I'm troubleshooting a Phlatprinter that belongs to someone else. It is a an orig. Phlatprinter with a lot of mods, including the belt mod.. The printer was slipping pretty bad. I've eliminated most of the problems. But, I would like to check the V-Ref, but I can't see any voltage on TP1 (there is no actual test point post as shown in the instructions - it is an eyelet). I'm thinking the eyelet is probably just covered by the pcb coating and needs to be removed. But, as it's not my printer I don't want to do that. Do most Easy Cnc boards actually have a post for a test point?

Bill

 

Thanks. I have a new board that I haven't used yet and I just looked at it. It doesn't have the posts either. The component layouts are also different from yours, apparently they aren't using the posts anymore. It looks like the V-Ref is just picked off the pot, so I'll try that.

Bill

 

The points should be marked "TP1" and "TP2" and they are just small empty eyelet posts. Conect one side of your meter to TP1 and the other side to the negative connection of your power supply to the board.

 

That's what I did and I didn't get any reading on any of the test points. There's an issue with the X drive - doesn't have enough torque to spin the drum properly without the pot being maxed out. So I wanted to look at the V-Ref.. I swapped out the driver chip with no change. I was an electronics tech. in a previous life. I made sure I wasn't having a meter problem. I've seen double sided boards where the eyelets weren't plated through, maybe thats an issue. When I started both the X and Y were skipping. Now it cuts/tracks fine, but X motor easily stalls with some extra pressure on the drum.

Thanks
Bill

 

One of the boards has the posts and one doesn't. Not a biggie. The X has to be set to 4v for the drum to turn smoothly. I'm guessing the motor may have a problem.

Bill