LED Replacement
This guide covers replacing the chamber LED strips on the Vision Miner 22IDEX V4. The strip and its wire are a single assembly, so a damaged wire, a dead color channel, or even a single dark diode means replacing the whole strip. Before replacing anything, confirm the strip is actually at fault using the LED Troubleshooting guide.
Before you begin - safety and risk
Read the Safety - Before You Begin article to understand the hazards involved in working on the Vision Miner 22IDEX V4 - including electrical, thermal, mechanical, and chemical risks. All procedures in this wiki are provided as recommendations only. By choosing to follow any procedure, you do so at your own risk.
Tools and Materials
- Chamber LED Set
- 2.5 mm hex key (vertical cable channel cover)
- 4 mm hex key (lid spacer)
- PH2 Phillips screwdriver (LED clip screws)
- Flush cutters (for cutting zip ties)
- Zip ties (to secure the new cables)
Overview
The two LED strips sit in clips inside the chamber. Their cables run to the rear wall and come out on top of the portal, where they lie in a slot with a groove at the edge of the portal, running along the lid clip. From there the cables pass under the top portal into the vertical metal cable channel on the rear of the machine, go down the channel to the turn towards the expansion board, pass under the board, and come out to the connectors. See the Wiring Schematic for the full pinout.
The replacement is done in two stages: free the strips and cables at the front, then release the cables along the rear path and disconnect them from the expansion board.
Power off before you start
Turn the printer off and unplug the power cord before disconnecting or routing any wiring.
Removing the Old Strips
- Release the strips from their clips. Each strip is held by clips with two Phillips screws, one on the left and one on the right. Loosen the screws by half a turn, one turn at most - do not remove them. Loosening the clips first matters: it keeps them from breaking when the strips are popped out and snapped back in. Slip a finger under the LED strip, pull it towards you, and it pops out of the clips. Release both strips this way - they will hang inside the chamber for now.
- Remove the front part of the lid spacer. The lid spacer consists of two parts. Looking at it from the front, unscrew its two screws with the 4 mm hex key, take the front part out forward, and free the left and right LED cables sitting in it. Do not reinstall the spacer yet - it goes back only after the new strips are in place.
- Free the cable from the loop near the endstop. The LED cable passes through a loop near the endstop, above the motor, together with the endstop wires. Take the LED cable out of the loop, and gently pull the endstop wires towards you to work them out of the loop as well - they are held along the same path.
- Take the cables out of the slot on the portal. Lift the LED cables out of the groove at the edge of the top portal, where they run along the lid clip and under the top portal towards the rear.
- Pass the cables to the rear. Open the electronics compartment with the rear doors. Do not try to pull the aluminum profiles out at the front. Instead, feed the freed cables through the gap between the lid and the body towards the rear of the printer, so the strips end up hanging at the rear. The cable fits through this gap with only the front part of the spacer removed. Along the way, cut the zip ties that secure the LED and endstop cables to the top portal.
- Open the rear cable channel. The vertical cable channel cover is fastened with six screws - unscrew them with the 2.5 mm hex key and remove the cover. The cables are now accessible.
- Cut the zip ties along the cable path. Visually follow the LED cables down the channel and cut the zip ties that bind them to the other cables, one by one, all the way towards the board.
- Free the cables under the board. The cables pass under the expansion board, where they are also held by zip ties. Cut these ties carefully - do not nick the cables or the board with the cutters.
- Disconnect the cables. Unplug the LED cables from the expansion board. Before unplugging, take a photo of the connections so you know exactly what goes where during reassembly, or use the Wiring Schematic as the reference. With the cables disconnected and freed, the whole assembly comes out at the rear of the printer.
Installing the New Strips
- Feed the new strips in from the rear. Standing at the rear of the printer, push the aluminum profiles into the chamber through the gap between the lid and the body - the same way the old ones came out. If any remaining zip ties are in the way, cut them.
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Install the strips into the clips. Inside the chamber, press the profiles into their clips. The clips allow linear movement, so slide each strip left and right into a position where its cable is not kinked, then tighten the clip screws back.
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Lay the cables into the cutouts and grooves. Lay the cable into the groove in the top portal and into the slot at the edge of the portal, along the lid clip, and seat it in the loop near the endstop together with the endstop wires. Set the cables so they are not bent sharply anywhere.
- Route and connect at the rear. Lead the cables under the top portal into the vertical cable channel, down the channel, pass them under the expansion board, and plug them into the board - using the photo you took before removal or the Wiring Schematic. Do not secure anything with zip ties yet.
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Reinstall the front part of the lid spacer. Seat the left and right cables in it, put the front part back, and tighten its two screws with the 4 mm hex key.
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Check before you close up. Power the printer on and run through the Verification section below. Only when all the channels work, power off again, secure the cables with new zip ties - to the top portal, along the channel, and under the board - reinstall the cable channel cover with its six screws, and close the rear doors.
Do not kink the cables
The most important part of the installation is the routing: make sure the cables are not kinked or sharply bent anywhere along the path, or the new strip can fail the same way. Pay special attention where the cables pass the lid spacer - a pinched wire there can kill one or several channels at once.
Verification
- Plug the printer back in and power it on. During startup the red lighting fades in and out, then the white lighting turns on.
- Run the built-in LED test to check all four channels one by one:
Macros > System > Calibration > QC > Test 1, skip the voltage test, then run the LED test. Every channel should light evenly - dim colors during the test are normal. - If everything works, secure the cables with zip ties and close up the cable channel as described in the last installation step.
FAQ
Support
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