I received my Snapmaker 2.0 A350 early this week. I started with 3D printing an all went fine (mostly).
I decided to test out the laser function. Installed the laser toolhead and bed, and as soon as I turned on the power, the laser head went BANG and smoke shot out of the laser hood and cable connector. The laser head is fried.
And unfortunately, when I switched back to the 3D printing head, now the filament feed motor will not work. Other toolhead functions work (nozzle temp, proximity sensor).
It looks like the exploding laser head damaged the controller.
Anybody else had major issues like this? How has the manufacturer responded when you have defective modules?
Itās very possible because several people have done it.
The tab bends out of the way enough that you can.
Why they didnāt also have the pins offset so that it couldnāt be done no matter what is bad design.
Thereās a tab, but it doesnāt extend far enough down to prevent it from happening.
They acknowledge that its not a good design choice.
Contact support support@snapmaker.com and tell them that your laser module blew up and also are having issues using other modules (which is also something other people have experienced). It could be the cable or it could be the hub.
If you are lucky, you might get this accomplished before chinese new year which is coming up soon (china shuts down for like 2 or 3 weeks).
I think they will work with you on that one, from what Iāve seen in other posts anyhow.
Please let us know the results of that. I havenāt really seen any clear follow up posts about this issue before other than their issue was resolved.
Sdj hit the nail on the head - offset pins would have been ideal. Itās not as though they used an existing off the shelf solution.
Do yourself a major favor and tell support your address and backer number/order number in the post in an effort to save a back and forth.
Historically support has been slow but they have recently been replying to (many) emails a lot more promptly
I see what you mean about the cable ends. It was a poor design choice to make the connectors so symmetrical.
But Iām absolutely sure that the head was not plugged in backwards. I distinctly paid attention to having the locking tab facing the right side of the machine when I plugged in the laser head.
The CNC head is working. I was a bit surprised since the printing head stopped feeding filament.
Electrolytic capacitors just blow sometimes. Thatās why they donāt allow them on the space station. (I got to work on an instrument that went up to the ISS, and electrolytic caps entered the discussion.)
Thanks for the pointers. I messaged Support. We shall see how they respond.
Depending on how tech savy and willing to void your warranty, have a look inside the Controller/ Module? There are level shifters on the Enable, Step and Dir lines inside the controller. The CNC module is controlled over CANbus which looks like its intact, Heating and Probing on the 3D Head is also CANbus, the Filament stepper is by the main controller.
Streupfeffer, THANK YOU for this information about the CAN bus and the controller. This supports my (unfortunate) suspicions that the controller has been damaged. Indeed, the CNC head functions, but I still canāt get filament to feed in the 3D head.
And thank you too for the link to the level shifter chip datasheet! I am pretty tech savvy (I build scientific instruments in my job), but Iām hoping not to have to go there if I can get Snapmaker to offer me an alternative (like honoring the warranty, or at least being willing to sell me replacements at a reasonable cost). My first email exchange did not go well. They basically said āYou plugged it in backwards, have a nice dayā, and offered me no solutions though I told them the laser head was fried and asked specifically about module replacements. I was not rude or blaming in my message to them. I was factual.
Looks like this forum community will be a real lifeline. Thanks to all!
If your lucky only the levershifter in the Controller is dead. I wouldnt be sure what happend in teh Laser though. I can get you pics of a functioning one, if you have clearly burnt parts, doing board level repair, not so sure if possible. The Module Sourcecode isnt available so if the Module MCU is dead youll have to hope they still over it via warranty or buy a new one (which they will happily sell you).
Snapmaker should warranty the issue, but if it boils down to it, i can tell you that the laser module is priced at $154, 3dp module is $115 dollars, linear module for A350 is $144.
i personally felt those were not too unreasonable. (wanted some spare components)
i dont know what the hub/controller costs. didnt ask.
Thanks Moose, those prices are not ruinous, and I would definitely rather buy replacements than spend my time on board-level repairs. Iād prefer though that SM honor their warranty, and Iām working on them. They are now directing me to diagnostics for the print head stepper motor problem.
Does anyone know if there is a diagram that labels the ports on the controller? they are directing me to install diagnostic firmware and āPlug the 3D printing module in the Add-on1 port.ā Everything is unlabeled. Looks slick, bad for operations.
Update: On my last round of messages with SM support they agreed to send me a new laser head and controller under warranty. They sent me ādiagnosticā firmware to try, which basically re-directs the toolhead to the Add-on1 port. Under this port the filament feed stepper does function, confirming that the controller got damaged along with the laser. An advantage to this is that now I can use the 3D print head under the re-directed firmware while waiting for the new modules.
So I had to push a bit, but the company is honoring the warranty. They must be losing significant money over this poor connector design (and I suppose I must have plugged the laser head in backwards). Thatās too bad. The fit and finish of the machine is otherwise impressive. I look forward to further exploring its capabilities.
Youāre lucky. The same happened to me. I immediately admitted to possibly having plugged in the plug the wrong way around. Hereās what I got for a reply:
If you connect the machine in the wrong way, the laser module burns out and the issue laser module damages the controller.
That is why the gear in the printing module does not rotate. But the printing module itself is fine.
So now you need a new laser module and controller.
Laser module: $154
controller: $96
shipping fee: $14
In the Facebook group someone told me they had to pay $190 total for the same replacement so it seems prices are going up fast. Asked and paid for the replacement on December 23rd but no word on shipping yet.
Well I am glad you managed to get them to budge on it.
They are indeed replacing a number of components for people, if you read the forums there are stories all over the place
At the same time, they have shipped some 7000 or more units, and people only post when theres a problem usually, so all in all the machine is pretty niceā¦ but it has a steep learning curve and has a lot of little things you need to do to maximize performance.