I am brand new here and need help
I started compiling parts for my
Reprap 3D printer Prusa i3 single-plate "vanilla"

I have always been handy with wood or plywood as this case may be.
I'm over here in the USA and I am trying to find the dimensions that I will need for my wood materials.
Can't seem to find where they will state the dimensions .
I have found pictures and videos of the frame but no measurements.
Does anyone have them in standard inches or metric.
Here is a link that has the picture of what I want.
Mind you you will see this is the directions for electronics assembly but there are no directions
for the wooden frame.

[78.47.92.212][/url]

I hope that someday this thread will be helping someone else that are in the shoes I'm in today. Actually I'm in socks . Cheers

Frame
Default is 12mm thick wood. Get something that is robust! The thickness is mostly needed because you screw into the side of the wood.
6x 450x100x12mm wood
1x 475x100x15mm wood

the wood framed version is normally refered to as the boxframe, and the aluminium framed one is called the single plate version, this may cause some confusion in your research.

this link is to the wiki prusa i3 build manual, it contains a lot of what is required to build it. there is also a playlist on youtube where someone documents a full boxframe build as well
[reprap.org]

and just in case there was any confusion this is the new zealand user group. not that your not welcome but in the usa user group you might find like minded locals

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2013 03:04AM by Zerker.

thank you this helps I will use 3/4 " stock birch ply.
I am very thrilled with your reply. awesome

Hello Zerker,
The link is very good that you posted. But it doesn't show a working drawing of the box frame.

I have watched a video on youtube [youtu.be] and I see what the sides and top look like
but I'm unclear about the bottom plate if it is raised up or sits flat on the work table.

Any chance of pointing me in the direction of a working drawing of the box frame? thanks, Mar57

Have you seen [78.47.92.212] I3 box frame assembly, step by step.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2013 05:33AM by Dust.

Thank you Dust this is exactly what I was looking for .
I am off to get my wood materials .

As you can see I didn't go with the wood frame..

Here are some pictures of how far I have come on my Prusa i3 full size vanilla single plate 3D printer


Question 1 can anyone help me with the stepper motor wiring ?
I just would like help deciphering the color coded wires of these particular stepper motors ,











Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2014 09:44PM by Mar57.

Your pictures don't show any Pololu drivers installed. You need those (or something similar) to drive your steppers.

Pololus etc only use 4 wire steppers... so you will need to find out which wire is what.

Your steppers are 6 wires, which with luck are just 4 wires with a centre tap. Like the following image.



You need to find the coil ends.

If your lucky its wired sensibility it would be wires 1,3 as one pair and 4,6 as a second pair.
So get out a multimeter and check the resistance between those pins, are 1 and 3 connected and 4 and 6 connected?

thanks dust, yes I have 4 of the pololu drivers they are next on my list, just double checking to make sure I install everything correctly .

The motors are sensibly wired the white and black are the center taps so I need to test left to right 1,3-4,6 next question what should they correspond with?
I'll post another picture labeling the wire current for each wire.

thank you

On the ramps the pins are 2b 2a and 1a 1b. 1's are one coil, 2's are the second coil

Ie coil pin are together.

I have the wires grouped in pairs so each motor will be wired the same to each separate driver and 2 motors will go to one driver.
I have done this on a CNC router, before but it was about 4 years ago, it was pretty easy with your help thanks.
I'm looking for 4 pin header connectors for my ramps 1.4 and thought they would be easier to find, with out going the China route.

for x, e, y, motors i'm using [www.jaycar.com.au]
for z motors i salvaged single header pins from an ATX PC case, the ones for the power and reset switches
the jaycar headers are too wide for use on the z motor headers. if you are searching for them online you want 4 pin connecters with a pitch of 2.54 mm

Hi Mar57,
I have a couple of options for you.
You can buy the 4 way DuPont 0.1" connectors from me or you can buy premade jumpers that you can cut and join onto your stepper motor wires.
[www.makershop.co.nz]

When it comes to wiring all that matters is that you wire one coil to the 1A-1B terminals and the other coil to the 2A-2B terminals.
The polarity doesn't matter. If you get it wrong the motor will turn in the wrong direction.
If you reverse either winding or swap the windings around you will change the motor direction.
Reversing the plug also changes the rotation of the motor.
And if that's not enough you can also reverse the motor in the firmware.

Another thing to watch is that the driver can only supply 2A and that is with lots of fan cooling. Your photo shows a motor with a max current rating of 1.2A so you won't be able to plug in the 2 z-axis motors using the 2 connectors on the RAMPS board.
You need to wire the coils of 2 motors in series.

---

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[www.makershop.co.nz]
Makershop - Reprap parts, adding new stock almost daily.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

mikep-nz [ PM ]
Re: Hello glad to be here,Questions about Prusa i3 single-plate "vanilla" Plastics
January 04, 2014 01:54AM Registered: 1 year ago
Posts: 62
Thanks for the info especially the series diagram for motors 4 and 5
I'll let you know about the connectors, thanks again





Hi Mar57,
I have a couple of options for you.
You can buy the 4 way DuPont 0.1" connectors from me or you can buy premade jumpers that you can cut and join onto your stepper motor wires.
[www.makershop.co.nz]

When it comes to wiring all that matters is that you wire one coil to the 1A-1B terminals and the other coil to the 2A-2B terminals.
The polarity doesn't matter. If you get it wrong the motor will turn in the wrong direction.
If you reverse either winding or swap the windings around you will change the motor direction.
Reversing the plug also changes the rotation of the motor.
And if that's not enough you can also reverse the motor in the firmware.

Another thing to watch is that the driver can only supply 2A and that is with lots of fan cooling. Your photo shows a motor with a max current rating of 1.2A so you won't be able to plug in the 2 z-axis motors using the 2 connectors on the RAMPS board.
You need to wire the coils of 2 motors in series.
serieswiring.png

I am making progress now on my PRUSA i3 , my power supply is hooked up to my ramps 1.4 board .
My wires and connectors arrived today and I have my Y axis motor wired , I am getting ready to wire
the 4 and 5 motors together for my Z axis.

Here is a picture of where I left off last night.

I just finished wiring 4 out of 5 motors everything went together neatly and no problems.
The only one I have left to wire is the extruder motor.

The limit switch wiring and connecting the extruder hot end wires will have to wait until tomorrow,
along with the arduino power wires.

Last night I finished wiring the extruder motor and neatly tucked the wires in the harness
and wire tied everything safely in place. Next I need to Wire my heat bed, end stops and
my extruder hot end which I am going to start working on these this morning.
I may need some advice so you may hear from me again soon. thanks ttyl

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2014 10:52AM by Mar57.

Well I'm back I can't seem to find any directions of how to wire the power to my heatbed or thermistors,
extruder or stop switches to my ramps 1.4.
I thought I could get this work completed today but I can't access youtube where I have been finding a lot of information,
because my bandwidth allotment is used up.

Does anybody have any diagrams they can share with me. I don't want to risk making any mistakes. thanks

This should help...

[www.reprap.org]

---

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

question , I am looking at the wiring diagram for the heat bed and the extruder can these wires be hooked up if they are crossed over does it matter.
I don't see the difference because power goes in and out the same as the thermistors.
can you correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you mean" Can the wires be connected to + or - either way round? Yes for the extruder heater but NO for the heated print bed because of the presence of the LED on the heat bed PCB (although the LED could be reversed I suppose.)

---

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

thanks , I found this video that explained exactly what I needed I'll post it below for anyone else that ever might come along and need it.(see youtube below)

What I did get done tonight- wired up 3 end stops , wired up the extruder hot end and hot end thermistor.
Wired up the heat bed.

Next to do ; install end stops, install thermistor and LED for heat bed, I will have to look at the wiring diagram that you posted again for the heat bed and LED
thanks for the help

[youtu.be]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2014 03:53AM by Mar57.

Most Heatbeds actually have two LEDs, One in each direction. So it doesn’t matter which way you plug them in one will still work.

Re endstops. If they are mechanical what ever you do, DONT wire the switches from + to - !!!!! I've seen this all to often lately. The result is a dead voltage regulator on the mega or worse. They are normally wired from S to - in a normally closed manner.

Hey dust glad to see you , I have the end stops wired up but not connected because I
didn't feel comfortable enough to hook them up here is how I have them wired .
Blue wire (NC Leg) goes to S






This is an update of how far I am with the build.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2014 09:59AM by Mar57.

Hello , here is an update on my prusa i3 3-D printer . It is all together except for the mechanical end stops which
I will be installing this morning. I built a printer station 24"x 24" secured it to the wall then secured the printer to it with 8 zip ties .
I needed to build a level and plumb station because my work room is not level way off. So this takes the guess work out of whether or not
my printer is sitting level or not. Here is a picture of my printer last night after securing it to my printer station.



Note the blue zip ties that secure the printer to the station.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2014 08:56AM by Mar57.

Hey Dust, you around ,

I am so close to being finished this build . Everything is finished now
I know the wiring for my extruder looks kind of funky but it stays out of the way real nice.
I need to work on the heat bed I have not tightened it down yet that's what I'm going to do next.

my trouble:
I have the mechanical end stops all wired up and ready to install but I am confused of exactly where they go,
Been looking for a picture showing there correct placement but can't seem to locate one.
also a picture of wire coordination of end stops of X Y Z on ramps board.

I will be up late it is 9:24 pm here I will be up untill at least 2 am or better.
I 'll keep looking for a picture, the diagram I have is very general it does not show exact positions.
thanks

I'm always around, more or less....

Your printer is somewhat backwards from 'normal', but hey if it works for you.

Min Endstops should be a X Left, Y platform back and Z Down position.
But thats just the standard way, you can do it in non standard ways, homing to max position etc, but that does make it more complicated.

As for the ramps



Switches are normal wired NO (normally closed) And on the ramps end go to S and - on pin columns 1,3 and 5 (2,4,6 are for Max end stops)
End stop pins are actually labelled X-, Y- and Z- see Image of ramps without components

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2014 11:46PM by Dust.

backwards from normal LOL yup that's me.
I'm learning a lot as I go, I got the end stops plugged in correctly thanks that was a big help.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2014 12:07AM by Mar57.