SAV MKl - big fail

Yesterday, in his excitement over the first prints coming out of our i3 Steel, my son stepped on the USB cable and ripped the Mini USB jack off the board. Despite my best soldering efforts, the USB now does make that "linking sound" on the computer, but won't link to Repetier software. Now we can still use the LCD to work with the printer, but that is rather tedious.

Now I see the following options:

- Buy a new board with my son's pocket money (has a good educational effect).
- Work out how the Bluetooth link works (and have a wireless connection working). Unfortunately I have no idea where to even start, apart from buying an HC-05 or HC-06.
- The ISP can be used, or can it? I have no idea.

I would be very, very thankful for technical and educational advice on this.

Best,
Anna

Is it a RAMPS/Arduino setup? If so, just get a replacement Arduino board - but you'll have to learn how to get it programmed!

No, it is the SAV MKI. I guess I could manage with arduino - but would like to stay with the SAV and to find out if we somehow could get away without having to order a brand new board. After all, the rest of the board is still working fine.

The SAV_MkI has one advantage over the arduino, high speed virtual uarts (baud rates get ignored)

This also means that you can't just drop on a replacement usb-serial converter

If you take a look at [reprap.org]

You can see there are only 4 used lines on the usb...

The outer two are power +5v and gnd, you can tap into the end of f2 for power and gnd are all over the place

For the two data lines they goes threw r2 and r3

So grab yourself a usb cable with the correct mini usb at one end. Cut off the other end leaving lots of cable to work with and the connector you want.
Strip off a bit of the cable shield, expose the wires inside, strip those off as well. Now work out which wire is what, and attache to the various contact points mentioned above

Then cable tie the new cable down to something strong and child proof! (is there such a thing in reality??)

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2016 03:36AM by Dust.

Wow, this sounds great and scary at the same time. Is there a chance that my soldering of all 5 lines somehow "confuses" the board? I have checked with a magnifier and all soldered parts have contact, so I was rather disappointed that it didn't work. I guess I also should try and check with the multimeter if electricity passes.

I must say I am a little reluctant to solder the board again - but might give it a try. I am just afraid to destroy something else on the board in the process. Let me see if I understand: I would solder the cables directly to the terminals of R2, R3, F2? Is there a chance for these components to get too hot and break? Where would be a good point to solder GND? Sorry, I have just started to understand the basics of electronics and still rely on step-by-step, idiotproof instructions.

Child proof? Toy blocks are child proof - they don't break when a child throws them at something. But my son has grown out of them. They were cheaper than a 3D printer, also.

Update: I was rather intrigued now and went and checked my solderings with the multimeter - all connections are okay. Then I decided to try and connect the printer with the USB again - and it works. Everything is wonderful. Why it didn't connect yesterday will remain a mystery.

We are ready for the next round of problems!

Nice work

Good news! Now tie the cable to the frame somewhere with a zip-tie (or two) so it can't get accidentally pulled again...