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Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4

Posted by Entropy 
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Entropy
Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 11:45AM
I'd like to take advantage of the cooling option in slic3r and skeinforge and have a fan turn on when cooling is needed. What is the best what to go about doing this? Any write ups anywhere about it?
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Nudel
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 02:50PM
According to the wiki the fan should be connected to D9 on RAMPS. Print a fan holder, mount and connect fan, enable cooling in slicing software and go ahead.

I personally find turning the fan on and off gives big temperature swings, especially on the bed but also on the hotend, so I prefer to run a 80mm fan to blow across the entire build surface constantly. It's given me a huge quality increase on overhangs and bridges.

--
-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic
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bobby_rep
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 03:10PM
Nudel do you not find a fan over the build draws heat from your heated bed? Do you use a heated bed. I've had to disable my fan until I can print a tilted fan holder so as not to blow on the bed and draw the heat. With a fan as is my bed can't get past 119C (printing abs on kaption/glass ontop of a bed)
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 03:17PM
Thats actually what I've been doing, just angling the fan upwards away from the bed and having it constantly blowing. I will try both ways and see what I get. Thanks for the help!
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 03:27PM
Is there something specific in the firmware I need to change? Plugging a fan into D9 has it running continuously.
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Nudel
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 03:31PM
bobby_rep Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nudel do you not find a fan over the build draws
> heat from your heated bed? Do you use a heated
> bed.

Yes, and yes.

I print on glass over a custom nichrome heated bed, but since I only print PLA a much lower temperature is needed. With a fan tilted to direct airflow over the bed and not into it, the bed is stable at 60C (without fan I print at 50C). It don't think it'll go much higher though.

--
-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic
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johnbiehler
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 26, 2012 03:35PM
You don't want to use a fan with ABS...taller prints will crack and separate before it finishes.

[johnbiehler.com]
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se5a
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 03:36AM
I also get the fan running contunuosly when plugged into d9 in ramps 1.4
I was suspecting a short somewhere, (soldered ramps up myself) but I can't see one anywhere obvious.
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Nudel
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 06:41AM
I guess the fan defaults to be turned on? It would depend on your firmware though. You should be able to send M107 to turn the fan off, and M106 (or M106 [0-255] for PWM output) to turn it on. More info: [forums.reprap.org]

--
-Nudel
Blog with RepRap Comic
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 09:51AM
If D9 is a MOSFET can you use PWM for fan control? Does it work that way? Does the pin its connected to on the Arduino support PWM?
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 09:56AM
D9 (called so because of the pin from the Arduino) does support PWM. So what Nudel is saying may be correct. I'll have to check when I get home.
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crispy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 03:25PM
PWM on D9 is not working on Sprinter Experimental. Can't speak for Sprinter Master. All you will get is on/off control until the firmware is fixed.

Slic3r is able to operate the fan fine without PWM. To compensate I have it set to come on less.
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se5a
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 27, 2012 04:19PM
M107 does not work for me, on sprinter main or experimental. (the fan stays on)
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 28, 2012 10:02PM
Same here with Marlin. No fan controls working. Its just always on.
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C. Cecil
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 31, 2012 03:03PM
Marlin/Ramps 1.4/Slic3r...fan works fine...M107 works fine and the fan speed is variable. Not sure which version you are using but mine works. I literally just had to plug the fan into the output and enable cooling in slic3r, that was all.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.Robosprout.com RepRap Mendel parts and accessories.
Message if there is anything you need...I have more than what is listed on my site.
Located in the Spokane, WA / Coeur d'Alene, ID area.
Contact: Robosprout@gmail.com Flickr: [www.flickr.com]
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Justblair
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
March 31, 2012 03:36PM
2nd that for Marlin. I cant remember a version where pwm did not work (well i use RAMPS 1.3, but it is similar enough)
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 01:02PM
I've been messing around with this and still can not get it to work. D9 is always on. I've gone into Pin.h and changed everything to match the wiki and still nothing. Any help would be appreciated. What am I doing wrong?
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 02:05PM
I'm beginning to think this is a hardware problem. D9 LED is always on. It always has 12v. I've changed from marlin beta to sprinter to marlin v1.0 and still nothing with this fan output.
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C. Cecil
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 02:34PM
If you have a multimeter test Pin1 of Q2 while toggling the fan on/off (should switch between 0 and 5v) then do the same for the D9 output (should switch between 0 and 12v). Check for shorts on Q2, R2 and the pin header connector next to LED1.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.Robosprout.com RepRap Mendel parts and accessories.
Message if there is anything you need...I have more than what is listed on my site.
Located in the Spokane, WA / Coeur d'Alene, ID area.
Contact: Robosprout@gmail.com Flickr: [www.flickr.com]
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 09:45PM
The arduino pin D9 toggles 5v when turning fan off and on. R2 shows 5v as expected.

Q2 does nothing. I don't seem to get any voltage from any pin on Q2 but D9 power terminal has a full 12v. Q2 shows no signs of life regardless of pin 9's state, but the terminal has full power.

Both of the other power terminals are off so no power so no possibility of a short between them. LED3 is always on correspondng to D9 terminal always on.

I'm looked all over the board and have found no evidence of a short. Any ideas anyone?
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se5a
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 10:00PM
I'm still in the same boat.
keep us posted when you do find out what the problem is, and I'll do the same if I figure mine out.
atm I'm just running with the fan always on and manualy placing the fan where it can blow on the part or not.
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 06, 2012 10:03PM
Where did you get your RAMPS board?
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se5a
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 07, 2012 01:49AM
somone in Australia sent it to me as a kit.
umn Auzze maybe? I'll check if I can see if it says anything on the board

the board says ultimaker ramps 1.4

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2012 02:20AM by se5a.
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 07, 2012 10:03AM
Mine is from ultimaker too. Hopefully that has nothing to do with it.
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Entropy
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
April 07, 2012 11:09AM
Well mine was a faulty MOSFET. I removed Q2 and no more power to D2 terminal. I'll have to replace it I suppose.
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dawkoehn
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
July 12, 2012 10:38PM
This appears to be a problem with Sprinter experimental. My fan on my ramps 1.2 setup only runs at either full on or full off. This is using the latest Sprinter experimental (pulled today)

I have verified this by measuring the control signal from the arduino to the mosfet on the ramps 1.2 shield.
* M107 - generates 0 volts on signal line
* M106 S255 - generates 5 volts
* M106 S200 - generates 0 volts

Any value of S other than 255 or 0 is not correct.

I have also determined that disabling PID in the firmware (Configuration.h) fixes this (not a very desirable solution). It appears perhaps the same timer for the PWM to the fan is being used for the PID control ...

dk
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Thirkell
Re: Cooling fan with RAMPS 1.4
September 18, 2014 10:27AM
I am probably posting on a dead thread but here goes. I have the same fan-always-on problem. I can easily control fan on/off and speed when controlling the printer with Repetier Host but when printing from SD card the fan stay permanently on, even during heating. The LED on the Ramps also stay on permanently. Have you guys found a solution to the problem?
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