Prusa with bad Sanguino board-really bad

I have had my prusa for about a year now and its a giant paperweight, hasn't ran from day one. The board is the sanguino that comes standard but my extruder does not run in any program out there for any machine, I have tried them all. The problem is bad code that says the extruder stepper must wait for a proper temp but the code is bad and gives wrong value so extruder stepper does not move. I am proposing the question, "IS IT POSSIBLE TO REPLACE THE SANGUINO BOARD WITH A RAMPS BOARD EASILY?" I have no other alternatives to solve this problem since nobody has solved this issue.

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Drew

Hi Drew,

... it's no problem to replace the board -- but your problems seems to be caused by wrong configuration of the temp-table or pin assignments/settings of the corresponding pins of the sanguino ... so could be easier to solve this ...

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Viktor
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I am beyond trying to fix this board, none of my computers are recognizing it when I plug it in so I am simply replacing it. My next question is do I have to have the AT Mega 2650 along with the RAMPS, I see a lot bundled together on ebay for around $180. Do I need both or just the ramps? If both how would you even set that up? I have no experience in circuit board configurations.

Thanks

RAMPS is a shield that plugs into the Arduino Mega board. As far as your computer is concerned, its still a single device. You'll also need four pololu stepper drivers to plug into the RAMPS board, at that price they should also be included.

so what is the point of the ramps then if the AT Mega controls everything already?

The RAMPS is like a motherboard.

It just holds the microcontroller and the stepper motor controls together in a nice neat package, and allows easy hookup of power/etc.

180$ is a very steep price for a ramps 1.4, I think.

A complete kit including an original arduino mega, 4 pololus and 3 opto endstops is 130€ here from a supplier which has not the lowest prices but good quality and including a 20% VAT.

So either there is more stuff included or I think you can find a much better deal.

One euro is 0.77 Dollars, so its not that bad a price. Its less than Ultimachine are charging for complete RAMPS with mechanical endstops.

They also have RAMBo for slightly less, which is essentially an Arduino Mega, RAMPS and the stepper drivers all on one board. That might be a better option, particularly for people who've never soldered before, many suppliers will send you the pololu drivers as they come from pololu, you have to solder the pin headers in yourself.

Hmm That was a price with 20.6% VAT included which need to be discounted if exported to US

130€ *0.8 / .77 = 135$.

[www.2printbeta.de]

And this is a kit where everything is already soldered including the pololus.

other suppliers :

on reprapworld.com, pololus not soldered no VAT

ramps 1.4 assembled 46.21€, mega2560 29.99€, 4 pololus 45€

excluding VAT total = 121€ / 157 $

on reprap.cc, pololus not soldered w/ VAT

ramps 1.4 assembled 54.99€, mega2560 39.99€, 4 pololus 45€

excluding VAT total = 111.98€ / 145.43$

Now with shipping and custom duties risk, it is probably not worth it, but I'm sure there is equivalent US deals.

I dont like the idea of the rambo as the stepper drivers are on the PCB and one driver burnt is a dead card. If you want something integrated there is the Megatronic which has separate drivers but cost is similar.

i got my ramps for £57 roughly 56 in euro and think 87$ from china have not tested it yet because no arduino yet but that come end on month i got mine from g3d gadgets fast shipping to

regardless of price I need to know if I have to buy the AT Mega 2560 r3 AND the RAMPS 1.4 in order to make my Prusa work. That is what I need to know. Or do I just need the AT Mega 2560.

disregard that last post I found my answer to that question, new question is what stepper driver chip should I get included since I hear there are multiple ones available. One I am seeing a lot is the A4988, is this a good one or are there better?

Second is what kind of power supply do I need for this board, I have a 12v 5a that I used with the Sanguino, is this one ok or do I need a bigger one?

I notice there are a lot of power wires that go into this board and wondered what amps I needed.

The complete kits I am seeing available have the heatbed with them and the AT 2560 r3 with RAMPS 4.1

Just want to make sure I buy the right setup so I can plug it into my machine easily.

For the power, 12V 5A is fine if you dont have a heated bed to power the card itself. For the bed, you need an additional12V 11A minimum. this can be the same or a separate supply.

For the drivers, look there for all pololu versions : [www.pololu.com]

except #1183 they are all compatibles with ramps 1.4.

A4988 (#1182) is the basic one and is fine with most prusa motors which are NEMA 17. You may need to add some heatsinks on them but that is all.

black edition is the same a bit better eg for nema 23.

DRV8825 is a higher performance driver for bigger motors than we use.

You can safely ignore the others.

So A4988 or black edition if you want to play it safe.

DRV8825 (the #2133 one) would work but is costlier and more powerfull than needed.

Thanks for that info on drivers much appreciated, my final question is this, is it worth buying the ramps 4.1 and at mega 2560 r3? Is it better than the Gen 6 Sanguino I have now in terms of reliability? would hate to buy it just to have it fail for $180. Or should I spend a little more and try for the at 1.5.7 for ultimakers since I hear they are the best?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2013 08:33PM by That_new_guy_223.

You need (at least on ramps) 2 connections to your power supply. I 'm not sure how sanguino does it but if you have 2 12v inputs you have to connect to both of them or your printer will never work, because the 5 amp drives the circuits but not everything. So you have the lights on but the fire is out. Before you rewire (rebuy) all your electronics, make a connection (same power supply) to the additional power input.