I got a RADDS board to try. It is very nice. It has the micro sd card reader and eeprom built in! It also has the level converters for the LCD. The board is well made and well layed out. I am going to be going with these over RAMPS-FD as RAMPS-FD seems dead now

[www.dr-henschke.de]

Any board manufacturers going to develop this? I would think a good design like this should be promoted by those who understand it with encouraging emails to capable manufacturers.

On another forum site, bobc threw his support behind the RADDS board. With the primary developer essentially abandoning it (and saying don't buy the Geetech version because it was poorly made and used older version files), I'd say that it is unlikely that someone would put it into production.

Pricing for the RADDS board in North America after shipping from Europe is preventing it from taking off on this side of the pond. They are seeking a USA distributor in another thread, though.....

Quote
vreihen
Pricing for the RADDS board in North America after shipping from Europe is preventing it from taking off on this side of the pond.

Never had trouble with shipping Gen7s to the U.S.. Postage is less than $5 and shipping time just 3 to 4 days. But you're right, if people believe shipping to be expensive and slow, they don't even try and accordingly don't see how well it works.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

For what it is worth, I'm happily using the later Geetech board (the one with actual fuses).

In my case, I'm using 5 volt VCC, and I had to hack the board slightly to make the hot end thermistor work correctly. I'm doing this because I use Massmind THB6064AH stepper controllers which are 5V only. Most people won't have to do this.

I am not using a heated bed yet, so I do not know about the quality of the mosfet for the heated bed. Here too, I have unusual needs (24V 300mm X 300mm bed), so will probably just use that mosfet to drive an external relay.

That said, I personally would prefer a board that kept motor power off the logic board itself, since mixing vcc/analog and high motor power is a lot of work to keep cleanly separated. That too is largely because I'd like to be able to run my steppers at 48V, though.

If anyone else needs to run 5V VCC on their RAMPS-FD, I'll post a description and picture of my hack - basically, I had to cut the aref line which went to 5V, and tie it to a 3.3v line nearby. There might be a cleaner way to do this. Looking at the board and schematic will let you figure this out, too.

Hi,

the SeeMeCNC guys do not will distribute the RADDS :-(.
They have RAMBO board.

Can everyone give me an advice for a cool RepRap Company with experiance in reprap printer electronic in the US or Canada ?

I can give 10 RADDS to test for Commisioning.
The Distributor can deliver (sell) it, and then pay me...

Habe Fun
Angelo

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Quote
Traumflug
Never had trouble with shipping Gen7s to the U.S.. Postage is less than $5 and shipping time just 3 to 4 days. But you're right, if people believe shipping to be expensive and slow, they don't even try and accordingly don't see how well it works.

I'm just using Angelo's shipping price per this post:

http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?13,279052,357186#msg-357186

15 Euros just for shipping is over 20 dollars US right now. The shipping alone is almost the street price of a China-produced 8-bit RAMPS 1.4 board here.....

Tks for the replies.

Quote
xnaron
RADDS First Impressions and Mini Review
I have printed for at least 100 hours. I have been plagued with occasional (5) lockups with Repetier on the DUE with RADDS. I have tried different DUE boards to rule out hardware and have upgraded to the latest Repetier.

Anyhow they are dangerous. If you are printing when it locks up it will keep the hotend on with no regulation. With my all metal hotend it went above 500C before I caught it. Just a heads up to anyone who is using this combo to not leave your printer printing unattended (this is good advice regardless). If I had my J-Head hot end on there it would have been destroyed and possibly started a fire. This is bleeding edge firmware after all and bugs are expected. Roland is aware of the issue and I am sure it'll be solved in time.
[forums.reprap.org]

So is RADDS not recommended at this time? What are my options?

I like that RADDS can handle 6 motors, and 24V. I hope to be using a breakout board for the drivers, and for higher voltage for the Nema23's.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2014 08:29AM by A2.

Quote
A2
Tks for the replies.



So is RADDS not recommended at this time? What are my options?

I like that RADDS can handle 6 motors, and 24V. I hope to be using a breakout board for the drivers, and for higher voltage for the Nema23's.

I am not saying that RADDS is not recommended. I am simply saying the Arduino DUE support on Repetier is bleeding edge and there are issues. I wanted to relate my experience to others so they can be extra cautious. RADDS is a fine piece of hardware. Repetier is a great piece of software. I am sure the bugs will be worked out in time. Until then be extra cautious when you are printing. Personally I try to avoid leaving my printer printing unattended. There is a lot that can go wrong.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2014 11:03PM by xnaron.

Sorry xnaron,
Sorry a2,

running RADDS with 24 Volt is a problem :-(
I have a hack with a dc-dc.

I would like to send xnaron 3* 1/128 Microatepperdriver and 3* 5/3,3 Volt Hall-O Endstops to Test for free. So maybe it is possible to give The RADDS 12Volt with a for example 12 Volt (100 Watt) power supply and for the 1/128 Stepperdriver + Heatbed 24Volt. ( I have also ordered a Rostock Max to test the Mechanik with RADDS, linke you do :-)).

@A2
Which termistors do you use?
Can you send me please your firmware-configuration.
If you like, I will send you the Money back, or what I can do to say sorry ...

Thank you for your feedback. Only this can make us a better Hard- and Firmware.

My E-Mail is a angelo@abcona.de

Thank you and Sorry
Angelo

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2014 03:51AM by angelo.

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Any luck with finding a US distributor?

No :-(

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Have you tried tridprinting.com? (They just started selling the Azteeg X5 Mini.) UltiBots.com? (They do not carry a 32-bit board as of today.)

@angelo:
Sorry, corrected my post, I was quoting xnaron.


I think the only option for me is to use a breakout board for the drivers, and a separate power supply. I'm still piecing together what I will need.

@A2
do you habe Seen my microstepperdriver?
You can power it seperate (12/24/36 Volt).
Also it is possible with The dipp switch full/16/32/64/128 steps.
Noisless and a much better print result, but higher steps / lower speed.
[www.max3dshop.de]


If you like it to try it, i will give you 3* 1/128 microstepperdriver for 3*39 Euro - 50 Euro RADDS = 67 Euro. Shipping cost included :-) you can pm me.

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Although I'm able to use my RAMPS-FD, I wish there was a RAMPS/RADDS style board that was designed primarily to interface to breakout boards that handled the power (stepper or heater).

I'd really like to split it that way to make it easier to plug and play with different stepper controllers and ideally even the processor itself to optimize my printer.

For the breakout boards, I'd design them to connect with short 10-pin cables:

breakout type 1 - single stepper
ground, +5V, step, dir, enable, min limit, max limit, error

breakout type 2 - dual stepper
ground, +5V, step1, dir1, step2, dir2, enable, min1, min2

extruder breakout
ground, +5V, step, dir, enable, analog reference to breakout, thermistor value from breakout, error

bed breakout
ground, +5V, analog ref to breakout, thermistor value from breakout, error?

Then make all signals 5V and 5V tolerant, so you can switch breakouts across different processor boards (1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, etc).

This way high current or high voltage goes directly to the breakouts, and stays off the processor or printer interface board.

My thinking along these lines is influenced by the fact that I'm basically using my RAMPS-FD as a breakout board - I have no stepper controllers on it due to voltage limits.

@powoll

Nice and flexible solution

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

I'm trying to test the aprinter firmware before I replace my RAMPS 1.4 board, aprinter is uploaded, I can connect to the board with various host apps but the stepper I currently have connected doesn't move (I haven't connected anything else yet) I've tried it with 3 different stepper drivers in the x, y, and z positions, are there certain things that need to be connected to the board before it'll do anything?

Hi sriz,
You need an original arduino due or a UDOO for ramps-fd or radds. RADDS has also an EEPROM.
If you dont need it, just disable it to the Firmware.
Also The repetier firmware.
Guys ... what is The Problem ?

Have fun
Angelo

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Thanks Angelo!
My Due isn't original so maybe that's it, I also have a UDOO so will try it with that and report back.

Just to be clear though I should be able to just have a stepper motor and driver connected to the board to test the axis'? no need for endstops, thermistors etc?

Thanks again

Riz

I'm using the Geetech Due with RAMPS-FD and current Reptier-Firmware without trouble.

If a filament stepper isn't moving, besides the obvious wiring problems, that can happen if the firmware is configured to not allow moving the filament when the thermistor reads below a certain temp (180 degreesC in my case).

If an X/Y/Z stepper isn't moving, besides the extensive wiring problems one can have (I had them all, it seems to me), you also need to ensure that the pin configuration in the firmware is right for your due board, and also that you either are configured to ignore endstops, or that your endstop direction (low or high) is right and not affected by pullups or pulldowns on the pins.

You may also need to check motor power to make sure the fuse isn't bad and that you get appropriate voltage at the stepper controller board.

Personally, I'd get the arduino toolchain in place to build repetier-firmware, and use that. I was able to make aprinter work, but had inconsistent luck with it.

The stepper controllers are easy to get in backwards or off by a pin or two. The power output pins on the stepper always go to the outside edge of the RAMPS-FD board (I don't know about 1.4).

An alternate route to begin debugging hardware would be to see if you can talk to the firmware at all via repetier host or pronterface, and do some simple things like read a thermistor value or an endstop and make sure you're getting some basic stuff working before trying to get the stepper to work.

Lastly, aprinter worked nicely on my teensy (AVR with US, and I used that on a breadboard with a stepper controller to learn about setting up my first stepper.

Thanks for the support powool,

I haven't had much time to test this weekend but did manage to get the stepper turning...faulty drivers. Probably because I originally connected them the wrong way round. It's always the simple things I guess.

I have some dvr8825 stepper drivers that I want to try with this setup, they're supposed to be a direct replacement for the A4988 and A4982, what's the best way to make sure they're using 1/32 microsteps? Is there any configuration needed in the code? I see the A4988MicroStep.h in the microstep folder, there's a switch in there with the different pin configs do I just need to add one to the end for 1/32 microsteps with a different pin configuration?

Thanks in advance!

Riz

Hi All,
Has anyone else had issues connecting to this board? The only firmware I can get working is aprinter (Which is great!) but I would like to try Repetier. I can upload it fine to both my Udoo Due and Arduino due (compatible) but I can't connect to it from either OS X or ubuntu. It just hangs when I'm trying to connect. I've definitely set the right baudrate and am connecting to the native use port. Am I missing something?

Thanks

Riz

Quote
mynamesriz
Hi All,
Has anyone else had issues connecting to this board? The only firmware I can get working is aprinter (Which is great!) but I would like to try Repetier. I can upload it fine to both my Udoo Due and Arduino due (compatible) but I can't connect to it from either OS X or ubuntu. It just hangs when I'm trying to connect. I've definitely set the right baudrate and am connecting to the native use port. Am I missing something?

Thanks

Riz

What baud rate are you running? I run 115200, max. Some people had to reset the due after flashing it. You should be close.

I've set the baud rate to 115200. What do you mean by reset? Press the reset button or something else?

Alright, this is going to be a lot of info, but I've had a difficult time finding out where to start with due+ramps-fd. I found the Due for cheap from banggood (http://www.banggood.com/Arduino-Compatible-DUE-R3-32-Bit-ARM-With-USB-Cable-p-906466.html, $20) and RAMPS-FD from Geeetech (http://www.geeetech.com/new-pololu-shield-rampsfd-for-arduino-due-3d-printer-controller-p-770.html, $28). Almost cheaper than MEGA+RAMPS! I also like the RADDS shield (http://max3dshop.org/index.php/default/elektronik/radds/radds-v1-1.html)that has very similar functionality, it's just more expensive (>2x).

More info about RAMPS-FD is available here (http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS-FD) including a schematic that can help decipher the unlabeled pins of the board itself. Geetech has its own wiki with duplicate info (http://www.geeetech.com/wiki/index.php/Ramps-FD, not sure who copied who) but neither have very helpful diagrams. I've made my own here (http://imgur.com/CnByrtf) with room for improvement. I'll add it to the reprap wiki soon. This is RAMPS-FD v1 (from what I understand v2 is final and v3 is on the way). It is important to note that v1 has reversed (logic?) on the mosfets, so if the arduino power fails, the heaters turn on. This is an important fix in v2, but I'm working with v1 for now.

The marlin port is discussed at length here (https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/issues/626) including its practicality since a total rewrite could have many advantages. Bobc has the port of marlin I'm using, found here (https://github.com/bobc/Marlin) although supposedly repetier and a couple others have firmware that works with RAMPS-FD (and usually RADDS). There are three main forum posts I've found (including this one) that talk about projects with RAMPS-FD (http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,291043,291043 [forums.reprap.org] [andy-projects.blogspot.com]) They've all either had issues or just not been active enough put all the necessary info together to get it to work (thus this post).

I've also had issues with firmware similar to the issue found here (https://github.com/kliment/Printrun/issues/484) that I've solved by Unistalling the arduino Due usb driver (that I believe installs by default, but I'm left with "USB Serial (Communication Class, Abstract Control Model) (COMX)" You also MUST connect at 115200 baud rate and or else you get a communication error, and you must use the programming usb port, not the native port, to connect.

This is all I have for now, but it's connecting to just the Due on it's own in pronterface! I'll hook up the RAMPS-FD tomorrow morning and post an update

As one of the people who helped bobc design RAMPS-FD, there are issues with V1 of the RAMPS-FD board. Even the boards with fuses are usually V1 boards, which was what they were supposed to be, but Geeetech decided that PTC's would be "good enough" even though we explicitly moved away from using PTC's due to issues with them.

That is, as mentioned, if it locks up, your hot-end gets stuck on. We asked Geeetech to pull it from sale due to this issue but they didn't listen. We wanted to sell something robust, designed to protect the electronics as well as have a bunch of safety features (like a hardware E-Stop). It wasn't tested yet Geeetech simply pushed ahead. They only wanted to sell their stock and basically they don't care about hot ends catching fire if the software locks up.

I personally won't recommend RAMP-FD to anyone, unless they're only using it to learn how to make something better.

I think, that the idea of ramps-fd is great.
I would like to test and try ramps- fd v2.

Can everyone give me an advice were i can buy one ramps-fd v2 ?

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Mein Club: [hackerspace-ffm.de]
RADDS-Shield -> Commercial [max3dshop.org]

Unless something has changed in the past few months, RAMPS-FD is a dead end. Bobc had a falling out with a forum member here, and basically threw in the towel on the project. He advised everyone in another forum to buy the RADDS board and not the Geeetech RAMPS-FD. I have not heard about anyone taking the lead on RAMPS-FD to continue development, and the only boards that went into mass production that I know of are the flawed Geeetech ones.....

Angelo: Even RAMPS-FD V2 had some issues that were still being sorted out. I know bobc was reluctant to put out another "final" version until it was actually tested, due to the Geeetech situation.

The main differences between the last (non-final) release of RAMPS-FD and RADDS were:

1. RAMPS-FD provided a hardware E-Stop function. This used a tri-state buffer to disconnect the Due from the output devices (motors, hot ends, heated bed), and using pull-down/pull-up resistors on the outputs to set the default state for when the E-Stop is enabled. We were aiming this so that if "anything" goes wrong, you whack the E-Stop (immediately disabling the outputs/motors) then power off your machine (this part may take longer, depending on your setup).
2. Thermistor input protection (to protect the Due from high voltages being connected to the thermistor input (eg: accidental short on the hot end, etc) and killing the Due.
3. A regulator was provided on board to support running the Due and certain drive transistors at 12V (eg: Fan only outputs) if using 24V.

Everything else was mainly layout related, which of course affects the pin layout.