HICTOP Technical Support Review

Pretty simple.  Not that good.  I’ll provide each email I sent to them, along with HICTOP’s reply and you can judge for yourselves.

My Email No. 1 – October 29, 2015

I received my kit yesterday from Amazon and took a brief inventory of the included parts.  So far, I’ve found that the kit is missing qty. 1 of the HI035-Belt Pulley.  Please send one to me urgently at the following address:

[My address]

Additionally, I found that the shortest threaded rod is 12mm shorter than defined in the manual.   It’s approximately 129mm.  Please send a new one at the proper length if I am going to have a problem during assembly and operation.

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 1 – October 30, 2015

Hi there ,

Thank you for contacting us .

This printer only needs 2 belt pulleys , so i wonder if you received 2 pulleys .

The shortest threaded rod is to build the filament holder , if it is a bit shorter that would not effect anything .

Thank you .

Best Regards

Chris

HIC Technology 

Not an awful reply, but completely ignored the fact that their printed literature says that 3 belt pulleys are required.

My Email No. 2 – November 1, 2015

When I was installing the rods for the x axis, several bearings fell out of the black printed pieces.  Please send two replacement bearing assemblies – 1 for each side.

Address in previous emails.

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 2 – November 2, 2015

Hi ,

Would send them to you asap .

[My Address]

Thank you .

HIC Technology 

My Email No. 3 – November 2, 2015

(Regarding the Extruder Fan)

Am I to terminate the extruder fan on the power supply side or the control card side?

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 3 – November 2, 2015

Replied to this email in “Email No. 4” response, below.

My Email No. 4 – November 2, 2015

There are also no instructions on where to:

1.  Terminate the thermistor on the control card.  Assume A15???

2.  Where exactly I am to install the thermistor and how I am supposed to mount it.

3.  Which terminals on the power supply I am supposed to land the red and blue wires.

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 4 – November 3, 2015

Hi ,

It’s ok to terminate the extruder fan to the control board side of the power supply side .

There are instructions on how to mount the thermistors , extruder thermistor to A13 ; hot bed bed thermistor to A14 ;

And how to wire the power supply :

The purple wire should be attached to L;

the blue wire to N .

Thank you .

Regards

HIC Technology 

My Email No. 5 – November 5, 2015

Hello,

I have assembled and disassembled the extruder motor assembly many times now.

I am not able to successfully make it manually extrude.

With the spring that was included with the kit (20mm), there was too much pressure against the motor gear that the motor would bind and not rotate.  I cut the spring down to approximately 12mm but it will only feed intermittently when I have it set to manually feed in 1.0mm increments.  If I set it to 0.1mm increments, it does not feed.

I have tried 15mm on the spring but this also causes it to bind.

How do I fix this issue?  I can’t seem to get it to advance consistently in any increment.

I’ve also tried various heat settings.

Further, I attempted to operate the motor disassembled from the main axis assembly and I encounter the same problems.  If the spring is too short, it doesn’t hold the filament against the gear teeth.  If it’s too long, there’s too much pressure and the motor binds and it leaves noticeable teeth marks in the filament.

Please advise of your thoughts.

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 5 – November 6, 2015

Hi ,

Thank you for contacting us .

I understand that you are having troubles with the extruder and you think the spring is too long so it will produce too much pressure . Absolutely , this is not a spring issue . All our 3d printers use this spring in the extruder and all of them work great . We think the problem lies in the eztruder motor cable . A bad cable may caused the extruder not working properly . Please try the extruder and see if the motor is spinning forward and backward . It will not keeping spinning in the same direction .

Thank you and look forward to hearing back .

Regards

Chris

HIC Technology  

WTF, Chris.  This literally provided no help at all, nor did it address a single of my questions.  This is where I officially said I was done with them for technical support.  F these guys.

My Email No. 6 – November 6, 2015

The motor works as I previously explained.  I think it needs more torque perhaps.

It appears to me that the pulley is resting on the base of the 3D printed piece and cannot spin.  Please tell me what the spring length should be since I cut the first one in half.  I have replacements in hand.

HICTOP Reply to Email No. 6 – ???

No reply to date.