The UV LED on my Nova3D Elfin MSLA printer stopped working after some 100-200 hours of printing. With the advice of some of my pals on the Photonsters team, a few tools, and some determination, I was able to repair it and avoid having to toss the printer into a landfill.
This is indicative of a significant problem with consumer-level MSLA 3D printers. Once they are out of warranty, repair/replacement parts are simply not available. And any kind of tech support even in warranty is hard to come by much less after the fact. At that point the companies want to sell you a new machine. Reducing this uneccesary e-waste is a big reason I enjoy learning how these machines tick, and hacking them.
The techniques I used in the YouTube video below should be applicable to other machines and also doing SMD board repair in general. I hope it’s useful.
