Afinibot A3 new Heat Tube caps at 206C

Help & Support
1

Hi,

Before my old heat tube shorted/burnt out on me, it would easily hit 240~260C at any time within a couple minutes, but with the new heat tube I got from Robotshop, the heating caps at 206C even if I set it to like 240 or 260C as the max cap.

And it seems like it can easily melt my ABS even though it shows 206C, and I confirmed the thermistor is flush into the hole on the aluminum block, with kapton tape securing it in place.

What could be the cause?

Thanks,
Zirak

2

Hi Zirak,

Do you have any “loose” effect between your cartridge and the aluminum block ?

:slight_smile:

3

Not sure I understand what you mean by loose effect and catridge… do you mean the Thermistor in the little hole in the aluminum block?

4

Is the cartridge loose in the heater bloc ?

5

No the cartridge is firmly in with the screw thing below the block screwed all the way in.

If you check my order history, you can see that I ordered 2x heat tubes and 2x thermisters, I’ve tried both heat tubes and my original, and one of the new thermisters and the heat tube can NEVER reach 260C like my original one did.
I can’t even make it passed the 230C mark, not sure why these new heat tubes are having such a hard time reaching those temps… I thought these were rated for 275C.

6

There are a couple of things that can explain this.
Are you able to verify the voltage out to the cartridge, maybe at the screw terminal, when it’s heating ?

The failure of your first cartridge might have damaged the output.

Let us know,

7

I get around 13v at the two pins connector, the failure of my first heat tube was at the actual heat tube end, not at the board side.

8

When the failure occurred there is a chance to damage the main board at the same time, that’s why.
Can you post pictures of your wiring on the main controller ?

We will try to contact the manufacturer regarding this as well so give us all you can.

Best regards,

9

Here are some new measurements I just took moments ago:

Extruder Voltage:
13.3v extruder heater on with heat bed on
13.88v extruder heater on with head bed off
0.01v extruder heater off

Heat Bed Voltage:
13.85v heat bed on with extruder heater on
13.89v heat bed on with extruder heater off
0.01v heat bed off

Both heat tubes measured about 14.2~14.9 ohms resistance using my multimeter, when my understanding was they should be around 3.6 ohms to reach 40w @ 12v, so how come both heat tubes I have is rated at 14 ohms?

rapidtables.com/calc/electri … ulator.htm

I used this calculator and entered 14.2 ohms, and 13.3v and got 12.46 watts as a result. Shouldn’t this be around 3.6 ohms and not 14.2ohms?

The current specs indicate that these heat tubes are actually 12v @ 10w, not 12v @ 40w…

http://zirak.ca/robotshop/IMG_3868.JPG

Your website lists this item as 12v @ 40w
robotshop.com/ca/en/afinibot … -tube.html
http://zirak.ca/robotshop/HeatingElement.PNG

10

Hi Zirak,

Yeah, that seems correct (your tests and calculation).
We contacted the manufacturer to know what they can tell us about it. Maybe they send us 24V version instead of 12V but that’s just a theory.

:slight_smile:

11

Thanks, do I need to return these heat tubes in order to get replacement ones with the correct specifications? If so, will shipping be covered both ways?

12

If the problem does come from the item we will replace them, no worries and no charge.
At the moment we are waiting on more information regarding this from the manufacturer.

13

Thanks, 3D printer has been out of commission for a while since I only print ABS, and am currently unable to. Please let me know as soon as you can of when you can resolve this issue for me.

Thank you.

14

The manufacturer claimed that some other people got the same problem.
They will send us some remplacement cartridge but unfortunately we do not have any other in stock at the moment to get you working fast.

15

I see, thank you for the update, were they able to provide an ETA on when it would be shipped to me? Would you also need me to open a support ticket for this?

Thanks.

16

It’s best to open a support ticket yes, with reference to this forum post.
We should have more details about the ETA tomorrow when the manufacturer answer us.

17

Thank you, the ticket has been created.

18

Just to confirm the manufacturer will be shipping two 12v @ 40w heat tubes to me correct? I ordered two to have one of them as a spare.

19

The manufacturer will ship many replacement parts to us.
They will replace our stock which seems to be defective and we will replace yours.

20

Thanks for the prompt response!