techzone remix.. how to connect all??

I finally solved my extruder soldering issue. Sadly it seems the A3949 motor drive chips next to the stepper connection blocks were not soldered correctly (and/or apparently tested).

I had three leads missing a good solder joint. By no co-incidence these were all on pads where there was a via embedded in the pad itself [ not such good practise I suspect ].
In addition, one of the diagnostic LEDs was seemingly missing a connection to it's adjacent resistor - sub-optimal, and again apparently un-tested.

I had often wondered why it was that the stepper motor would make a few movements and then just jam up ;-) - apparently, we were only energising two of the four terminals, and that intermittently.

Luckily with a skillful friend, suitable equipment etc. I now have a working extruder controller.

Hope that helps someone.

@mostley et al

have you managed to solve the temperature reading issue? If so, may I ask how you did it? I am having similar problems with my Techzone extruder board.


After loading the firmware sent by Lambert and Kimberly, I still had same problems with temperature readings. The symptoms I experience are as follows:
1. Motherboard reports temperature of between 1C and 3C irrespective of whether extruder board is powered or not
2. I have wired the extruder board as per MdBaughman2 post - the pictures were quite helpful (http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?13,43246,45646#msg-45646)
3. I wired the ground connection on the JTAG, to the GND on the extruder board, for common ground.
4. The Temp connector on extruder board , goes to thermistor on extruder which is the long uninsulated wires on extruder.
5. The nichrome wires on extruder, which is identified by short insulated wires, go to the heater connector pair, on extruder board, next to 12V pair. These wires measure approximately 7ohm resistance, according to multimeter.
6. The SDA-SCL connectors seem to function correctly, as they correctly signal extruder stepper motor.
7. The RS485 connectors, seems to be problematic, as this is where the temperature information is transmitted between boards. Correct?

Can you please point out any mistakes I made, or any areas that I should investigate further.

Thankyou and Regards
Marius Botha
Pretoria, South Africa
[mariushermanbotha.wordpress.com]

Can you post this "firmware sent by Lambert and Kimberly" that you speak of somewhere. I have had little luck trying to contact them and the techzone thermocouple page on the wiki says the firmware is "coming soon". This is very frustrating considering I have shelled out over $1100AU for the kit, and I cant even get the firmware that is needed to use it.

BalanceSeeker sent me the firmware and I have posted it to the wiki in case anyone else is looking for it:
[reprap.org]