Repairing a Projet 3500 HDMax 3D Printer

For background, the Projet 3500 is an industrial resin printer produced by 3D Systems, the leading manufacturer in 3d printing technology. These machines are typically about $100,000 brand new from 3D Systems but since they're at the end of their service life they're being supported less and less. You may even find them listed on Craigslist for very cheap as is the case with this one I bought. You can still buy parts and materials for these printers but it can be very pricey in the $5000 range to replace a part that really only costs $300 to make. It can also be very expensive to have an engineer come out and repair it for you, ranging in the $20,000+ range so we will repair it our self and bring life back into the machine.

WARNING AND SAFETY

This Instructable will go over the full repair of a Projet 3500 from scrap to a working machine again and will deal with a lot of electrical components so if you are not comfortable with opening and getting near a lot of high voltages please have someone more qualified do it for you. This Instructable will also deal with uncured resin which is a sensitizer and is hazardous to humans and other life when in the uncured state.

If you get any uncured resin on you or in your eyes, immediately wash it off with warm water for 15 minutes

First things first we will need a few things to get started

Supplies

NOTE: You may not need all of these supplies depending on what you find out on the diagnosing step. The list is broken up into parts that are required for each step

Main supplies you will need

a box of rubber gloves (you can usually get these at Costco or Home Depot)
a mask or a gas mask (to prevent yourself from breathing any resin particles if there are any)
a bottle of 95%-99% Isopropyl Alcohol to clean parts
Torx TR20 screwdriver
safety glasses
Kimwipes
Dust Off
Flat head screw driver
Magnetic parts tray to hold screws (you don't have to have this but it makes storing screws easier)
A computer/laptop for diagnosing issues

For hard drive issues

HDD to USB adapter
new drive from 3d systems or ebay
SSD (optional if you want to upgrade your printer)

For Motherboard/Power supply issues

A multi-meter
replacement motherboard or parts to repair motherboard
new power supply or parts to repair power supply
pliers

For Print head issues/replacing the print head

Xerox ColorQube print head (8570 Print head)
1-292161-0 Connector (Connector Header Through Hole 10 position 0.079" (2.00mm))
Hex wrenches
Soldering iron
Solder
Adjustable wrench
Gallon of mineral oil (you can get this at your local grocery store or pharmacy)
vacuum pump (as long as it can do high vacuum and continuous pumping it doesn't matter which one)
vacuum chamber (5 gallon preferred)
thin vacuum tube for vacuum chamber
insulation
aluminum tape
heated metal reservoir

Step 1: Initial Steps Before Starting the Printer

Now this is a high tech machine so there's a lot of things that can go wrong with the printer including but not limited to:

a motor can be bad
power supply can be bad
motherboard can be fried
hard drive crashed
print head is clogged
print head isn't holding vacuum
belt is worn

To diagnose the printer, the best action to take is to get your safety gear on then use some Dust Off and blow off all of the electrical components first to make sure the dust wont short anything when you turn the printer on. To get access to the main computer of the machine you will have to remove the back cover of the machine. Then take your TR20 Torx and remove the screws holding in the power plug, the ethernet, and the usb plugs. Then take your flat head screw driver and unscrew the captive screws on the corners of the cover plate.

From here you should be able to remove the cover plate and reveal the main computer of the machine. Take the dust off and blow off all components inside the main computer including the power supply on the bottom right and the high voltage power supply above. Once you are done, place the panel back on and screw it back down with the TR20 torx screws and place the back door on.

There is also a few electronics you should blow off on the side of the machine. While facing the front of the machine go along the left side and remove the side panels. You will see two boards here to dust off as well. Put the side panels back on after

When done with dusting the components off, plug the machine in and check that everything boots up. You should be able to access all of the menus on the front LCD screen and be able to check how many hours the machine has on it.

Step 2: Diagnosing the Printer

From here there's a few different things that can tell you if there is something wrong with the printer right away:

If the machine shows an outrageous/unrealistic amount of hours, you cannot get access to some menus, the display crashes, or the screen wont respond then you are most likely looking at a hard drive failure and should go to step 3. If you hear a loud constant beeping then this means you either have an issue with your motherboard or your power supply and should go to step 5 If you don't see either of these issues and you're able to print something but it looks like the picture above then go to step 7

Step 3: Hard Drive Issues

If your machine doesn't allow you to:

Go into menus, toggle the waste drawer/door solenoids, change the capitalization of the letters in the email screen, is slow when changing menus, or has an unrealistic amount of hours as was the case with my machine then you are very likely looking at a hard drive issue. Shut down and unplug the machine first. Then go to the back of the machine again and go through the steps outlined in step 1 again to remove the back panel to get access to the computer again. On the left side you will see this board that contains the hard drive. To remove it, you have to pull on these two levers to unplug the board from the main motherboard. You don't have to pull the board out fully but just enough to get access to the screws holding the hard drive onto the module. Use your TR20 Torx Screwdriver and remove the screws holding onto the hard drive. Unplug the SATA and the power cable going into the drive and take the drive to your computer. From here you will want to use a HDD to USB converter to plug the drive into your computer

Step 4: Checking Your Hard Drive for Issues

Now that you have the hard drive out of the printer, take your HDD to USB converter and plug one end into your computer and the other end into your drive. If you immediately see an error message pop up on the bottom right of your screen that says "There's a problem with this drive" then you most definitely have a drive that is on it's last leg.

Now you can try to go through drive repair but in my experience it didn't help at all. To check the drive and try to repair errors click on the file explorer on your task bar. Go to "This PC" and find the new drive you plugged in. Right click it and go to properties. Click on the tools tab and then under "Error Checking" click Check. The scan can range from a few minutes to a couple hours depending on the size of the drive.

After scanning, it may ask you if want to repair the drive. Depending on how far gone your drive is this option may not help at all and you will have to get a new drive that is pre programmed from 3D Systems or from ebay. A new drive from 3D Systems costs $500, but on ebay it can be as little as $200. The part number for the drive is 33-0335

Once you get a new drive, go back to Step 3 and follow the directions in reverse to connect the drive back up to the printer and try testing the printer with a "Drop mass" print. If the print looks like the image in the diagnosing step go to Step 7

If you want to ensure that the drive wont crash again i suggest replacing it with a SSD and making a backup of the drive

Step 5: Motherboard or Power Supply Issues?

Now if you hear beeping coming from your printer like in the video, or you see some parts getting red hot as soon as you turn it on, then you are definitely looking at a power supply issue or a motherboard issue.

Diagnosing which issue you have isn't as straightforward as you may think since the motherboard can detect an issue with the power supply and it can detect an issue with the board itself.

If you see a part getting red hot like in the video then you definitely have a fried motherboard so it will need to be replaced. Unfortunately 3D Systems isn't required to supply schematics for their boards so it's one of those things where you will most likely have to buy a new motherboard which is about $4000. If you have the know-how, you can attempt to trace the electronics back and replace the parts that got fried but it's hard to tell if that's all you need to replace since other parts could have gotten destroyed as well. If the short got to the main CPU computer chip then the board is as good as dead and you will absolutely have to get a new board.

The board is called a Dolphins Backplane, part number 307093-0.

To replace the motherboard go to step 6

To test if it's a power supply issue there are two methods. The board itself has LED's on it that show the voltages that are coming in but this is not entirely accurate since if one isn't lit up that could mean a bad board still. The method that I think works better is to remove the power supply on the bottom rightfirst. This is done by turning off the power and then removing the ground screw on the left side of the power supply with a TR20 Torx and then giving a good pull on the power supply itself. The power supply is just held in with the connector on the back of it so wont be difficult to remove. From here I took the power supply and put it on my bench and then connected wires to each of the voltage output terminals on the back. I connected each of the outputs to a terminal block so they wouldn't be able to short out with each other. Use a Multi Meter set to DC voltage with a range up to ~55V. Plug the power supply back into the printer and turn the printer on. Use the probes to check each of the voltages on the terminals. If you get voltage readings of 5V, 24V, 12V, 24V, 48V-52V, and 48V-52V across the terminals then the power supply is working correctly and you can power down the printer again. If not then you need a new Power Supply. Remove the wires that we put on the power supply and then put the power supply back into the printer.

Step 6: Replacing the Motherboard

To replace the motherboard you have to go through a few steps.

Make sure there is no power to the printer
Open up the computer on the 3D printer as described in Step 1
Unscrew the four TR20 Torx screws in each corner holding the computer module in
Go to theleft side of the printer again where the two small boards are
To the left of the small boards you will see a bunch of wires going into the back of the computer module. You don't need to memorize where these go since the connectors are labeled on the back of the computer module and they're labeled on the cables themselves.
Start removing all of the cables on the back of the computer module. There's a few ground wires that you will need to remove as well. I recommend just using pliers to unscrew the nuts holding the cables onto the module and the frame
Once all cables and screws are removed you will be able to pull the entire computer module out of the printer.

Take the module over to a table or desk and remove the power supply as described in Step 5

There's a few ground cables you have to remove inside the computer module to get access to the main motherboard as shown in red.
Unlatch the levers on the left and right boards (Shown with the green arrows) and pull the two board modules out of the computer and set aside where they wont get damaged
Now take your TR20 Torx screwdriver and remove the screws on the motherboard. Screw locations are shown in the picture above
Angle the top of the motherboard towards you to remove it from the printer.
Unpack your new motherboard and follow these steps in reverse to install the new motherboard into the printer.
Replace the panels and power the printer on to try to run a "Drop mass" print. If the test print looks like the image in the diagnosing step go to Step 7

Step 7: Test Print Issues and Missing Jets

Now that we finally got a test print done we get to see how it looks. If the "Drop mass" print looks like the one in the picture then that means the print head needs replacing. In the second image we can see the print head is very dirty and is most definitely clogged up. To replace the print head on the machine we will first have to remove the entire front enclosure to the printer. This is done by following these steps

Go around and remove all side panels on the printer
Use your TR20 Torx to remove the 6 screws holding on the top cover on the printer. There will be 3 on each side in the positions shown.
Remove the top cover and set aside
Now move to the front of the printer
On the left side, material drawer, and right side of the printer there will be screws as shown in the picture above that you need to remove
Once you remove them you have to unplug the front display panel, the solenoid on the top of the machine, the sensor next to the solenoid, and the LED's.
Pull the cables back down through the hole on the top of the machine and then tip the front enclosure forward so you can pull the cables out fully.
Lift the enclosure off the printer and set it aside where it wont get damaged

Step 8: Getting Access to the Print Head

Now that you have the enclosure off, there are just a few screws holding a black shroud over the print head. The TR20 Torx screws are on the bottom left, bottom right, two on the top of the printer. Once these are removed you will see the print head in front of you. To remove the print head and replace it you will also need to remove the rear assembly where the high powered UV lamp is. There are 4 captive nuts holding the assembly together that you have to unscrew as well.

Step 9: Removing the Cables to the Print Head

This step is a little more involved than the others. There are many cables and tubes that you have to disconnect from the print head so you will need to keep track of where everything went. A list of all the cables and tubes you have to remove are below. For the ground screws use a TR20 Torx and for the material lines use an adjustable wrench

Solenoid cable
Heater cables
phadapter cable
phstack cable
rainbow ribbon cable
flat ribbon cable
wide ribbon cable
ground cables
material insertion tubes
both vacuum tubes
power cable
sensors

It doesn't matter what order you do these in as long as you get them all disconnected from the print head assembly. The front side cables are first in the picture order

Step 10: Removing the Print Head

Use your Hex wrenches to remove the four socket head screws on the front of the print head while using one hand to hold onto the bottom of the print head. Once all screws are removed the print head will drop right out.
From here you will need to remove all of the screws holding on the two metal plates on the bottom of the print head.
Once removed turn the print head over and remove the other two screws holding the circuit board in
Remove the array plate from he print head assembly

Step 11: Getting the New Array Plate

3D systems has the print head listed at $4000 to buy and it costs another $10,000 to have them come install it in your printer so we will be making and replacing it our self

If you purchased the Xerox ColorQube print head (8570 Print head) and the 1-292161-0 Connector (Connector Header Through Hole 10 position 0.079" (2.00mm)) as listed in the supplies section then you need to take the xerox print head apart to get down to the array plate like we just did with the print head on the 3d printer. Once you get down to the array plate you will notice there is a spot for a connector as shown in the picture. This is where we will need to solder on the connector that we bought. Solder the connector onto the board in the same orientation as the one on the old board

Step 12: Cleaning the New Array Plate

Now that we have the new array plate ready we will have to clean it since it has ink inside from when they tested it at the factory. This is where these items come into play

Gallon of mineral oil (you can get this at your local grocery store or pharmacy)
vacuum pump (as long as it can do high vacuum and continuous pumping it doesn't matter which one)
vacuum chamber (5 gallon preferred)
thin vacuum tube to connect to vacuum chamber
heated metal reservoir
insulation
aluminum tape

Now we follow these steps in order

Take your heated metal reservoir and fill it with your mineral oil (can be substituted with 100% corn oil).
Heat the metal reservoir up to 120-130°C
Take a piece of insulation and cover the circuit board and tape it down with some aluminum tape to help make sure it doesn't get damaged by the heat
Once the oil is up to temperature, turn your vacuum pump on and pull a full vacuum on the chamber. Leave the pump on since we will be losing vacuum constantly
Lower the array plate of the print head (metal part) down into the hot oil
Take your thin vacuum hose and place it on the small holes of the array plate and open the valve on your vacuum chamber
The oil will loosen the ink and allow you to suck it out of each hole on the print head.
If you start to lose too much vacuum then close the valve and let the vacuum build up again before sucking more ink out
Keep the oil level above the array plate so it is completely submerged
Continue vacuuming the ink until the oil coming out of the array plate holes is clear
Once its clean, take the array plate out and place it down on a Kimwipe to absorb the excess oil and to cool
From here you can take the Dust Off and blow it into the ports that the material enters in through to remove the excess oil
Dispose of the Oil/Ink mixture according to your local hazardous waste guidelines
Once you remove the oil from the array plate you can use a kimwipe to wipe it down with some Isopropyl alcohol to get it clean.

Step 13: Installing the Print Head and Reassembly

Now that the print head is clean, follow the same steps we went through in steps 9 & 10 to remove the print head but in reverse.

Place the array plate back onto the print head and make sure the rubber stand off seals are lined up
Screw the two metal plates back onto the print head to sandwich it down
Screw the circuit board down onto the print head assembly
Lift the print head and screw it back onto the printer with the 4 hex screws and make sure it isn't in the lowest position in the slotted holes otherwise the printer will run into a HMS cleaning error
Reconnect all of the cables and hoses to the print head in the same way we removed them
Once the print head is installed on the printer, place the back cover and front shroud back on Step 8
Now place the front enclosure back on and connect the solenoid, LED's, display, sensor, and screw it back down Step 7
Place the top cover back onto the printer and screw it down Step 7
Place all of the side panels back onto the printer and turn the printer on

Step 14: Final Testing

Now that the printer is fully repaired we can run a real test to make sure it's working how it should. You can run some of the diagnostic prints again on the printer if you want but I prefer to print something cooler so we will be printing a nut and bolt to see the dimensional accuracy. 17 hours later when it is fully printed, take the part and soak it in hot oil to dissolve the wax support material around the part. Once dissolved, remove the part from the oil and wash with some dish soap and then dry it. Now we have a fully finished part and have sucessfully saved the printer from going to the dump