperature of the bed?

Yes I do have soldering capabilities.

 

The pin for the heater.

If you hard wire the bed in place you won't be at risk. Just have to go around the connector.

 

oh ok, If the pin were to come loose what would happen? The printer is right next to my bed sooo...

 

It can no longer handle the current, overheats, melts the plastic, and shorts against the other lead.

 

hmmm so the clip is not supposed to be hot at all because mine is

if it was to short could that start a fire

 

The Molex connector tends to melt, and turn black brown and brittle. At this point the contacts could touch inappropriately. Mine looked like a marshmallow that that was forgotten by a distracted s'more loving boyscout. I think the term rapid uncontrolled expanding oxidation describes the worse case scenario. I wouldn't want my printer turning into a yule log.

(that was a lot of work avoiding search engines there)

 

I worked so hard to avoid that word :\

 

so I should solder the wires directly on

 

It depends on your connector orientation. Printers shipped before 5/29 seem to not have the issue.

If you didn't get the recall notice you're probably fine. A little warm is alright, hot enough to melt plastic isn't.

 

you probably can barely see it but it is slightly browned. It is very hot to the touch I can hold my finger on it for max 3 seconds.

 

Upon further inspection

 

Judging by the angle of your connector you should have received a notice. What was your ship date?

 

Oh yes I should have told you, I did receive a notice Its just that I really need this printer right now

 

so just jumper the power wires.

 

Okay thanks, but can I just use the jumper as a temporyary fix for a week and then send the bed back to robo 3d or will that disqualify me

 

I mean they're just cutting off the connector. I don't see them voiding your warranty for that but if you fix it yourself why send it in?

 

yes your right okay looks like I have yet another thing to do tomorrow. Once again Thanks so much your'e insanely helpful!

 

I'm also having heated bed connector issues since day one, when my printer arrived back in May. The connector just broke off (it was held in place with hot glue), and the wires keep jamming up the Y-axis system. I tried many fixes, with Jerry's help - but no avail.

Then, on June 10, Jerry offered to send me a replacement heated bed. However, it required me to measure the exact positions and polarities of the magnets - I was surprised that they are not standardized, especially since the heated bed is available as a separate upgrade. I sent him the info, and provided my shipping address on June 11.

Nothing happened for over two weeks. On June 28, I got tired of waiting, decided to just waive the warranty replacement, and just order a complete Y axis upgrade kit for $110 plus shipping. For one, this would avoid the problem with the magnets matching the linear motion carriage, and also, the rear bracket of the carriage arrived cracked, so a replacement wouldn't hurt. I asked Jerry if it would make sense, or if the stock heated bed would match my printer - but he didn't reply to that part.

However, upon checkout, it turns out that the only shipping option available is "DHL Shipping Calculator" (?), and that costs an extra whopping 235$! Sure, back when I ordered my printer, plus 3 extra filament spools, the DHL shipping cost was also 273$, but that's still sort of tolerable for a total order value of 789$, and a huge 15kg package. But for an order value of 110$, 235$ shipping seems out of proportion. Whenever I order items with a similar size/weight from other suppliers in the US or Europe (say, SparkFun or E3D), the shipping cost, fastest express option via UPS, FedEx or DHL, is usually in the 35$ to 50$ range. I pointed this out to Jerry, and he made a change to their store software... Yeah, now it's down to $60, but for USPS! Furthermore, USPS is now the only shipping option available for my country (which is an absolute PITA, since it takes weeks, and is a huge hassle when the package arrives (I'll have to travel to the airport, pick it up myself at the customs office, negotiate import duties / tax, basically spend the whole day there).

So, on July 2, I followed up about that, but didn't get any reply yet. So there I am now, another two weeks later, still no warranty replacement, and no way to even order a replacement at my own cost.

And now I read here that the "fix" basically consists in cutting off the molex connectors altogether, and just soldering the wires together? Did I understand that correctly? If so, it leaves me with three questions:

1. So it means that the borosilicate plate can't be easily removed any more (for cleaning or applying blue/kapton tape), but is permanently attached to the printer?
2. The strain during Y-axis movement used to be on the connector (held in place by silicone / hot glue), that's why it broke off after a few days. So with the wires soldered together, the strain will now be on the silicone blob that attaches the wires to the bed?
3. If the "fix" when sending in your bed merely consists in cutting off the connector (like what Mike said)... How would it then be reattached? Still by cutting off the connector on the printer's side, and then soldering? So what's the point in having it fixed at their site at all?