Keep in mind that these expensive printers are sold with a sales and support network that is also expensive. What they should do, IMHO, is to sell a license kit that says, in effect, “if you wish to detach yourself from our supported revenue stream model, purchase this one-time buy-out fee, and write off all future maintenance and support”.
@Joseph_Chiu , you forget that that model is part of their revenue stream, why would they give you and option to opt out? You already bought their super expensive machine- they have you by the short and curlies.
What @Joseph_Chiu suggests is basically like car warranties and extended warranties, so it seems like a likely business plan.
i had a ford escape thats gas cap said ‘ford recomends bp fuels’
@Nathan_Ryan – they might give you the option to opt-out if the alternative is that you don’t buy their printer at all and go somewhere else.
@Whosa_whatsis Only the newer carts have that switch too. On the Dimension SST it just counts time. So every time we swap material, the waste we pull out is unaccounted for.
http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,155559,227213
all the way at the bottom it says there is NO current workaround for the uprint esplus chip. even swapping chips doesn’t work.
Shame on SSYS - their customers already invested $16-20k on the machine- why must they bleed them for more. if the marketing team can’t make a profit from that then the lack skill.
It also prevents people from going into production… if the material was cheaper people would buy more machines.
anything new on this?
I am trying to hack SSys uPrint…
what I know so far is, that
- chip is encrypted and key is needed, so no emulation.
- information on material left is also wrote on the chip too, so no foreign chips.
- uPrint has Fedora linux on it, there is one file that is a database file, that keeps all chip IDs, used by this printer
- diagnostic port (rs232) should give possibility to read and write a chip, at least older stratasys printers did, but I could not get any prompt from this port, maybe it needs to be put in diagnostic mode or whatever
- one of the is to put “man in the middle”, or arduino in the middle of drm chip and a prinetr and just pass throught everithing back and forth, get the bits, which deal with the % of the material and spoof it.
I am not sure, if a data is encrypted.
I can
This has worked for me. It’s so good to be able to use my uPrint again without getting robbed!
UPRINT CHIP REPAIR
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Turn on UPrint. Attach serial cable to uprint and computer.
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Run “Putty” : Dump Chip contents and save on Note Pad.
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Run Cartridge Writer; Read chip; Generate new Serial Number; Change comma to period in serial number; Set quantity; Write.
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Remove and reinsert carrier into machine. This should work! Never let go to zero or it will brick !!
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If this does not work; write back the original data to the chip that was saved.
Detailed Instructions
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This should be a Null modem cable with a USB to serial adapter. Make sure the USB cable part is not too long.
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Number the chip and the saved dump file. Putty settings; Serial, 38400, Com3 (port that the USB to Serial adapter is on); In the putty terminal type “er 0 0 0 128” : This should return “model carrier in bay 0…” and 8 lines of HEX code. The entire block of HEX code should be copied (Ctrl C), starting at “000000”. This should be pasted into note pad and saved with reference to the chip number that was inscribed.
The Support chip can also be read by entering " er 1 0 0 128" and saved as above. -
Re-writing of data to chip: All the HEX info should be copied and pasted line by line into note pad - as one line. Then copy and replace all the spaces with commas. This entire string of data is then pasted into Putty; Proceeded with ew 0 0 0 “data string” - (put data string in quotes), and entered… this should write the original information back onto the chip.
Support material rewrite is the same except, use ew 1 0 0 “data string”. -
Cartridge Writer for uPrint (plus) - Off GitHub- Run, Select USB serial Port (Com 3), Bay number, Printer type. Press “read Serial” - The chip data should be displayed as received HEX code. If this does not work keep trying.
Press “Decrypt” and the Data should be displayed in the “Current cartridge values and change cartridge values to” columns.
Press “Generate” to get new serial number. *** Change comma to period in new serial number***
Set amount of material settings. There is a MAX number that can be entered, 699. -. (approx 1.30 the previous full setting). Do not exceed this.
Press write and then remove the cartridge and reinsert. This may take a few tries but it should then read 100 percent.
Soluble Support Removal
7 Parts Na2Co3 (sodium carbonate - Washing soda)
3 Parts NaOH (sodium Hydroxide - lye)
0.5 Parts powdered Laundry detergent
Mix with water and use in the same manner as Stratasys “Water Works” powder ($50 per pound !) at a ratio of 2 lbs powder to 11 US gallons.
Works just like the OEM product but for a fraction of the price. ( Remember to wear eye protection) Also you don’t need the Stratasys heating bath - Just get a cheap, heated ultrasonic cleaner. This has worked flawlessly for years.