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RAMPS with SD card support?

Posted by chrille 
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chrille
RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 05:15PM
I'm currently printing the parts for my Mendel. I'll be using RAMPS for controlling it, so I was wondering if anyone has experimented with implementing SD card support for it. I have a Makerbot cupcake, and I always print from SD card because I find it more reliable and it doesn't need to be connected to a computer while printing. The generation 4 makerbot electronics has SD support, so maybe the library can be ported to RAMPS from that.

Has anybody experimented with it? If so, I'm very interested.

I'm more of an electronics guy, so programming is not my strong side, but I'm learning it slowly smiling smiley
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NewPerfection
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 07:15PM
I would also be strongly interested in this. No idea how to go about it though hot smiley

I imagine this would reduce the slow down on very short segments, though that just may be a limitation of the Arduino.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 07:41PM
When I first started printing from an SD card on my Makerbot, the printed part quality improved more than I would have thought. I think It would be the same on a RepRap, plus you don't waste a large print if your computer crashes at some point.
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 07:47PM
thats a good point about the computer crashing, i have not gave much thought to that, why do you think the quality got better off the sd card.?

i know on the ramps board i have it would not be all to hard to add sd to the hardware, there are allot of free pins still to use. unless you need a specific serial pin.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 07:56PM
I think the quality improved, because it's possible to read data at much higher speeds without errors from an SD card than it is through a serial connection. When I ran it directly from the PC, it sometimes paused briefly at some points, while the extruder kept on going, so it created blobs. Either it was because of the data not being sent fast enough from the computer or it was an error in that particular packet sent to the printer. I've never had any issues when printing from SD cards.
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 07:58PM
hmm, that issue might be helped out allot with the new arduino atmel usb chips they are using on the new uno and mega, i know on my mega, the transfers are allot faster, but i am not printing yet, so i still have a bit to go.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:02PM
You might be right. You can also push the older Arduino FT232 usd chip to higher speeds, but I don't know if errors in communication would start to occur then. Still I like the ability to unplug the computer while building.
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:06PM
i like that idea too, and it keeps things simpler in the long run, i hope that feature will makes its way onto the ramps boars in time, but i also know there is not allot of space left on them, thats another issue though. i think it is more than doable with an add-on card thought.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:13PM
I think the SD card takes up 6-7 pins, so there should be room for it on a Mega. It needs an SPI interface though, so not all pins can be used unless someone hacks together a software SPI interface.
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:19PM
Quote
arduino.cc
SPI: 50 (MISO), 51 (MOSI), 52 (SCK), 53 (SS). These pins support SPI communication using the SPI library. The SPI pins are also broken out on the ICSP header, which is physically compatible with the Uno, Duemilanove and Diecimila.

well thats good to see, i think they are left unused on the current ramps board so it would not be all that hard to add a conector onto the board for that reason.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:26PM
Looking at the schematic for the Generation 4 makerbot motherboard, I can see that only 6 pins are needed: Schematic

I'm currently at my holiday home, but I actually have an SD card socket and a protoshield at home, So I'll see if it's possible do anything with it, but as I said, I'm not that good at programming...
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:28PM
lol you have not seen my try to program yet. but if i can find the pieces some how i can seem to get things to work.

but i look forward to seeing what you can do, i will offer to help you with what i can though.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 17, 2011 08:31PM
Thanks for the offer grinning smiley I'll definitely give it a try, but I'm sure I'll need some help along the way.
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TomCeeMe
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 18, 2011 03:57AM
Someone on the IRC channle (Kliment) has allmost finished adding the SD card reader. Maybe pop in there to exchange information

regards,
Tom
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CidVilas
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 18, 2011 11:25AM
Could everyone post there specs? I'm curious about Baud rate and Arduino Model.

Arduino Model: Mega 2560 (RAMPS)
Baud Rate: 115200
Firmware: Tonokip
GCode Interface: RepSnapper
Computer OS: Windows 7 Starter

I have printed things with small and large round holes and have not experianced any slow down worthy of note. So im wondering whether the SD card adds much more functionality other than the ability to print without a PC plugged in through the whole print.
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dissidence
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 18, 2011 02:38PM
my setup is close to yours CidVillas, but i am not done my repstrap yet, i am getting closer, but i am not there yet.

Arduino Model: Mega 2560 (RAMPS) or 1250
Baud Rate: 115200
Firmware: Tonokip
GCode Interface: RepSnapper
Computer OS: Windows 7 ultimate, kubuntu, xuntu
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NewPerfection
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
February 19, 2011 01:05AM
CidVilas Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could everyone post there specs? I'm curious
> about Baud rate and Arduino Model.
>
> Arduino Model: Mega 2560 (RAMPS)
> Baud Rate: 115200
> Firmware: Tonokip
> GCode Interface: RepSnapper
> Computer OS: Windows 7 Starter
>
> I have printed things with small and large round
> holes and have not experianced any slow down
> worthy of note. So im wondering whether the SD
> card adds much more functionality other than the
> ability to print without a PC plugged in through
> the whole print.

I have a very similar setup with the Mega 2560, RepSnapper, 115200 Baud, and Windows 7. I do get noticeable slowdown when doing lots of short segments, such as in a tight circle with lots of facets. I seem to be having issues with connectivity over USB though, maybe I need to reflash the USB chip on the Mega.
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wilson
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
March 18, 2011 10:54PM
Man, I'm running pretty much the same setup (Ramps 2560, 115200, Repsnapper, Win7 home premium, tesla tonokip) and I'm getting tons of slow downs and pauses that are leaving blobs. I can hardly wait to get my hands on one of Kliment's sd shields for ramps.
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Kliment
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
March 29, 2011 06:55AM
Hey,

Indeed, I have SD support working. My firmware is at [github.com]

SD printing has been independently replicated at least twice (that I know of) and I am putting a shield together that attaches to the back of RAMPS (no assembly required if you have passthrough/stackable headers, minor soldering required otherwise). Next test batch of the shield is coming in next week. I'll be publishing more detailed instructions after I've tested that it works. First prototype looks like this:
[koti.kapsi.fi]
(There's a 74HC4050 level shifter and voltage reg on the bottom of the board, and the resistor and LED pads actually match the components in the next version)
If anyone wants one, poke me on the IRC channel.

Kliment
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
March 30, 2011 03:36PM
Kliment, that looks great! What host software are you using in conjunction with the SD card? When I get my Mendel up and running, I'll probably use ReplicatorG, as that is what I am using with my Cupcake now, and I think it works well.
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Kliment
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
March 31, 2011 05:14AM
I'm using Repsnapper. ReplicatorG eats all the gcodes it doesn't recognize, so no use with custom gcodes like the ones in use here.

Kliment
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hintss
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
April 23, 2011 02:44PM
how do you get it to put the files on the SD card, and how do you tell it to print from a certain file?
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Kliment
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
May 31, 2011 09:09AM
The Mcodes that control the SD card are on the reprap wiki Gcodes page (Starting with M20). I've written some tools to do uploads and control the printer and an interactive command-line console which I now use exclusively for all printing. It's at https://github.com/kliment/Printrun
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Muringa
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
June 03, 2011 08:26AM
Kliment where to get your pre assembled sd board to add on RAMPS??

thanks
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brnrd
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
June 17, 2011 05:27PM
I just tried pronterface.py in Kliment Printrun and seems to work well in MacOS 10.5.8 and WinXP. I would like to install the SD Card shield in RAMPS 1.2. Are the instructions ready for release yet or is there a kit or ready to use option?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2011 05:27PM by brnrd.
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NathanB
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
June 18, 2011 11:26AM
SD support seems to be the next big step to RepRap electronics... I can't wait to see this come to fruition... Best of luck Kliment!
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Kliment
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
July 15, 2011 01:36PM
Eh? I've been printing from SD since February. I make and sell sdramps kits (on the #reprap IRC channel) and they are now also available from Ultimachine.

Kliment
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brnrd
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
July 23, 2011 07:50AM
My computer was restarted while I was printing from the micro SD card. I thought that printer would not be affected by this but it stopped the printer. I realize now that the Arduino Mega is powered through the USB since I didn't install a diode in the RAMPS. Am I correct in assuming that if I install a diode, it will function even if the host computer is disconnected or powered off once an SD print is in progress?

Thanks.
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DeuxVis
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
July 25, 2011 03:05AM
Another solution would be to plug the usb into a hub which have its own power supply.
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chrille
Re: RAMPS with SD card support?
July 25, 2011 12:28PM
I just finished my scratchmade RAMPS board with added SD support, but when I start RepSnapper, it says 'SD init fail'. I've checked all connections and could not find any problems there.
I based my SD card board on this design: [jjshortcut.wordpress.com]
Everything else on the RAMPS board works fine. Any ideas on what could be the problem?
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