We went through the SD card on the other thread and it was declared to be "an obsolete approach" by another member ...by uncle_bob - Reprappers
You can go to 0.004mm if you wish. You will not get very good prints, but you can set it there..... In most cases there is no advantage to going below 1/2 your nozzle diameter. That would be 0.175 mm. Remember that it needs to be an integer number of Z steps to get equal layers each time.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
I've probably gone through a few million glass bead thermistors over the years. I can't think of the last one that cracked without being bashed. That's not to say it can't happen.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
Not quite sure what this has to do with the Ramps board ..... 1) Your bed needs to be level or you need to use auto leveling 2) Since you are (apparently) using a max end stop rather than a min, things that impact the travel distance need to be well controlled. 3) With your nozzle, a layer height in the 0.2 mm vicinity is possible. 4) Holding your zero to 10% of the layer height is a good idea,by uncle_bob - RAMPS Electronics
If you are on the current Marlin, make sure that he main board selection is correct in configuration.h. Also make sure that your pins.h file is stock / unmodified.by uncle_bob - RAMPS Electronics
The L297 is an old chip. It does not have all the drivers built into it. In order to use it with a "normal" set of FETS you need to put high side and low side drivers between it and the FET's. That's sort of a pain .... If you go through all the pain, it will step up and down within it's very limited micro step limits. The TI part is *way* better.by uncle_bob - Controllers
I have exactly the same construction on one of my hot ends. It does not snag on anything ....by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
What version of Marlin are you running? When was it downloaded? All of the bed leveling stuff is in the firmware.by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
A much more common tool chain is Slic3r for the slicing and Pronterface to drive the printer. I don't know which kit you bought so it's unclear which firmware you are running. If it's a Mega / Ramps combo Marlin is a good way to go. Getting to an simpler tool chain probably will make the troubleshooting less frustrating. With Pronterface, you can check all the motors directly.by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
A lot depends on just where the new filament came from. I've had "great deal" filament that would print for an hour or three and then plug up. Fully cleaning the hot end took about the same amount of time. Being stubborn, I repeated the experiment several times. If it's PLA and a Magma, the temperature settings are a bit tricky.. If it's ABS for both filaments, the new stuff is likely junk. Ifby uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
More or less in order - 1) The MeaWell supply from TRC that I called out in the other thread is fine for these printers. The 12V version is the correct one. If you like to tinker and don't mind things catching fire (maybe) the 15V version is "interesting". 2) The 8" printer and 6" printer are identical other than size. The 8" is the better one to get - you can print bigger stuff. 3) Glass iby uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
Auto bed leveling is *very* useful for keeping the first layer height where you want it. If you don't have that controlled to < 20% of your layer height, you will have more variation than is desirable.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
Any *practical* test of this is not going to be easy to do.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
The only likely way to break a thermistor is mechanical. You likely can connect it directly to the 12V supply and it won't be bothered enough to break. The most likely causes would be that you broke it when you installed it or that it was defective and broke when warmed up.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
... so we are back to the basic limitations of the Due board. --------------- Just so it's been said - I have never ever in 40-50 years of doing this done a "perfect" design. There *always* are compromises. The only thing I'm trying to do here is to bring up options. The worst thing you ever hear is "if I'd only looked at that ...". What ever we come up with here will certainly be a good and uby uncle_bob - Controllers
Ummm ..... errrrr... that's not a real good way to set the pots. They are not very accurate little beasts. You very much need to do it with a DVM. I've been tweaking this and that for > 50 years and I can't set them by hand.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
If I tear down my printer and put it back together with exactly the same parts, things will change. I will get a different set of results simply because I can't put it back together *exactly* the same way. If I do so a few times I *might* be able to measure the error from my unavoidable variation in assembly technique. Toss in something like a different gear and even more variables get into theby uncle_bob - Reprappers
A lot of us have built i3's from kits. The general advice is always "buy what I bought, it worked for me" or "I've never ever gotten mine working at all". The problem is that the "never got it working" people don't tend to hang around (why would they?). Very few people have experience with multiple kits. That said, the MakerFarm kit worked fine for me. It's got good parts in in. The main reasoby uncle_bob - Reprappers
There are a *lot* of possible combinations and permutations that can create problems....by uncle_bob - Reprappers
You have multiple threads going with very similar questions on each. The gotcha is that the information on one is not on the other. That's making this a bit tough to follow right now. It will make it very difficult for others to follow in the future. -------------------- A Pi has very limited serial / usb capabilities. It's clear that you can run a Pi driving each printer (5 printers, 5 Pi's).by uncle_bob - Reprappers
Are end stops enabled in your firmware? I believe that they will report stats even when not being honored.by uncle_bob - RAMPS Electronics
As long as it's stable it's not broke. Don't fix what's not broke ....by uncle_bob - RAMPS Electronics
Current version of Marin is 1.1187 at If you are not on something close to the current version. About the only way to know what version you are running is to look at the dates. They don't seem to update the banner message with rev's ....by uncle_bob - RAMPS Electronics
Something that is designed as a shunt will handle current into it just fine. The main issue is whether it will handle enough power. A typical setup is to bias it with something like a 10K off of the 12V line so its active and then let it absorb what ever you are going to dump into it. If there's no 12V, it will be at zero volts and you will have your clamps start to act at 0.7V rather than 3.3 (oby uncle_bob - Controllers
For what ever reason (probably a lack of coffee ...) 1297 isn't making any sense to me. Which chip are we talking about? The DRV8711 with a mosfet bridge will do pretty much what the Allegro chips will do. The main gotcha is ground bounce on any high power controller. That makes getting clean logic levels into it a bit exciting. Opto isolation is a common solution to the problem. It's not alwaby uncle_bob - Controllers
I have used the Antec supplies in PC's they are fairly good for a cheap / low end supply. I would not use one on a printer.by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
Once the plastic has cooled down, it will shrink a bit. Your top layer will not be where you expect it to be. That's going to create an adhesion issue. The other adhesion challenge will come from the top plastic layer possibly being a bit colder than you have previously optimized for.by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
Marlin has been bumping the 128K barrier for quite a while. If you enable this or that, it can easily go over. I would not go for a new board that's only got 128K these days. It's not just the auto bed leveling stuff that's bulking things up. You never know what you might want to add here or there.by uncle_bob - General Mendel Topics
There are a lot of kits out there. I would suggest that a budget of $500 to $600 is a pretty good range to shop in. It's a "you get what you pay for" on some of these. You need to look pretty carefully at the small details on the kit to figure out exactly what they did or did not put into it. You might want to look at some of the threads about the DIy Tech Shop kit before buying one.by uncle_bob - Reprappers
A few basic things: Firmware is the code that runs on the Mega hardware. The firmware enables the hardware to do what you want it to. You can have problems with firmware or you can have problems with hardware. If your thermistors are plugged into the right ports *and* your configuration.h is set up right. You have a hardware issue. 1) With a DVM - what does the voltage on each of your thermiby uncle_bob - Reprappers