SD Card Mod for XYZprinting Da Vinci Pro

Printing from an SD card

A feature that most premium 3D printers offer but is lacking from the XYZprinting Da Vinci Pro. Remarkably the printer has WiFi printing but no external user accessible SD card. This feature is extremely useful because one does not always want to have a computer connected to the printer.

How serious of a mod are we talking about?

So I have only owned this printer for a day and safe to say I have no intentions of cutting or severely changing the printer. Thankfully someone took a look under the hood of the early models of the XYZprinting printers and noticed that they used SD cards instead of soldered memory. This gives us an in. Interestingly enough the printer even shows off a method of printing from the SD card in the form of the Demo prints. So all we need to do is make the SD card more accessible.

Is this risking my device?

Possibly, I mean any kind of hack has a chance of damaging the device you are working with. If you aren't wanting to deal with the potential harms of modding a device, don't proceed with this guide. I mean we are doing something that was not intended by the people who made the device. That being said, this should be low risk as we are not erasing the original SD card and are not damaging the enclosure or electronics.

What do I need?

Well the printer, obviously. A microSD card to SD card extension cable. An SD card. Some double stick adhesives and a torx screwdriver (T10 to be exact). It helps to have a some kind of prying tool and its safer with a ESD wristband. Also you'll want a spudger and/or tweezers. You will also need some common sense and patience. This project isn't to hard but there are some safety things we should mention.

So, safety notes...

This does involve working in a machine with moving parts, hot surfaces, and electricity. Let's use some common sense. DO NOT DO THIS PROJECT WHILE THE MACHINE IS PRINTING OR ACTIVELY MOVING. As the label at the bottom says, Turn off before servicing. To be safe unplug the printer while your working on the project and let it cool down if you were using it before this project. No power means no heat, no moving parts, and minimal risk of electrocution (darn capacitors).

Let's get started

Once you have gotten all the parts we are going to prepare the printer for servicing.If you have decided to do this mod literally right out of the box, I recommend following the unpacking guide provided by the manufacturer (or watch the video). If you are running a print or have recently done so, make sure the printer is cooled of and finished before you start. An easy way of double checking this is to listen for the extruder fan to be off.

1. Preparing the printer

Ok now that we've got that out of the way, lets use the jog controls to free up some working space. This is one of two steps that we will have the printer on. Go to Utilities / Jog controls. Start with the x-axis and move the controls until the printer head is in the far right position. Next select the y-axis and move the controls till it is in the far rear position. Finally, select the z-axis and move the print bead to the top most position. At this point it is safe to power of the printer using the switch on the back right side near the power cable. Go ahead and unplug the printer just to be safe.

2. Opening the rear panel

This is where we break in to the non-user accessible section of the device. Really this isn't as crazy as it sounds. On the rear of the printer towards the bottom is a panel with two screws and the machine label on it. Using a Torx T10 screwdriver, unscrew both screws. Carefully pry the panel from the top edge using a plastic spudger or the palet knife from the printer. Be careful as there is one clip at the top center of the panel. Be gentle if you are using a metal tool as you may damage the plastic.

3. Remove microSD card from control board

This is where we really need to take caution. First, if you are electrically minded and super cautious, you may want to use a grounding strap and esd-safe tools. If you want to throw caution to the wind, we can just jump in. Lets start by identifying the SD card holder. On the Da Vinci Pro, they are using a microSD card located in the center of the control board. On other versions of XYZprinting printers they may have used a standard SD card located on the right edge.

To remove the microSD card we need to release the locking mechanism. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE IT WITHOUT UNLOCKING FIRST. To unlock the mechanism, use a spudger or tweezers to push the metal retaining bracket to the left. Once the mechanism clicks, the metal bracket can swing open to the left. Use the spudger or tweezers to remove the microSD card. Take caution when doing this, as we are working right on top of the control board.

4. Routing the cable

The easiest path is through the printer is through the center cable pass-through. Open the front door and feed the flat cable through the center pass-through. When we're done the SD card holder will sit in the center of the base of the printer. We have to be careful when routing the cable past the the z-axis stepper motor.

On the control board side we are going to route the cable up to the microSD card slot. Be careful to not crimp or tear the flat cable. We are going to start by inserting the microSD end of the extension cable into the microSD slot on the control board. Go ahead and engage the locking mechanism by doing the opposite of the previous step. Gently without creasing the cable, fold it backwards over itself leaving some loop to protect the cable.

5. Sticking it down

Once the cable appears to be in the right spot, use the double sided tape to adhere the flat cable down to the base of the printer. Then use the foam adhesive to hold the SD card holder down (you can try using the double sided tape but this may not last with frequent use.)

6. Copying contents over

At this point we are going to copy the microSD card that was embedded into the printer and move it to our new SD card. DO NOT FORMAT OR REMOVE CONTENTS FROM THE ORIGINAL microSD CARD. If something goes wrong or files become corrupted, the original microSD Card is our backup. We should be able to just plug it back in if something goes wrong.

Connect the microSD card to your computer. You will most likely need a microSD to SD card adaptor. We are going to copy all contents to a folder on the computer. Next remove the original microSD and connect our new SD card. If needed, format the SD card to be FAT32. Next copy all of the contents into the new SD card.

7. Test before we clean up

Nothing is more frustrating than buttoning up a project just to find out something isn't working or you forgot something. This is the only other step where we are going to turn on the printer while modifying it.

Plug in the SD card and inspect the inside of the printer for any loose tools or anything that might interfere with the operation of the printer. Close the front door and plug in the printer. Go ahead and power it on. Check the display. If the main menu opens, go to utilities / calibration. This is a good test as all major functions of the printer are used. If everything works properly than proceed to the next step.

If things don't work, let's troubleshoot below. Note that if calibration fails that doesn't entirely mean the mod is having an issue. I would follow this video from the manufacturer on calibration failure before troubleshooting the modification.

8. Closing up

Time to clean up our mess. Reattach the rear panel, taking caution to make sure the cables aren't pinched. Screw the two T10 screws back in. Inspect the printer for any possible issues or tools that were left behind.

Using the SD Card to Print

In order to print directly from the printer, the first step is to make sure your 3D files are converted to.3w files using their slicing software (XYZmaker / XYZ Print Utility). ALWAYSPOWER OFF THE PRINTER BEFORE REMOVING THE SD CARD. There are some interesting things to note about printing from the SD card that I will go over in a different guide. Reconnect the SD card to the printer and power the printer on. To print go to Utilities / Print Demo and select your file to print.

UPDATE: I will be making another document describing how to print from the SD card. It is an ongoing project and I would love input on improving it. Thanks.

Troubleshooting Issues

Here are some steps to try to resolve issues:

• To start, Power the printer off and back on.

• Disconnect and Reconnect the new SD card.

• Disconnect the microSD card end of the extension cable from the control board.

• Format the new SD card and try copying the files over again.

• Use a microSD to SD card adaptor to connect the original microSD card to the extension cable.

• Disconnect the extension cable from the control board and plug the original microSD card to the board (return to original setup).

• Remove all mods and contact XYZprinting support, because something has gone very wrong.