FlashForge Finder Works! - 3D Printer Fixed & Repaired 

New Channel: www.youtube.com/@Just_Print Buy it here: geni.us/ugYR6R Recommended: geni.us/JustVlads

I have a Finder that I purchased new and it’s working fine, but i learned so much from you about the inner workings. Thanks for sharing.

I just bought one from ebay as well. Lucking mine was a mechanical issue. Had it running within an hour of receiving it. Good job finding the problem!

Great Job Vlad, all that patience paid off. I think if you were talking of a yellow component part removed it was a capacitor, it will be fine without it. Your repair worked and you got it working for a $100 awesome. The print came out real good. I'd say you nailed it 😁

Great Job!!! I too bought one of these Finders off ebay like yourself $135 total...I was lucky stepper motor needed to be tightend up and some settings changed...Its printing a lithophane right now as I type...Great 2 videos!!! Keep it up!

Hey Vlad I would be careful with long print time with that motherboard being the way it is. Also I'm just like you I have recently got in to 3d printing. I appreciate the way you Structure your video.

The tube that you're missing is a long black one that goes between the filament holder and the hot end. The short white one looks like a spare ptfe tube for the inside of the hotend. There's a bunch of different spool holder models on Thingiverse, but I just went with a wood one I had rigged up for the MP Mini when it was still working to avoid figuring out the balancing act of a mounted spool. (you can also turn off the startup sound so it doesn't make that super loud beep too. Very recomended.) The Finder is a pretty solid machine, glad you were able to get this one fixed!

Really like how this printer looks, has good reviews online. I know the "kits" tend to be better but these pre-built appeal to me.

That component was just a capacitor, should be just fine without it! good job!

Thanks for making these videos! I just ordered a broken, customer returned one just like this. I’m sure it’s the same eBay seller. I’m hoping I get a working one with minimal issues to repair/adjust.

Thanks so much for this video as my printer intermittently shuts down and followed what you did. Is it normal for the Realtek RTL8188EUS chip to get very hot that you cannot leave your finger on it? Mine does but the wifi still works. Nothing else on the board is hot by just touching around. I Just ordered a dc amp meter to check the current draw of the printer.

yeah lol its super wierd that the screen is changing colors and going blank lmao couldn't possibly be because the board was shorted out and you removed a component to fix it hahahaha pure genious

You should measure the size of other capacitors and buy a new one and place it back in place, because it might make it problematic in the future. Maybe the filament feeding motor might not work without it

Shorted filter capacitor. Happens often with that type of component.

you should try to see if you have a friend or family in the states to order it for you then mail it to you(the z axis rail mount)

does that short filament tube helps with breaking? I have a Bresser Saurus (is same as FlashForge Finder II, Flashforge even labels them). But with standard filament tube the filament breaks halfway the print. Any things i can do? These white and black filament came with the 3d printer. They were full airtight sealed and were not overduo. Do you have also a short filament tube on the back side or only on the hot-end?

just binge watch your channel ..awesome brother ..i have the tronxy a8 and the duplicator i3 mini which i love..

Mine has the Finder Plus 1.5 board and it doesn't have the column of components that the 2.0 board has, where you removed the part. The first two columns of SMT components on the 1.5 board are also not color coded.

Hi Vlad! Awesome follow up vid. Hope your finger tip "Probe" is okay. I've seen guys test red hot stove elements using the "finger test" method. LOL! Also surprised your here in Hawaii too (or Big Isld?). The resistor you've identified looks like it may be used for signal level or signal limiting. But if nothing shows up then you may have lucked out and burnt out an unused 'optional' section (like a 2nd Z axis or whatever you call for the 4 or 5th servo upgrade). Maybe a future heated bed option. Thank you for the CR-10 suggestion. Your right, it's the best way to learn and upgrade as I figure out what direction I want to take 3D universe. It has the most options and long (3 years?) history plus 'open source'. * Please note that the overheating issue may be due to a factory defect of component parts. The resistor is a simple device that can fail if mishandled during PC build. It may have cracked causing a weak area that overheated within the component. But this is very rare. Likely a current switch (or regulator) is leaking current and sorted or started drawing current during initial operation. I've seen coffee brewer's act this way once coffee was brought up to temperature. Solenoid coils would be at maximum operational temperature. Solenoid would 'chatter' when activated as the current activating the valve would heat up the coil above the max and disable the control board with an overload. * You may want to take off the back cover and run a longer print.. Say, recreate the failure of the original owner; Run it for +2 hours on a long print. 1st owner probably ran the cube like you did and went on to the 2nd test print. *Note it may catch fire.* * Final thought, My nephew is at Kalani and since this was more of a "High School" learning machine I thought he may get into this new field. I learn by fixing broken stuff that other people don't want. But that's just me (being cheap). Hah! Keep up the good work! Aloha, ukeboy57

I need your help. When leveling the bed goes down as it should but it tries to go down more then it can. What do I do. Got it used

Bed was damaged by stepper motor when it fell when that plastic part broke.

I live in Alaska And some items particularly batteries don't ship here either

idk if you will ever see this but i had a problem with mine the same one as yours when i select build it moves and then shuts off if you know what causes this problem please let me know

Nice work.

For a better print quality try changing the nozzle size from a 0.4 to 0.3 or even a 0.2 and for fast prints go for a bigger nozzle.👍

tube is as a good idea mine has worn two ruts where the filament comes in

I bought one for £40 and its OK until it reaches the extremis on the right hand switch and it then makes an awful noise, I spotted yours at 7:05 and in comparison my microswitch is bent upwards prob in transit so going to see if I can sort it out. The rear microswitch panel has also sheared off so going to use some longer screws and then fix the little tubes for the screws with some Q-bond although its held in place with some blaktak (like blutack but seriously stronger). Everything else works so if those two small fixes work I got meself a bargain :)

I know this is an older video but I wanted to mention that the flaw on the printed cube is probably from when you lowered the print speed and then raised it back up. Adjusting any of those type of settings mid-print will usually have noticeable effects on the finished print job... Great job fixing it up! You def got my wheels turning now. Lol

Question, can i use different filaments for this printer?! I know it says it can only use PLA but i wanted to use different kinds of filaments.

Get yourself a new build sheet sticker to replace the damaged one. I don't like your chances of filament sticking to super glue. The old sticker should just peel off. 10 seconds on Google I found replacements for $10 for a 3 pack. I found it interesting how the bed levelling worked. Even though it had a deploy-able probe, it was still a manual process.

when my fillament runs out i try to push next roll into the nozzle hole right behind the ending fillament , hopefully it will take and not clog... do you know a better way... their is no out sensor on the flashforge ender.

The "under extrusion" might be caused by your brief attempt to adjust the printing speed. There was a short moment the printing speed read 190%.

I'm going to try and fix my printer today and I will be devastated if it wont work.

The event that cause the other physical damage (perhaps it was pulled, or knocked off a table) could have easily damaged the capacitor by flexing the Circuit board. Ideally you should replace the capacitor because it might cause missed steps, as it seems to be in the section with the stepper controller ICs. If you have a multimeter that can measure capacitance, use it to read the value of one of similar sized capacitor above. If not, a 1uF capacitor should be fine.

sad day for me today...the LCD screen went black on me today...the touch functionality works and I can navigate through the menus through memory but I have to get it replaced :( cool vid though its helping me remember what the screens look like :D

I removed the blue sticker. Prints fine on glass with a bit of glue stick or spray. :)

it will be just fine without that capacitor but you can easily replace it.

Hi Vlad I enjoy your videos, they are very informative. But I would be cautious about using this 3D printer. If the component you removed was a capacitor and it had gone short circuit, it's unlikely it would get hot - near zero resistance. On the other hand if it is a resistor, then there is probably a short circuit further down the line, or something drawing heavy current. The fact that the printer works ok, with this component removed, indicates that it might be part of a protection circuit. If you haven't got the tools or equipment to locate the short, I would ditch this board and fit a new one!($50 - $60). Rather that than a fire truck parked out front spraying water onto your burning house! Better safe than sorry.

Yay

try to learn fusion 360 everything become easy once u set ur mind on it

hola alguien de pronto sepa como puedo solucionar lo siguiente, al momento de encender la impresora, la pantalla de carga se queda por la mitad, y de ahí no pasa y no arranca del todo la maquina.

removing a resistor and just leaving it that way and somehow thinking that fixes it your sadly mistaken every component serves a purpose which you will discover when what ever component the resistor serviced burns out resistors reduce current to a circuit and now some circuit is now getting more current than its supposed to so good luck with that>>>

Stop going for tiny printers spending a little bit gets you a much larger print volume

Few things: You'll need to replace the SMD component that burned out, and you'll need to replace the gantry cip (the part that broke that you glued together. Also, the Superglue on the build plate was a bad idea.

I could buy those parts and send em to you if you want.

That is a tantalon capacitor

You should probably replace the broken part that holds the bearings and buy a new blue pad for the bed instead of using wire ties and super glue... both are cheap. You can grab the blue pads on eBay or Amazon and the mount is sold really cheap on FlashForge's website.

I can’t get my bed to move no matter what

wow really shitty buy :( I'm sorry to see how much trouble you have had with it. Mine is reaching its 1000 hour printing time soon without issues!

ye huess what it was a loose connector that slid out during shipping, and you powered the pcb with nothing plugged it, that was very stupid. clearly you have zero oknowledge of any electronics whatsoever, all you did wwa s to plug in and out all the plugs and magic it worked. because guess what if you power on pc with no components what would happen? it would not power on , same here you were very lucky someone made a protection against stupid people and got the boards not to power up when other components are unplugged.

You randomly pull components from the main board without a clue what they do. You haven't got a clue. As Daffy Duck would say... "What a maroon."

Can one print armour with this for a 9 year old