RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) http://reprap.org/wiki/RD3D/1.0 it may seem strange to create another RAMPS fork, i have however been looking for something in Taiwan / Hong Kong / China (i am currently in TW) that isn't GPL violating, that's 32-bit, that isn't MKS Base so won't fall to bits, that isn't the same amount of money that you can buy an entire 3D printer for in China (yes, you can get a 3D printer for $USD 150 which is the same amount as a DuetNG!)... and it's just not working out. this may come as a bit of a shock to people but in the huaqiang road market in the futian district of shenzhen, a RAMPS 1.4 board can be bought for around $USD 3.50 i'll say that again in case it's not clear. a one-off (QTY 1) fully-functioning, assembled RAMPS 1.4 board can be bought in the markets in Shenzhen for THREE and a half United States Dollars. by the time you have added an ATMEGA 2560 clone and four A4988-compatible polulu boards that's up to an amazing $USD 16 for a full kit, and it's highly likely that the people selling the kits at $USD 16 are massively overcharging by at least 50%. thus, when i see boards available for sale in the USA and Europe, and they're $USD 50, 70, 80, 100, 120, 150 there's a sort-of.... mental rebellion going on that refuses to let me pay out that much money (plus customs duty, plus import tax, plus tax, plus tax on shipping, plus customs duty on shipping, plus customs duty on tax on shipping, plus tax on tax, plus tax on customs duty on tax on tax...) and you just know the components started out in china anyway. then there's the endemic GPL firmware violations which piss everybody off. then there's the *hardware* design files copyright violations... the last straw though was, after tracking down the RADDS board and having spent a long time evaluating it and liking it very much because it has good support for RepRapFirmware, i went looking for the CAD files only to find that it is a proprietary design with a non-free license. that was yesterday. so i've spent the past 24 hours hacking RAMPS 1.4.2, using the RADDS schematic as a guide on how to do a Due Shield, to add in a 6th Stepper, a MicroSD Card, a 24v-tolerant LDO to supply the Due's main power, cut out 50% of the AUX connectors which freed up a large amount of pins so that the tracks no longer needed to go right across the board, and generally hugely cleaned up the design. the reason for supporting the Due is because i want to port RepRapFirmware to this board, i need much faster processing power than a 2560 can handle. the reason for 6 steppers is so that i can do Triple Z leadscrews (for auto bed levelling) plus X, Y and Extruder. the MicroSD card is added so that RepRapFirmware has somewhere to store its configuration files. i've left AUX3 on because i want to be able to connect an SPI-ETH (ENC28J60) so that the RepRapFirmware web interface will work with minimum effort. in the meantime, before working on RepRapFirmware, Marlin will be the immediate up-and-running firmware. the extra components needed should cost a whole $0.50 extra, and definitely no more than $1. MicroSD push-push sockets are around $0.20, i've taken off several pin headers and the UA78M LDO will not be hugely costly (well under $0.50). if anybody is interested i'm going to be getting 10 samples made up very very soon (i have a deadline for Shenzhen Maker Faire, which is on the 10th November). if anyone would like to review, commentt or has any suggestions, i'd love to hear them. i apologise in advance that i have to move quite quickly. source code files (GPLv3) all referenced at the link at the top. l. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,788300#msg-788300 Fri, 17 Jul 2026 13:34:12 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827397#msg-827397 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827397#msg-827397 lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 01 Jul 2018 04:09:33 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827388#msg-827388 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827388#msg-827388 o_lampe RAMPS Electronics Sun, 01 Jul 2018 02:37:12 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827314#msg-827314 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827314#msg-827314
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CHBRIGHT83
Really curious how this has been going. Really impressive work so far.

hi chbright83, apologies, i had the PCBs manufactured, i have 8 remaining: i went to Shenzhen Maker Faire last year, it was absolutely fantastic but also slightly traumatic at the same time: carrying 50kg of equipment, changing vehicles over 20 times in under 36 hours... oh and didn't sell any or gain any orders (one stockist in canada expressed interest but did not respond to email). so it was a lot of effort and a lot of money spent... for zero financial return. this wasn't exactly encouraging me to continue.

with my other project having most of its budget exhausted to the bare minimum i can only really justify further work and time on this if there is actual genuine interest and/or financial backing. i would be more than happy to do a crowd-funding campaign for example. that campaign however *will* need to be one that is more than the usual "$2000" or "$3000" or "$5000" level, in order to financially justify the time spent.

basically i'll put the time in... *if* there's going to be a guaranteed financial benefit for me to do so. if you can think of ways in which that could happen, count me in 100% ok?]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sat, 30 Jun 2018 04:42:56 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827312#msg-827312 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,827312#msg-827312 CHBRIGHT83 RAMPS Electronics Sat, 30 Jun 2018 04:24:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811999#msg-811999 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811999#msg-811999
i will also need to do a small redesign: some of the capacitors are 0805 and 50V (70V would be safer, the board's designed to run up to 35V, and i heard a rule that you're supposed to double the rating of capacitors for the max voltage). you simply can't get 0805 50V capacitors in shenzhen.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:39:40 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811998#msg-811998 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811998#msg-811998
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Giftyakapatch
Is it possible to get some naked boards ?
or a "kit" ... i really love to solder sometimes..... your project seems to be worth going with it....

thanks
Markus from germany

yeah i have 8 left from a batch of 10 that i did, i'm back in taiwan again and mostly recovered (14 hour flights, not fun), i'll have to find them as most stuff is packed up.

yes there are no fiducials: you can see from the PCB itself how densely packed it is: there's no room. the normal way to deal with this is to use centering on at least 2 components (in the furthest corners) and pick their centre positions by eye using the magnifying capability of the pick-and-place camera.

if it was a 4-layer PCB there would be absolutely no problem because the signal tracks could be moved inside. that however would increase the PCB production cost a *lot*.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:35:35 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811947#msg-811947 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,811947#msg-811947 missing fiducials for pick and place calibrations on the PCB....]]> Giftyakapatch RAMPS Electronics Sun, 25 Feb 2018 11:40:14 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,808521#msg-808521 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,808521#msg-808521 or a "kit" ... i really love to solder sometimes..... your project seems to be worth going with it....

thanks
Markus from germany]]> Giftyakapatch RAMPS Electronics Sat, 03 Feb 2018 14:35:56 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804362#msg-804362 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804362#msg-804362
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Pheneeny

So are you planning to sell these shields? If so, any idea on price?

yes - i'll need to do it as a crowd-funding exercise, as i'm not too keen on the idea of buying components etc. without knowing that people are actually gonna buy it!

which reminds me, i need to ping mike to ask him for the quote on components and assembly for say QTY 100.

in large enough volume, the similarity between RAMPS 1.4 and RD3D's BOM is close enough that really, there should only be a couple of USD extra. but that's going to be 1k volumes to get down to the same sort of pricing as you see RAMPS in the online stores.

we'll see ok? i'll let you know.

[edit] ok so i've asked mike to quote for 100 and 200 sets of components. really they should be ridiculously low, i would be really surprised if the BOM was more than $6. btw pheneeny it's entirely libre, you can get the PCB CAD yourself and get them made up if you want.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 14:32:53 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804328#msg-804328 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804328#msg-804328
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lkcl
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VDX
... found a related (German) Thread about - [www.hifi-forum.de]

... it's real - it really does happen. my favourite one i heard about was a 2.5in IDE drive inside a 3.5in SATA case. i mean... this is a country where they take cement powder, put it into "milk powder" containers and *sell it to their own citizens*, killing some of them in the process. for the most part cement powder *is* actually "harmless" but when it started killing people that's when the chinese govt stepped in.

so... yeah... don't imagine it's just foreigners they're happy to swindle. this is why i've spent considerable time tracking down a factory in china where the owner is extremely conscientious. i won't give you his name or contact details because he's as rare as rocking-horse s*** and i don't want *westerners* taking advantage of his generosity! i am however happy to act as a go-between, so as not to take up his time.

So are you planning to sell these shields? If so, any idea on price?]]> Pheneeny RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 10:48:54 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804295#msg-804295 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804295#msg-804295
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VDX
... found a related (German) Thread about - [www.hifi-forum.de]

... it's real - it really does happen. my favourite one i heard about was a 2.5in IDE drive inside a 3.5in SATA case. i mean... this is a country where they take cement powder, put it into "milk powder" containers and *sell it to their own citizens*, killing some of them in the process. for the most part cement powder *is* actually "harmless" but when it started killing people that's when the chinese govt stepped in.

so... yeah... don't imagine it's just foreigners they're happy to swindle. this is why i've spent considerable time tracking down a factory in china where the owner is extremely conscientious. i won't give you his name or contact details because he's as rare as rocking-horse s*** and i don't want *westerners* taking advantage of his generosity! i am however happy to act as a go-between, so as not to take up his time.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:32:37 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804292#msg-804292 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804292#msg-804292 www.hifi-forum.de]]]> VDX RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 04:38:55 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804290#msg-804290 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804290#msg-804290
They simply put smaller 16V caps into a bigger 35V housing ::o]]> VDX RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 04:35:49 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804289#msg-804289 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804289#msg-804289
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datesheet
why not you use a Smart Ramps to hach,now you give me another choice update my printers to 32bits.

i haven't time to do it myself, but check the video, i go through the process of identifying whether "thermals" are enabled or not on the power / gnd flood-fill / planes. you can do exactly the same thing, for yourself, and will be able to check if there is the same critical design fault. it would help other people a lot if, after doing so, you reported here but also made a note on the reprap.org wiki page of the findings [reprap.org]

without checking: if they've just put SMT components on, and based it off of RAMPS 1.4, chances are extremely high that yes, they didn't correct the critical design fault.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 04:24:08 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804281#msg-804281 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,804281#msg-804281 datesheet RAMPS Electronics Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:26:14 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,795249#msg-795249 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,795249#msg-795249 obelisk79 RAMPS Electronics Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:36:54 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794900#msg-794900 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794900#msg-794900
so as i'm short on time i've moved on to the TMC2660 expansion board, i've assembled one and am going to fire it up tomorrow (and take photos). i'm not connecting the SPI signals for the first test, i'm just going to rely on "default" settings and see what happens. if it doesn't go "pop" i'll be happy.

i'll need to take a closer look at marlin-rc source as apparently it does actually already have support for TMC2660 which would be fantastic, but using SPI so that involves a bit more investigating.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:20:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794723#msg-794723 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794723#msg-794723
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obelisk79
Can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs right?

*sigh*... apparently not :) i may be able to recover some of the components from this board, but after the experience of messing up due to re-soldering some of the connectors i'm inclined to just chuck this board and start completely again. nggggh! 2 days gone! and i'm leaving for SZMF on the 5th!]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:28:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794719#msg-794719 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794719#msg-794719 obelisk79 RAMPS Electronics Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:12:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794712#msg-794712 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794712#msg-794712
thinking about it: i ordered just "0.1uF capacitors". they're quite likely to only be 6.3v or 10v, they almost certainly won't be ceramic, or X5R or X7R temperature-rated. so... putting 12v through them, with the full power of a 350 watt PSU behind them and no fricking wonder they got hot enough to catch fire.

so.... hum... yyehhh... i can't take *this* board to SZMF! i think i have some X7R 0.1uF 50V capacitors here.

[edit] damnit, taking out the charred remains of the 0805 capacitor, the fire was intense enough to burn several millimetres through the FR4 PCB, and it's also shorted out the 12v and GND copper. i'll have to recover some of the components and start again. ho hum. this time not putting on 6.3v capacitors where it's going to be supplied by 12 to 24v, eh?

[attachment 99352 smoke.jpg]]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Thu, 02 Nov 2017 03:47:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794653#msg-794653 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794653#msg-794653 Dust RAMPS Electronics Wed, 01 Nov 2017 16:45:35 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794582#msg-794582 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794582#msg-794582 lkcl RAMPS Electronics Wed, 01 Nov 2017 06:46:15 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794446#msg-794446 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794446#msg-794446 dc42 RAMPS Electronics Tue, 31 Oct 2017 07:19:29 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794417#msg-794417 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794417#msg-794417
if i put on the 3-pin 5/3.3->VCC connector on i can test it powering up an arduino, then try some things like switch on MOSFETs (without MOSFETs) and confirm that the SN74LVC125 is working, and so on.

i've made absolute minimal usage of the hot-air gun, here. bit 100uF capacitors and the MC7808, that was all. the last experience i had using it on the 0805s was it really failed to do a decent job, i had to do more recovery than actual soldering.

hand-soldering of 0805s seems to be straightforward, with the exception of when one end is on a GND plane. those actually sink so much heat that the soldering iron (set to 400C) actually starts to stick to the PCB. amazing. but also a good sign, as far as connectivity is concerned. this is presumably primarily what "thermals" are for... but i entirely switched generating those off, right across the entire board.

[attachment 99287 IMG_0179.JPG]]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Mon, 30 Oct 2017 21:01:40 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794335#msg-794335 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794335#msg-794335
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obelisk79
That is a lot of holes. Wow! It's one thing to see in the files, another entirely too see them on a physical board.

tell me about it. it's why i want to split this board into upright daughtercards (like the old PCs from the 1970s / 80s), even for the MOSFETs. that way people can pick 2-MOSFET boards, 3 MOSFET boards, different power levels etc. so, i'll put 3 headers on the left side with 3 pins each (they have to come off of D3-D12 with D13 being power-enable as well as LED), with I2C (and possibly SPI) running to them as well. another header on the left side for DCin. then 4 14-pin expansion headers spaced near-equally top-to-bottom for steppers.

i worked out that it's just possible to fit 3 steppers onto one of those 14-pin expansion boards, if you use two sets of STEP/DIR and use I2C to communicate with an STM8 which controls the EN# of the stepper ICs. so i could do 2-stepper and 3-stepper boards, potentially for a total of *twelve* steppers, which actually starts to run into problems with RepRapFirmware as it uses a 32-bit number to store the stepper status in order to get as fast simultaneous control over all steppers as possible.

the nice thing about splitting all that out is, you now don't need heavy power-handlng on the main PCB *at all*, all the daughter cards take their own independent power, you could do a solid-state relay board as well (for 110/240v mains style silicon heaters and so on). and unlike BAM & DICE, right-angle 2.54mm pin-headers are a lot cheaper than 52-pin PCIe connectors.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Mon, 30 Oct 2017 07:16:02 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794331#msg-794331 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794331#msg-794331 obelisk79 RAMPS Electronics Mon, 30 Oct 2017 06:46:55 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794322#msg-794322 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794322#msg-794322
[attachment 99275 IMG_0178.JPG]]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Mon, 30 Oct 2017 03:59:47 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794035#msg-794035 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794035#msg-794035
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dc42
The load won't get anything like 1A in normal use. More like 200mA or possibly 250mA.

it's for the peripherals as well, so it's including powering an LCD, the MicroSD card, W5500 SPI Ethernet, steppers and so on. on the RD3D, power is routed as follows:

* 12-35v DCIN ->
* 8v MC7808 ->
* Arduino 5V/3.3v ->
* 5V/3.3v back up to RD3D ->

path 1:

* RD3D power-jumper selector ->
* VCC ->
* AUX ports, steppers, one 74LVC125 buffer IC

path 2:

* 5V to MOSFET's 74LVC125
* 5V to MicroSD's 3.3v regulator

from what i remember, the W5500 takes 150mA peak, a MicroSD card somewhere around the same, LCD backlight would be... 250mA? it's why i picked the MC7808 in the first place, 1A load, thought it would be safe... didn't look at the thermal dissipation figure carefully... wark-wark]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Fri, 27 Oct 2017 16:19:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794012#msg-794012 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,794012#msg-794012 dc42 RAMPS Electronics Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:53:53 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,793976#msg-793976 Re: RAMPS 1.4.2 fork: RD3D v1.0 (6 steppers, 24v, Due) https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,788300,793976#msg-793976
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dc42
Busk converters are tricky things to get right, so unless you have the right experience, I advise against designing on one-board.

yehh i've done them before: i just wasn't expecting to use one here. as it's something that can be optional (7-12VC In to the Arduino) i'm considering also making it optional. that has the advantage of using something off-the-shelf or doing several iterations if needed.

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I suggest you use a 7805 instead, which a user can add a heatsink to if necessary, or replace by one of the 7805-sized buck converters you can buy on eBay.

(or in the case of RD3D, the 7808). one with the TO-220 package only, yes. however... looking at the datasheet, if i'm interpreting it correctly, if the load increases to 1A and it's being supplied from 35V that's a whopping 27 WATTS to be shed off as heat, and i don't think even the TO-220 package with the largest possible heatsink could cope with that.

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This wouldn't be a good solution for a board to go in a manufactured 3D printer, but for a board aimed at hobbyists it's entirely adequate IMO.

yeh RD3D is planned to go to production.

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Loads on the 3.3V rail are normally light, so the 3.3V regulator on the Arduino Due should be adequate.

am counting on that in RD3D.]]> lkcl RAMPS Electronics Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:44:17 -0400