I don't understand, a heated bed can be used with the RAMPS. The heated bed is powered through D8. The people selling SMD kits seem to be people trying to corner a market so someone would 'have' to buy components, boards etc from them. Many seem to have screens and boards made for them to sell as a commercial venture. THere is nothing wrong with that. Personally I see this as starting to go aby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
Between 2-3 you need to make sure the COM port is selected, active and the right baud rate to talk to the Arduino. If you do not establish the connection on the COM port you will never get a print. You do not need a text routine to check to see if you can control the hotend. You will need a Gcode routine to check if the stepper drivers are able to control the stepper motors. Sorry,I have no ideaby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
Very good catch rarldrich!! I aldo just noticed the power connection for D10 (power for heated end) has two red wires connected to it. Hopefully they are just jumper wires of the same color and around 12v if he is using a PC power supply.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
The RAMPS will not be recognized by the PC unless the control software you are running has some sort of interface to recognize something on the RAMPS board. As far as I know I don't think there is anything like that but I am always waiting to be corrected. The Arduino should definitely be recognized by your PC on a COM port. I would connect the Arduino only first to make sure it is identifiedby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I would take a guess and say your Pololus are toast. One test you can do without the Pololus is see if you can control the temperature. If you can't do that you might have lost the RAMPS. Check the fuses on the RAMPS. That is the only other thing I can think of. Depending upon the version of the Pololu they can be very sensitive. Wrong hookup or a solder bridge and you can lose it.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I did not know from the photos. Taking a guess he had full communication with the board but no power. The problem was either power into the board or bad power components on the board. I all I thought he fried the stepper drivers.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
One thing I can think of is make sure the sensing voltage wires for the power supply are cross linked. If you have more than one wire in a plug on the power supply connection then it is a sensing wire (most likely). To protect your stepper drivers I would only hook up one at a time. Remove the others from the board...you may have fried them. Are you sure the stepper wires are hooked up correctlyby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I am running RAMPS 1.3 (built from Ultimachine kit) Sprinter Skeinforge 41 (going to SFACT as soon as I get a chance for some testing) and RepSnapper (I am thinking of going to something else) Repsnapper works fine for running Gcode and manual control of printer. Have not had any problems.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I would say you are getting excellent grip on the ABS. Just make sure the stress is not on ending up on any other critical parts. Keep an eye on the plate with the screws to make sure it is not bulging. A very clean design overall...nice job!by mc_n_g - Plastic Extruder Working Group
I don't know what version fo RAMPS you have but the thermistor connects directly to T0 and the resisitor is connected to D10 in the connector block. If you are not sure do not hook up the resisitor but use a multimeter and use Repsnapper or whatever control software you will be using to 'activate' the heater block and see if you are getting voltage across D10. You should not see voltage across Dby mc_n_g - General Mendel Topics
Stainless will hold up a little better but your best bet is to have the item hobbed from steel (preferable O-1 drill rod or silver steel in the UK) and hardened. Another option is 1018 cold rolled steel or A36 steel and use Kasenit or another hardening compound on the final form. This way the edges are hardened and will not wear as fast. This is only if you know or have someone with the capabiby mc_n_g - Skeinforge
I purchased a RAMPS 1.3 kit from Ultimachine and soldered it myself. I have not had any problems with the board. The board was produced by ???. I know some of the traces are getting smaller and might be difficult to make as there is so much packed onto the board. You might want to see who made Ultimachine's RAMPS boards. There was a note (maybe on the 1.2 site) that talked about anything abovby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
Johnstown, PA with a Prusaby mc_n_g - Pennsylvania RepRap User Group
I will be experimenting in the next few weeks with a power supply that has the 12V all on one rail rated at at 50A. Overall power supply is 675 watts as listed and ran me $50, so it really was not that bad on price. This will feed my resistor for the hot end and the 9 * 6.0 Ohm metal clad resistors. I am hoping one rail will provide the draw for the rail to run at full power as needed. This feby mc_n_g - Plastic RepRap Parts for Sale
Thanks. I can see skirt being used for my on start up to make sure there is enough melt in the hot end for the actual start of a print. I have had problems after intiial warm up where I have not had enough melt for the first line of the raft due to drool and other things.by mc_n_g - Skeinforge
You would have to address that with the different firmware you are going to use. I thought a few had it already in there but I have never looked for it.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
RAMPS 1.3 and higher have an extra location for a Pololu stepper driver. They are lableled E0 and E1 on the printed board. Look at the RAMPS 1.3 or 1.4 Wiki page. There is a drawing on each wiki page about the hookups with mulitple extruders. You treat each extruder as an individual extruder in that each one needs its own complete circuit. At a minimum you would need another stepper motor, aby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I also mess with PICs on occasion and never used an Arduino until I bought a Mega 2560 for my Prusa. I had the whole thing built and up in test mode in 4-5 weeks. I have been tweeking the setting in Skeinforge for the past 2 weeks. I would also strongly recommend going with what is out there already like VDX stated. It took me less than 6 weeks to have a usable Prusa printing PLA and ABS. The Aby mc_n_g - Controllers
You would use T0 for the first extruder and T1 for the second extruder. Once the tool value is selected any line representing motion in an E-based code will activate that extruder.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I just went through this about 2 weeks ago. Both of the the previous answers are correct. Make sure your stepper driver is turned down to around 25% on the Pololu. Do you have all the jumpers on under the Pololu stepper driver? Are you using 1/8 or 1/16 stepping? Should be all jumpers if 1/16th stepping. I am guessing you might not have the jumpers on the pins. In Repsnapper, or whatever iby mc_n_g - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Have not tested it with any other bolt. I am also running a Kysan 5.0 kgcm motor. I have not measured the force to pull back on it. I know I need like a pair of plyers for leverage to pull filament back if the motor is on. The motor gives before the PLA filament slips. I would say it is solid but I cannot give you an actual quantifiable value.by mc_n_g - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Sorry here is a long one, I just got my Prusa up and running 2 days ago. RAMPS 1.3 kit, Wades Geared Extruder, Skeinforge, Repsnapper, Acrylic plate with blue tape (no heat yet), PC power supply, Ultimachine PLA 3mm, home machined 0.46mm (0.018") brass nozzle and barrel. Printed a few test cubes and my dimensions are within 0.2 to 0.45mm on average. Much of the variation is from a few odd layeby mc_n_g - Skeinforge
It is teeth (or a pattern) on a bolt specifically for gripping. Knurling just puts a regular pattern on the bolt of your choice. There is no loss of contact area. I have not had any problems. I realize not everyone has access to someone with a metal lathe but it is a very good option if you do.by mc_n_g - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Thanks that is a starting pointby mc_n_g - RepSnapper
I am trying to figure out what extruder settings to use. I have been calibrating x, y and z axis movements to change in the firmware. With the current version of Repsnapper if I hit the Run Extruder button my motor just vibrates. My RAMPS is set to 1/16 steps for all axes. Once I change the settings down to around 1600 mm the stepper finally moves. Any recommended setting from anyone? I am onby mc_n_g - RepSnapper
You do not plug directly into the MEGA 2560 as far as I know. You night have to if you use the SD card option. The smaller power suppply should be ok if you do not have a heated bed. Then the power supply will limit the amount of power available.by mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
My personal recommendation would be to contact someone with a metal lathe and have them knurl the bolt. Knurls come in many sizes and textures. Most of the patterns are pyramid shaped or raised lines. Very gross information can be seen here I knurled my bolt with larger diagonal pattern resulitng in pyramid shapes with very good grip. Aluminum will wear faster over time because plastic is abrby mc_n_g - Plastic Extruder Working Group
Status update. Had no problems compiling the sprinter.pde file under Arduino 0022 package after I made some changes to the pins etc. Most of teh changes are identified in each of the header files. An extra thanks to Kliment, Caru and Tonokip for the documentation within the files in Github!!! Had a positive connection with control through Repsnapper of one motor (I only hooked up one for initby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics
I may be wrong here and please correct me if I am wrong. From what I can see I can use the Sprinter.pde file (from Github) to compile the firmware for my RAMPS 1.3 and send it to the Arduino Mega. I do not have a system set up for Ubuntu and trying to use what I have. I have a separate compiler dedicated to Microchip PICs but that is something completely different. I am not running anything out oby mc_n_g - RAMPS Electronics