This is my first post so if I am breaking any rules or conventions I apologize and please let me know.
I have a FFCP and need to replace the SD Card Reader / LCD Screen. I have bought a replacement and it appears that it fits using just two screws. I have removed these on my printer but it does not move. If anyone knows how to remove this please let me know before I start stripping it down. Thanks, John.
You have to remove the front plastic part of the overall printer – the part that holds the front-door and everything too. There’s 5 or 6 screws that are directly accessed from the front. You’ll also most certainly need access to the electronics bay too so you can more easily plug and unplug things and verify cabling. I suggest turning the entire printer on it’s side (careful with the carriage!), remove the electronics bay metal plate (just the three screws on the one side have to come out, the other three need to be loosened but can be left in place for alignment for reassembly – it should be obvious if you look at the slots on the screw holes). Then remove the front plastic part (the plastic parts on all sides are bolted to the metal frame, so nothing falls apart when you remove them). The LCD assembly should come out with the front panel.
Also, I highly recommend building a proper circuit for it. The original design is absolute junk. I was getting card read errors on mine about 6 or 7 times every 10 card insertions. I finally got frustrated and designed my own circuit board for it. Haven’t had any read problems since! My board is posted on Thingiverse. Just search for “FlashForge LCD/SDCard/Keypad” and you’ll find it. The PCBs are posted on OSHPark and the parts list BOM is linked there. It does require some surface mount soldering skills to build, but I used all hand-solder sized footprints to make that easier. The smallest chip to solder is a TSSOP-6, which has 0.65mm pin-pitch, but if you have some solder wick, you can do it even with a cheap $5 soldering iron without difficulties (provided you have a proper magnifier light to where you can see what you’re doing).
Good luck!
Donna
Thanks Donna, this is a great help. I will also look into your new board design as I am getting the same problem as you (although not as frequently). John.
