CubePro 2 Service-Pittsburgh, PA

Hello. Our school has a CubePro 2 printer. It's a backup printer at this point as we've added a FabPro 1000. On the CubePro 2, the filament has come out of one of the nozzles and that nozzle is loose. It appears as though a screw that holds the nozzle in place has fallen out. But, I can't find it in the printer.

The company that sold us the 3D printer will no longer do service on it. They keep referring me to 3D Systems. But, 3D Systems won't return any of my emails.

I'm looking for a service company in the Pittsburgh, PA area to take a look at it. I'm not exactly sure what is missing and what needs replaced/fixed. I'm also looking for a replacement glass bed for the printer as one nozzle still works and our current glass bed is pretty beat up. As a result, jobs keep failing. 3D Systems no longer sells the glass bed and I can't find anything on Amazon or eBay.

Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hey jammincomedy. Welcome to the forum. There are two ways the nozzle can remain loose, a screw that clamps the tube in the housing and the one holding the housing to the frame. I would recommend a 3D printer enthusiast have a look and see what they can see. You can certainly show pictures here and we can see if this is a big deal or not. probably not. Someone probably did a maintenance routine and left things undone.

As to the glass, it is best to do a good cleaning and add LokBuild as a build surface. That will restore the glass.

Please let us know what you find. There are a lot of maintenance videos on YouTube that detail many of the routine efforts these printers require.

Thanks for the reply. I'll look into the LokBuild solution. I have attached a picture of the issue. You can see the filament hanging out the back of the nozzle. You might also be able to see that the left nozzle is hanging down a bit. It's basically just hanging there and bends back and forth when touched. So, I'm guessing that's where the screw is missing.

That nozzle on the left looks bent. Which one is loose?

It’s the left nozzle that is loose.

I must admit I don't have the structure in mind well enough to see what I am looking at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbRjDr8IeXc

According to the video, the nozzle is one piece and somehow yours has separated. The one-piece nozzle should remove with the single screw from the filament driver as shown in the video.

Replacement parts are highly dependent on eBay. Poor selection at that. Easiest consideration is to make the Duo a Mono. But you really will need to get familiar with this machine. It has very little going for it in the way of support.

Yep, the one piece aluminum body is broken. I've seen that occur if the bed isn't seated fully or someone fires off a new print while the last print job is still on the plate.

If I had a spare nozzle handy, I would gladly donate it but I gave my last one away last summer.

I just confirmed that I have an extra print bed that I can donate to you. Saving a CubePro from the dump and supporting a STEM program is a win/win. Please PM me.

Not sure how to PM you. I honestly just saw this. I’d be interested in that print bed if you still have it. Jesse Saunders, Avella Jr./Sr. High, 1000 Avella Road, Avella, PA 15312. Thanks.

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So, I ended up purchasing an entirely new extruder for the CubePro 2. I got out the 4 screws that hold the actual extruder in place. But, what size is the screwdriver bit that is needed to take out the screws on the housing above where the extruder sits so that I can pull the old extruder up and put and put in the new one? Thanks again.

Sorry but the print bed is gone. Cleaning up the old bed and putting lokbuild over it is a great option. Its a great solution.

The only 2 tools needed for the print head assembly are the 2.5mm allen and torx 10. The torx bit is only used on the bolt that secures the print head to the feed assembly (bottom back). The bolt is accessible easily for printjets 1 and 3 but the middle one (printjet 2) requires the lifting of the board.

Detailed instructions are still available on 3dsystems web site. They are very helpful.

Hello again. I ended up purchasing a brand new extruder for our CubePro 2 and was able to get it into the location on the printer where it goes. However, I'm having trouble getting the rest of the pieces back together. Are there any tutorials on reattaching the wires and filament tubes? In the attached picture, I'm not sure what pins to plug the two wire ends into. They don't seem to want to slide on the six and five-pin sections on the board. I'm also a bit hazy on where all of the screws need to fit.

A picture of the board setup related to the extruder and wires would also be welcome. I should have taken a picture of the setup before I took it apart. The directions are confusing.

Lastly, if anybody is getting rid of or selling a print bed for this printer, I'd be interested. Thanks again.

Attachment 4354
tubes

Attachment 4355
left side

Attachment 4356
more left side

Attachment 4357
top side

It is hard to make sense f it but there is what I have on my Duo.

This is helpful to start with. Thank you.

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Here's what I'm looking at. My filament tubes seem to want to come in from the left. But, I'm having a hard time getting them in the slots on the plastic piece so that I can also get the two wires through the fixture to plug into the top of the extruders. Do I need to just apply a bit more pressure? Thanks.

It looks like the metal plate behind the plastic plate is backwards. Go back and look at the image I posted of the front.

Okay, so I've been able to get the extruder mostly back together. The question I have now is how to reinsert the glass piece at the bottom right of the plastic fixture. I have attached a few pictures. Thanks again.

Do any of these help? Not familiar with a glass part.

Attachment 4420Attachment 4421Attachment 4422Attachment 4423

The small triangle that goes in the bottom right hand corner of that assembly uses a longer bolt and mounts threw the bottom right hand hole. It isn't required - I believe it's purpose is to prevent the cable guard from dropping too low but I never saw an issue with that on the CubeX. I wouldn't go out of my way to hunt down a longer bolt for that. I've cranked out quite a few prints without it and zero issues.

I've actually also removed that entire transparent backing that holds the cables in place. 1. It's much easier to load filament. 2. It doesn't create a seal or guide the filament well - so what's the point? 3. Less weight = better quality.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammincomedy

This is helpful to start with. Thank you.

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Here's what I'm looking at. My filament tubes seem to want to come in from the left. But, I'm having a hard time getting them in the slots on the plastic piece so that I can also get the two wires through the fixture to plug into the top of the extruders. Do I need to just apply a bit more pressure? Thanks.

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The metal plate behind plastic tube guide was on backwards. The black track needs to mount to the front of the metal plate and things will reach.

This is the same orientation;
Attachment 4424

I think I've got it almost back together. Do you know what size nuts are used for the screws that hold the black track to the plastic tube guide? I seem to be short a couple of those. I have the screws but can't seem to find the nuts to hold them in place. In the meantime, I can take a look throughout the printer and see if they might have fallen to the bottom. Thanks again.

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One other thing I'm noticing is that the plastic tube guide seems to be a bit loose. The screws that I put in the back don't seem to want to screw in all the way. I'm pretty sure I have the right screws in there. It's hard to tell if the screws can go in any further or if they're bottoming out and they might be the wrong screws.

Attachment 4426

That guide is held in place with nuts & bolts. It appears you are missing a couple at the top of it.

I would recommend losing that altogether. It's purely aesthetic and serves no functional purpose. It's much easier to load filament without that thing in the way and a little less weight = a little better print quality. It doesn't create a seal so you aren't really shielding your filament from moisture with it in place anyways.

Basically, my suggestion is stop working so hard to get that section as it shipped out. IMO, you'll be happier without it in place :)

Your saying leave the metal piece and forget the plastic 'guide" Doug?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammincomedy

Hello again. I ended up purchasing a brand new extruder for our CubePro 2 and was able to get it into the location on the printer where it goes. However, I'm having trouble getting the rest of the pieces back together. Are there any tutorials on reattaching the wires and filament tubes? In the attached picture, I'm not sure what pins to plug the two wire ends into. They don't seem to want to slide on the six and five-pin sections on the board. I'm also a bit hazy on where all of the screws need to fit.

A picture of the board setup related to the extruder and wires would also be welcome. I should have taken a picture of the setup before I took it apart. The directions are confusing.

Lastly, if anybody is getting rid of or selling a print bed for this printer, I'd be interested. Thanks again.

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Let's do this one step at a time - first things first, let's get the hardware on correctly;

1) we need to mount the black caterpillar tracks to the aluminum bracket. Step 1 - rotate the metal bracket (if it hasn't been done already from the 1st image) in order to connect the caterpillar track as in previous pictures. The ears of the caterpillar tracks uses screws and nut to hold the two together.
2) take a picture of the track attached and then point out the wire that you need a destination for. They are all labeled so also state the label on the connector on the wire side.

Doug, without the plastic tube guide at the motors, doesn't that cause some problems when the cartridge change pushes filament out?

Quote:

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Doug, without the plastic tube guide at the motors, doesn't that cause some problems when the cartridge change pushes filament out?

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No, not at all. I've always wrestled with getting the filament to catch when reloading. Not sure if this is a common issue or not but it was very frustrating for me. This solves that and the only negative is aesthetics.

Alright, I'm pretty sure I got the backing together as well as it needs to be. I don't have the glass part in there but I think it will work fine without it. Now, I want to make sure I put the wires back together correctly. When I turn on the printer with the current configuration of the wires, the display screen doesn't come on. So, I must not have everything in the correct place. In looking at the latest two pictures I uploaded, can you see anything that is in the wrong place? I think the one circuit piece is hanging loose because it had been screwed in to the glass piece that I haven't put back in. So, I don't think that's causing any issues.

As you can also probably see in the picture, I put a LokBuild cover on top of the print bed because my bed is pretty scratched up. I'm assuming I can just put the same glue on that as was used on the regular print bed. Is that correct?

I appreciate all of your help so far. Thanks again.

Attachment 4433Attachment 4434

Looking good so far.

I use CubeGlue on my LokBuild for great service. However, LokBuild does work well without glue with several materials.

Glue on LokBuild can be recharged by simply misting it with water and moistening the surface.

Do you see anything wrong with the wires? The display isn't turning on when I power on the printer after reattaching the wires. Thanks again.

Not from the pictures. You could try unplugging them and see if it boots after that.

Here's what I got with the first print job on the LokBuild. I quickly got a filament error. It also looks like the extruder burned a hole in the LokBuild. I also can't seem to get the remaining filament off of the LokBuild surface. Any ideas? Thanks.

Attachment 4435

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It is working without using the glue. Maybe it doesn't need the glue because of the nature of the LokBuild surface. It might have gotten bound up with the glue on the LokBuild surface in the first print job. Thanks again.

More gap. To little gap presents to the machine like a clog.