Just unboxed printer, no power

I left a note to tech support, but perhaps someone has something to attempt while I await a response.

When I reached the point in the setup process to turn the printer on, nothing. No power. I checked the socket and power strip; both provide power to other devices. I checked the fuse by the power connector as well, and this appeared good to the eye.

While fiddling, I noticed that there was indeed a brief response when the power is turned on. I see two flashes of the green LED located near the USB port. When the switch if turned off, about 5 seconds later there is a fainter single pulse from the LED (capacitor discharge?). This is the PLA-only model (no heated bed).

Any ideas?

 

I looked underneath and can report that the the initial light is coming from a board near the USB connect. There is also a single green light near the power supply. Other than the sustained light on the power supply, there is no indication the unit has power expect for a faint whir that terminates when the the light near the USB goes off (no obvious POST, continuing sound, fan operation or additional lights as far as I can tell).

Matter Control (v1.05) says there is no printer connected, and when I edit the printer settings, under serial ports it says "No COM ports available." I'm running Windows 8.1 on a laptop with no other USB device connected. I am unable to measure the power output.

 

Do you have a multimeter?

 

Have you installed the usb driver ?

 

8.1 usually needs the right driver - try a reinstall of the software first. If no luck, try a different USB cable.

 

Shortly after my last post I did find the thread about Windows 8.1 drivers and did (eventually) connect. In any case, it was the driver issue holding me up. Neither Windows nor the MC installer gave any indication that the driver install had failed, which would have pointed me in the right direction.

In any case, I'm up and running!

 

OK, so I've progressed from total noob to slightly more experienced noob. Here are the issues I'm seeing.

I'm running the PLA-only model using filament from Robo3d. I'm seeing:

1. Nubs of plastic gradually begin to appear on layers, especially on corners.

2. Inability to complete long prints due to unpredictable extruder jams. Seen best success running the current material at 205/195 and with slower speeds, but it continues to happen. Been suspecting that one part of the problem is the uncoiling of the filament (there is a cut in the top slot that seems ideal for a snag, and I've covered that up), and if I can manage to print the parts will move the material to the top of the printer. I run through the z-axis calibration procedure before each session.

I had been seeing excessive stringing, but I increased the extruder retraction along with the temp, and that has all but eliminated the problem.

Printing parts for the LDC XXL controller, and managed a nice control knob (rougher-looking than the best work I've seen here even though printed at 0.1mm, but good for me so far). The bottom panel ran for 8 hours and had made good progress before I noticed the extruder had stopped.

3. Extreme adhesion of completed parts. This has been surprising since Day 1, but the parts were small and relatively easy to remove. Parts with larger flat area on the bed make this much more pronounced. That uncompleted bottom of the LCD XXL is still stuck to the (unheated) bed. I'm afraid too much force will damage the unit, but even a vice-grip hasn't succeeded yet. It's really on there, and until it's removed there's no more printing. Tips?

The only time I have seen poor adhesion is with the platform lifters that are also part of the LCD XXL container. After two or three layers, one corner would curl off the platform and contact the extruder; hadn't tried the hair spray gambit, but will do so next try.

 

I wonder when these guys will start op-checking/testing these machines before they ship???????.... I mean .......really.............how hard is to check to make sure customers are getting working machines when they arrive...

QA these things before they ship out..!
(by the way this is a general statement not just retaining to this thread.... for you guys that want to get technical)

 

If you read the thread it had nothing to do with QA

 

Cambo3d: The thread title really only reflects my expectations. There was no obvious indication that drivers were not installing, but when they did the printer functioned fine.

All: Well, I managed to remove the extremely-well-adhered failed part, and I also damaged the bed surface in doing so. Ugh.

 

Do you use tape? I hear that stuff sticks too well. I much prefer hairspray, and 40C bed.

 

Just got a roll of painter's tape, so will try that. Although, every other mention of PT is to improve bed adhesion, which did not seem to be a problem so I didn't use it.

 

I don't have the heated bed option.

 

Oh i thought you meant the unheated as it you cooled it down and still stuck. People have luck with upside down canned air or other means of spraying super cooled liquid onto the part. Other people have found success with using a screw driver as a bat to knock the part off with the handle end of the driver.

 

The piece was as cold as it was going to get. I had to saw and pry it off. I cleaned off the bed and taped it up to try again, and now cannot get filament into the extruder. It's blocked in a very decisive way now.