Hello all, I'm in the process of buying my Mega, RAMPS 1.4 shield and pololu drivers and I'd like to run standalone with LCD controller and SD card. I've mostly been shopping on Amazon for convenience. I notice that there's a header on the RAMPS boards intended for use with SD card/LCD that doesn't appear to be there on a standard RAMPS board. Are there differences in traces/components or just this missing header? If they're the same I'd be inclined to buy a genuine Arduino Mega and Pololu drivers as kit with the controller header appears to be a generic Chinese made board and the Mega included is "Arduino Mega compatible". The Mega clone is probably fine but I've read that people have had problems with the generic white Pololu knock off drivers. Any thoughts or experiences on this? Thanks. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208679#msg-208679 Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:38:43 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208882#msg-208882 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208882#msg-208882 CCl4 RAMPS Electronics Wed, 15 May 2013 09:35:37 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208768#msg-208768 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208768#msg-208768
the reprap discount stuff is good. ice never heard a bad report about them. If buying from them via eBay they ship using FedEx. When I ordered from them it took 3 days. I've known it take longer ordering locally. I assume the same can be said of ther web shop.]]> lazzymonk RAMPS Electronics Wed, 15 May 2013 02:10:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208730#msg-208730 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208730#msg-208730
[www.amazon.com]

And here's the LCD controller:

[www.amazon.com]

They actually look identical to the reprapdiscount parts. Only difference I noticed is that the LCD controller when bought through reprapdiscount comes with the extra header to add to a standard RAMPS 1.4 board. So I guess that might answer my question about board compatibility. I'm just getting started with this project but it seems like lots of people use their parts. Do people seem to have good luck with their boards and particularly the stepper drivers? I suppose I could buy direct from them but I was worried that shipping might take a while if they ship from Hong Kong. After looking around their site, I see their are two upgraded versions of the controller both with larger displays. I didn't realize how much control of axis movement etc. is available through the controller. I thought it would basically be just picking a g-code file and saying print. Although I suppose your options are dictated more by the firmware you run rather than the controller. Pretty cool. If shipping is reasonably quick to NA I might just order direct. Thanks for your help.]]> CCl4 RAMPS Electronics Tue, 14 May 2013 21:59:43 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208691#msg-208691 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208691#msg-208691 lazzymonk RAMPS Electronics Tue, 14 May 2013 18:25:39 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208679#msg-208679 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,208679,208679#msg-208679 CCl4 RAMPS Electronics Tue, 14 May 2013 17:15:02 -0400