Photon problems...

[Chris333]

After many prints all week I started getting fails.

Press play and the Photon exposes the very first layer. After that the head will not lift up and the machine shuts off/resets. After starting back up I can move it up 1cm at a time, but once in a while it won't move up at all and shuts off/resets.

Pulled the vat a few times to re zero the plate. It was level still. Re-leveled it anyways. No fix.

Pulled the vat and the build plate off and hit play. Printer works fine. Goes up and down. Screen works fine. Put the vat back in empty, press play, works fine. Put build plate back on, press play, works fine. Pour resin in the vat, press play, doesn't work. Will not go up after first layer.

Was told it could be the stepper motor going out so I took the whole thing apart. Once I got the outside case off I hooked all the wires back up and run it. While running I held down on the head as hard as I could and it would still go back up without tripping anything. After a few tries I figured it couldn't be the motor.

Put it all back together and it works without resin. Pour in resin and it fails again.

Decided to upgrade the software. Was at V4.2.1 now at V4.2.19.3. Run a print dry and now the front half of the screen has a twitching image. No way that will print.

When I did the update the was a LCD file, but it would not install.

Any ideas?

[joepri]

Double check the connectors to screen.  A loose connector might cause the screen to twitch.

[Chris333]

Pulled it out once and re-seated it. Will do again.

[Chris333]

Didn't help.

When I try to update the LCD file it says "same firmware would not update!"

[Chris333]

OK I just found V4.2.5 on github and with it my screen looks fine.

I got the V4.2.19.3 direct from Anycubic's website 

[Chris333]

New firmware. Screen is fine now. Put resin in and it fail after the first layer.

A very efficient way to waste a whole day. 

[AlwaysSolutions]

Could be the power supply going/gone bad?  My first Photon started doing that and I would unplug the power supply, not just turn power off or unplug power at the machine, but I would unplug the brick, let it cool, try again and sometimes it worked out.  I never bothered to get another power supply because I bought a 2nd machine on sale so now it's backup or parts at this point.

[Chris333]

I thought that as well, but was told it wouldn't turn on if that was the case. Mine is 12v 6amp and I see they sell them for the Photon that are 8amp. So I just bought an 8amp power supply.

[ednadolski]

A very efficient way to waste a whole day. 

It's part of what makes new, commodity technology a challenge.   Three steps forward, one (or two) steps back....

Ed

[Chris333]

I had a 12v 5amp power supply and tried it. Wouldn't even turn the machine on. 

Think I'm just buying another Photon.

How do I tell if anti aliasing is possible? I know how to enable it on the files, but if the machine doesn't have the firmware it doesn't work.

[Chris333]

Just order another regular Photon off Amazon using the link above (hope it worked).

I need my 3D fix 

[Chris333]

New Photon on the porch today. First thing I did was use the new power supply on the old machine... no change.

Then the new machine is pretty much exactly the same except the build plate has a bare face. But the software is completely different, comes with V3.4.1

And it will not recognize any .photon files. The test cube on the stick is a .PWS (photon work station) file.

How do I convert my many 100's of files to work on the new (same) machine?

[rodsup9000]

   Chris
 May have to download a old version and install it to use the photon files

[Chris333]

Yeah people on FB are saying to install the old firmware on my new printer.

[rodsup9000]

The problem your having with the old printer is the same symptoms that my 2nd Photon has.
To get it to work, I have to delete all the old files from the machine. Then I add a STL file to slicer and add the supports and when saving, use something that has never been used on the machine. I worked with Photon support through email for 2 or 3 weeks to find out the problem. Used several versions of software including one they made just for a trial on my problem, but it never fixed it. So now, I always save a STL file of everything once I have the supports and reslice and give a new name to part every time I print it on the printer. It works, but it's a big hassle. When the screen went bad on my original one, I went ahead and bought a replacement screen and another Photon. So now I have 3 total.