11
votes
Accepted
Tips for not burning out my Arduino Mega or catching something on fire when wiring a Prusa i3?
Polarity matters, sometimes. Be especially mindful of the wires from your power supply to the board, as getting those the wrong way around will definitely cause damage. Heated beds and extruders are ...
- 14.7k
10
votes
Accepted
How do I wire the z-axis motors in parallel on the Prusa i3?
In the diagram, they do show the wires connecting together, which is right. You can accomplish that just about any way you like, so long as you pair up the wires correctly from one motor to the other.
...
- 3,201
10
votes
Accepted
Digital vs. analog pins
"Analog pin" is misleading nomenclature. Every pin is a digtal pin, but some digital pins happen to also be connected to the analog-to-digital converter and can thus also handle measuring analog ...
- 14.7k
8
votes
How do I wire the z-axis motors in parallel on the Prusa i3?
For some unknown reason, everywhere everybody is saying that Z stepper motors need to be connected in parallel... And this was always the only obvious way, until recently some people started to ...
- 504
8
votes
Accepted
Is this fuse a good choice for my Prusa i3's power supply and RAMPS 1.4?
No, do not use this fuse. The current rating is too high to be reasonable for your printer. It will "work" in the sense that your printer will get power, but it won't provide anywhere near as much ...
- 6,526
8
votes
Accepted
How to configure Marlin to enable auto-fans with dual extruder
After trying many different things, I found out that the solution is quite simple and requires only a few lines of code. I'll answer my own question in the hope that this will help someone.
First, I ...
- 171
8
votes
Accepted
After some time stepper motor is hot
The second motor is hot. And the third is very hot. I can not even touch it.
This is to some degree, completely normal and expected. From the datasheet for a typical NEMA 17 stepper, the rated ...
- 14.7k
7
votes
Accepted
How to use a multimeter to test how many amps RAMPS is pulling?
To measure amps (current), the meter has to be wired in series with the item to be measured (for this reason, ammeters are designed to have very low resistance).
This has the down-side that you have ...
- 3,201
7
votes
Accepted
When building a RAMPS 1.4 based printer, can I safely plugin just some of the components to test if they are working?
If by components you mean motors, fans, or heated bed, then yes. This is even suggested in the Final Setup instructions on the RAMPS wiki.
If you think you may have mistakes (in your setup) you can ...
- 1,553
7
votes
Accepted
Speeding up the heating of the heated bed
Changing the PSU with one with a higher amperage will not make the bed heat up any faster unless the PSU is underrated for the amperage required and the voltage is dropping as a result of the load. ...
- 34.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Add a laser module to Reprap Guru Prusa i3
By connecting to the D9 output header (see RAMPS 1.4 shield schematic below) you only have 2 wires that represent a scheduled load and ground. You actually need to connect the positive (red) lead to ...
- 34.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Is Arduino Due a worth buy as controller electronics for deltabots?
An 8bit Atmega can provide bare-bones delta performance with Marlin (eg 40mm/s print speed) or pretty good performance with Repetier (due to more optimized algorithms). For a small and simple delta ...
- 6,526
6
votes
Running laser on my printer
Thank you all for your suggestions and help.
It appears that I was just running the printer too fast and slowing it down to about 10% of my original speed "fixed" my problem.
I don't know where i got ...
- 101
6
votes
Accepted
How to connect a NEMA 17 stepper to RAMPS 1.4?
There are very many combinations that will work. A bipolar stepper has 2 coils. Swapping the coils, or reversing the polarity of a coil, will simply cause the stepper to rotate in the opposite ...
- 14.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Upgrading to silicone heat bed, will it burn my house down?
The heated bed port on your board has a 11A fuse. It will not work for a heated bed requiring 16A of current, no matter how good the MOSFETs might be. Note that the terminal block might also not be ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
Is there any opensource software that controls the RAMPS RepRap board directly from the computer?
No, there exists no software like that. You can't communicate with a RAMPs board because a RAMPs board has no logic built-in; it's just a dumb breakout board that connects the Arduino Mega to your ...
- 14.7k
5
votes
Why am I not seeing an effect from an M42 command on Marlin?
I looked at the current Marlin code and the P24 command should work as you expect it unless the pin you are trying to use in listed as the "SENSITIVE_PINS" list:
...
- 2,442
5
votes
Accepted
Marlin menu navigation slow while printing
A Delta printer requires constant complex calculations to produce straight lines while printing. The firmware, therefore, spends most of its time figuring out the step and timing sequence, and only ...
- 1,843
5
votes
What does Marlin's G30 code do?
I believe G30 is a carry-over from CNC (G-code originated for CNC not printers)
I believe it is for going to a secondary reference (home) position and includes an ...
- 2,442
5
votes
Accepted
Z motor not moving during auto home
Alright, I have figured everything out with the help of #reprap IRC community.
Issue #1 - Z axis not moving during zero. Just as tjb1 suggested the issue was that it thought it was hitting the ...
- 171
5
votes
RAMPS 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?
The biggest issue with RAMPS 1.4 (and 1.5) is the power connector is prone to melting/burning, this appears to be fixed on 1.6 with the use of screw terminal blocks. I've used RAMPS 1.4 with both 12v ...
- 2,090
5
votes
RAMPS 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?
The drawback of RAMPS 1.5 and 1.6 are that they use SMD polyfuses which are a little more difficult to replace (for some people) than the large fuses from the RAMPS 1.4. However, the fuses of the ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
Can I connect a PSU with a higher current rating than RAMPS 1.4 can handle?
Voltage and current behave differently and it is important to remember two essential points:
PSU voltage specifications should never be exceeded, else the circuit will (most likely) be damaged, and;
...
- 6,108
4
votes
Accepted
Do the TW, THW and THHN or THWN wire insulation types matter in terms of powering RAMPS 1.4 or the MK2a Heat Bed?
THHN wire is thermoplastic high heat-resistant nylon coated wire.
THWN is thermoplastic heat- and moisture-resistant nylon coated wire.
"T" stands for thermoplastic insulation covering the wire ...
- 278
4
votes
Using an Arduino Mega with burnt voltage regulator
Take a look at Ryan's answer to my question. I believe the MightBoard is based on the Mega 2560, so it is possible that some of the other components could have been damaged. If you look at the ...
- 6,284
4
votes
Tips for not burning out my Arduino Mega or catching something on fire when wiring a Prusa i3?
I'd say polarity and voltage are the biggest things -- about all you can do is double- and triple-check everything; then check again....
Be very careful about where you feed in 12V power (mainly for ...
- 3,201
4
votes
When building a RAMPS 1.4 based printer, can I safely plugin just some of the components to test if they are working?
Yes, you can. By leaving components unplugged you would simply have some pins powered that are not in use. But even with all your components plugged in, you would still have some unused, powered pins ...
- 3,977
4
votes
Arduino Mega voltage regulator overheats with RAMPS board
I ordered an authentic Arduino Mega today after the voltage regulator on my Chinese clone Mega went up in smoke. But I couldn't wait two whole days so I dug around and found an old 7805 (less than US$...
- 141
4
votes
Accepted
Arduino Mega voltage regulator overheats with RAMPS board
I've solved unsoldering the diode(D1) on RAMPS. This diode provides to power the arduino board with 12V. If you have a chinese arduino this will probably cause some problems.
I hope this will help ...
- 101
4
votes
Prusa i3 Dual Extruder Setup Issues
Thanks to the comments, I was able to narrow down the specific issues in the firmware. The firmware version was really out of date, so I recommend finding the latest stable version.
Therefore, I ...
- 441
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