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Jan 2017
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Wrightsy
Jan '17

Ok Im a tech of sorts but i’m no Guru. I bought a 3D printer to feed the geek in me and hopefully infuse some interest in my son. Instead It seems to be a shameful fail. I bought a Createbot Super Mini along with a couple of drums of filament. Now I managed to get a few prints done with mixed results. It made me feel productive and the lad loved it too. Bring on the “FAIL”. Turned it on and went to set it off on a preheat while I got the PC side of things sorted. Normally Id see the ambient temp and preheat temp on the screen like 29/190 for example. This time I see 0/0. Went over to the PC which was ready to go with my print and it wouldn’t connect to the printer. I copied the file to the printer SD card and bingo I thought. Found the file and set it off on a print mission. I expected it to start off warming the extruder and then the fan turn on. Not this time. Temperature remained on 0/0 and the fan came on after about 10 seconds. suddenly XYZ fired up and went to the home position. looking at the touch screen the progress bar bas in a death race to the other end and got there in a matter of 30 seconds give or take. XYZ confirmed the home position again and everything stopped like it was “job done”! What the hec!

Ok no it gets real - I touched base with the support crew. Sort of wished I hadn’t I can assure you. Very poor english and kept asking me to try and print in every way imaginable. Eventually agreeing that the firmware needed o be re-flashed. Sent me a ZIP with everything and just to run this batch file and all will work he said. HA! that was a total FAIL with a syntax error. Im loosing my mind by this time but proudly remaining calm.

What I do know from personal experience is that the controller seems to be very stuffed. There is no intelligible response from the serial interface no matter what baud rate I use though it does respond. Docs say it should be 115200 8 N 1 but it just sprays back rubbish. I also found that the controller is based on the ATMEL 2560 as many of the cheaper ones are these days.

Anyone interested in trying to help me get going again or do I just throw my hands in the air and throw it in the junk pile.

  • created

    Jan '17

  • last reply

    Aug '18
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Wrightsy
Jan '17

I and I forgot to mention that the Createbot support guy wanted me to buy a new controller. He said it would be over $50 USD so about $65 AUD. You can just imagine my response to that idea.

3 months later
1 year later
User_7507
Aug '18

Hi,

I am having a similar problem with the same printer.

I am in 100% agreeance with Wrightsy in regards to customer support. My wife and I have been contacting them for over a year now, and so far I have not managed to complete 1 print. Haven’t even been able to start one.

I am starting to think it’s a scam.

I have tried to update the firmware on 3 different PCs now and none of them have been able to identify a proper connection. The instructions ask you to locate a COMport but as far as I can tell, none of my PCs have comports or USB-serial converters and there is no device drivers for the printer.

I’m only new to the game and not very tech savvy but I think I would’ve figured it out by now. I’ve asked around many places and many friends who print and they can’t help either.

I have the update file if anyone still wanted to look at it?

@RickSisco @Wrightsy

Adwin_de_Mooij
Aug '18

Hi! I have no experience with this printer, however, a 0/0 temperature reading might indicate a broken thermistor. Have you checked that already?