RAMPS/MARLIN additional Z stepper and heater outputs ?

I've almost finished upgrading my printer to 24V and at the same time I've added an additional 6th stepper driver and second Z MIN so that I can experiment with dual Z stepper homing.

I've also added an extra FET output so that I can drive the heated bed, both extruders and a fan.

My question is, is there a standard/preference for pins to use for the extra stepper, Z MIN2 and extra control output before I just go and pick 5 random unused pins ?

Chris

IIRC marlin expects to use the pins from the first unused extruder stepper for Z2.

The rest of it doesn't really matter. You can always come up with your own pin sets by editing the right pins.h or even creating your own board config.

thanks for that slippy, I've managed to configure the 2nd stepper by defining pins for a 3rd extruder, though it would seem better if you could directly assign the pins to the 2nd stepper ?, if I change the number of extruders the Z driver will change !

I'm now stuck trying to configure the 2nd Z min endstop, I've posted a question on the Marlin section but no answer yet ?

Chris

I've never used a second endstop myself so don't have direct experience of that. IIRC there's a section on it, with notes, in configuration_adv.h. Have you read that?

Yes I found in config_adv and have managed to configure a 2nd Z endstop but only by reassigning the x max endstop. I haven't figured how to keep both. Unfortunately I'm an electronics person and struggle with the software side of things. I'll probably be able to sort it on Monday when I can ask a software colleague (watch out Alex !).

Do you need a max endstop? Do you use xmax or ymax? You could use thos.

Hi,

I am currently using 1.0.3 dev firmware and have 7 endstops working on a CoreXY printer -- XMin / XMax - YMin / YMax - ZMin / Z2Min and Z Max.

I had to add and change a couple of things with this firmware to get it working.
Configuration.h Line 319 Added #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_Z2MIN
Configuration_adv.h Line 149 Default #define Z2_MAX_PIN 6 Change #define Z2_MIN_PIN 5
Configuration_adv.h Line 150 Default const bool Z2_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = true; Change const bool Z2_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false;
pins_ramps13.h Line 48 Added #define Z2_STEP_PIN 36 #define Z2_DIR_PIN 34 #define Z2_ENABLE_PIN 30
Stepper.ccp Line 933 Added #if HAS_Z2_MIN SET_INPUT(Z2_MIN_PIN); #ifdef ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN WRITE(Z2_MIN_PIN,HIGH); #endif #endif
I think that's about all from memory..

I have auto syncing of the two Z steppers at there Min position (Using ZMin Endstop and Z2min endstop) You only need one Z Max endstop which stops the Z axis print platform not to exceed to max lowest position.
Only issue that there is a set time to Auto sync no matter where the Z axis is.. not a major issue.

I'm looking at upgrading to 1.1.0 release and it doesn't seem to have a lot there for a Z2 min endstop. Currently not using a probe but may wish to upgrade at some stage
Currently waiting to for it to be fully released before trying to upgrade. Something I will look at in about 3 months time when its too wet for other things I do...

I am interested to see if you can get this working, I am OK with the electronics but still learning a lot with marlin firmware.

Cheers Reprot.