Help ??

Hi my name is Chris, I heard about the Reprap 3d printer almost a year ago and was immediately dumbstruck by the simplicity and the power of the idea. Now I am currently in possession of a partially assembled prusa mendel and I am unable/unwilling to begin work on the electronics without some idea of where to start. I am unable because I have no understanding of what I am doing when it comes to the building the electrical ( example the last time I wired anything electrical was a lamp in ninth grade shop class) and I am unwilling because I am hesitant to roast $200 dollars worth of electronics for my ignorance. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Since you have very little experience I would suggest getting a pre-assembled Ramps board. I say this because it is made up of multiple different parts that are all easily replaceable if you burn out one part, be it the Arduino mega or one of the Pololu stepper drivers.

Get a few extra Pololu drivers as most people burn up a couple during testing. Either from loose wires or turning up the current too high.

For pre-assembled you can look at:
E-maker
Lulzbot
Reprapworld
and in the for sale forum.

You could also go for a Sanguinololu or Gen7. They are a little cheaper but the microcontroller is part of the board so it is not as easily replaceable, but cheaper if you do have to replace it.

I would stay away from "monolithic boards", that is boards that are all one piece including the stepper drivers being soldered right to it. This means if you burn out a driver you most likely end up buying a new board entirely. These include techzones monolithic and gen6. I am sure there are others as it is really hard to keep up with all this stuff.

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FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

i personally would recommend a gen6, pre fabbed, good price and more robust than fiddling around with individual drivers.

Thanks for the advice. Sorry I didn't get back to you right away. I haven't checked the forum in a while. I kinda gave up on finishing the reprap for a while in hope that in a moment of inspiration I would somehow understand how all the electronic components fit together. Silly I know, but it can be mildly frustrating to be in posession of something damn close magical and realize that if you were only a little smarter then you could make just about anything. So after many months I have come to my senses and seen the error of my ways. I picked up the Make electronics primer and am working my way through it in the hope that I may understand the mystery that is the RepRap Prusa. Any additional advice, prayers or related voodoo involved in breathing life into my Prusa will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to help the less worthy.