RepRap Ramps 1.3 Electronics

Hi i am very new to this and recieved my unassembled electronics from xyz printers just a few weeks ago, I am not 100% sure of a few things?
I have attached photos of the electronics, would anyone be able to point out if i went wrong anywhere?
I do know that I am missing 2 female connectors that i still have to buy.
But i was left with a spare diode, that im sure is for D2 but the instructions on wiki tell me not to put it in....?
I also am not sure if the two resettable fuses, and the orange capacitor infron of them are in the right way around ?

The second topic was for the assembly of the mechanical enstops. I have soldered them up somewhat, but am not sure where the resistor goes, Can anyone tell me?

After im finished the electronics, i will be using an old pc power supply to plug in the unit with the endstops, polulus, arduinos, and motors attached.
Does anyone have any precautionary tips for me? I dont want to blow anything
I dont have an extruder yet, but will be able to test the motors etc.. am i right?

Thanks for any help provided

You're missing D1, not D2. D1 should normally be installed unless you are using a high supply voltage. It allows the mega to be powered from the RAMPS, making standalone operation possible using SDRAMPs. Without that diode, you can use up to 35V - redesign your heaters to suit - for more torque, but you need a separate 5V supply for the Mega. Normally this is the USB supply but that's not available when running standalone.

Short version, install D1.

The PTC fuses are unpolarised, install them either way. The same is true for C4 but not the other capacitors on the board.

The pullup resistor should go between Common on the switch and the 5V supply.

Beyond that, just do the usual checks. Examine all solder joints. Use the meter to check for continuity. Note that the capacitors will appear to conduct until your meter charges them up (or destroys itself. Meters don't like capacitors) so you will read continuity between ground and the 5A supply, if there's a short it'll read a consistent low resistance, if everythings good the reading will climb as the caps charge. Double check polarity on all the connectors,

Make sure all connections to the board are solid, especially the stepper motors, If a stepper is disconnected while powered, it'll generate a voltage spike that arcs back across the connector and fries the driver. I think the new drivers are protected against that but its best not to let it happen.

Thanks for your help, have made those changes no, I'm just soldering the connectors to the motors. It's says the motors should have red blue green and black. My motors are red blue green and yellow.... I'm guessing yellow is black?
I have also cut maybe 5 mm off the length of some of the stepper motors, is this ok to do as I thought I read somewhere that you should not do this?
Also could you suggest what would be the best software to use, I'm building the best quality machine I can with 2.5 belts and heated bed... So what would be the most accurate software to use, to produce the finest detail I can get?
Thanks again for any help

Steppers have no standard colour code. You can use a meter to work out which wires are on the same coil, then connect one coil to pin 1 and 2, and the other to pin 3 or 4. Or you can connect them at random and swap pin 2 and 3 if it doesn't work first time. If it moves in the wrong direction, you can either reverse your wiring or invert it in firmware. Make sure they get enough current or they wont move whether or not you have a good wiring sequence.

Not sure what you mean by '5mm off the length of some of the stepper motors'. What did you cut? If its just the wiring, that's no problem. If its the shaft, then you have to be careful to seal the motor first, there are strong magnets in there that will pick up any steel filings from the shaft and that will damage the motor.

As for software, I use skeinforge and send.py. Minimalist but it works. The quality comes from the slicer, skeinforge is a pain to configure but works really well when its set up right. If you want something easier, Slic3r also produces high quality prints.

The sender is less important. I use send.py, drag&drop a gcode file onto it and its done. Pronterface appears to be the best GUI at the moment.

If you're still looking for firmware, then teacup or sprinter are easy to use, marlin produces better quality though sprinter now has some look-ahead capability so it should be catching up with marlin.

ok cheers i just wired the motors up randomly and will plug them in and change them after if they do not go the correct direction.
Yes i am just putting the firmware on the arduino, im guessing i dont have to have the ramps assembled and can just plug in the arduino mega using the usb and upload firmware onto it. I would like to put marlin onto it seeing as it seems to be the best. Is marlin ok to put onto the RAMPS 1.3 board? I saw on their wiki it says "EXPERAMENTAL" and did not mention it was ok for ramps?
Yes sorry i was talking about the lenght of the wire on the motors and cutting them by 5mm. but i guess this is ok.. thanks
As for software on the computer i will probably use skeinforge and Pronterface.
I will then be connecting my 12v 16.0A power unit up.
Thanks for your help

[m.youtube.com]

Have a look at this video. I don't recall how far I got, but it describes how to sort out the A+A-/B+B- pairings

I'm am looking at buying a hot end now and am not sure if this one is off good quality, I have a gregs hinged extruded and ramps electronics. I do like a bargain but don't mind paying extra to ensure the printer will perform to the best level it can.
This is a hot end I was looking at, does anyone have any experience with it? Or know anything about it?

[www.ebay.ie]

Thanks