PeterE builds a 3d Printer

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chipenter:
Its looking good ,I have just got my Arduino sorted , some hard learned tips don't change anything compile it first , that way any error messages are something you have done , and leave the com port as 0 in config h , I am using Marlon and Repetier as it has a setting for cnc router in printer settings .

PeterE:
chipenter,

Thanks for the tips, very useful! :thumbup:

/Peter

picclock:
Hi PeterE

Back from hols now. Re marlin configuration and configuration_adv header files. Editing these is easy, but its also very easy to make errors :scratch:. IMHO the best way to edit them is to use an external editor, like programmers notepad or Ultraedit. These programs display the comments in the file in a different colour to the active parts of the file, making it easy to see which options are enabled. Before editing make a copy of the files and leave in the marlin directory. That way if things go south its easy to retrieve an earlier version. You can do this in windows by right clicking the header file, then selecting copy, then right clicking again and selecting paste. Windows will then helpfully put ' - copy' after the file name. I generally amend this to something more useful. It can be very informative to insert comments near the top of the file to indicate the state of play. As long as the line begins with a double backslash it will be ignored by the compiler. For multiline comment sections use /* to begin and */ to end.

Forgive me if this sounds a bit patronizing, but I had many years teaching this stuff at a technology college, so feel free to ignore.

For the Arduino environment its best to keep the path lengths as short as possible. I installed Marlin to C:\Firmware\Marlin.

Hope this makes things a bit easier

Best Regards

picclock

PeterE:
Hi picclock,

Have been on a work trip for a few days so read this when back. Thanks for the tips, I will set the electronics up together with my son who is computer science educated at university level :thumbup: I need his help to make sure I do things right, and I think he will find it fun just because, if you know what I mean.

We will hvae a good time to make this fly.

/Peter

PeterE:
Got some extra time in the shop today as I was off work after the business trip. This meant I could start with the electronics and load the Arduino with its programs. I enrolled my university-educated computer knowledgeable son as extra support for the program handling. He is more well versed than I am and thus good to have close for questions etc.

The Arduino, the central unit, will be placed above the PSU as shown before. Now it begins to get more complete with the rest of the boards and some cabling.

Here we can see the RAMPS board on top of the Arduino board, and the display adapter on top of the RAMPS board together with the five stepper drivers. Then all the different smaller and larger boards are assembled.

The driver boards must be fitted so the little trim potentiometer is "pointing" towards the display adapter to be correct. If not they will burn and probably take the rest of the electronics with them.

To be able to set everything up it is also necessary to assemble and mount the heatbed. According to recommendations on the reprap pages I will use a piece of cork sheet as heat insulation below the heatbed. (This is a piece from an IKEA set of cork place mats cut to fit the heatbed size.)

To make room for connections I made a cut-out on one of the edges, and then cut off the corners for the leveling screws.

Connect power supply cables and indicating LEDs on the heatbed. I use 12V DC for mine, so I will connect +12V DC to terminal 1 and -12V DC to terminals 2 and 3. A 1 kOhm resistor is soldered onto the board as is two LEDs. The LEDs are fitted in opposite directions to be able to signal whatever polarization is used. All according to instructions on reprap.

The LEDs and the resistor is fitted to the underside of the heatbed to enable the glass plate to be flush with the upper side of the heatbed. The LEDs must have sufficiently long legs to be possible to bend to be seen outside the heatbed edge.

The last component on the heatbed is the thermistor. I used a small blob of heatconducting paste to get a good thermal connection. I only needed the smallest amount and this still can be used for a lot of things.

To avoid loose cables and to secure the thermistor I used a piece of metal tape.

Then all electrical parts are in place on the heatbed. Here it is turned over on its proper side on top of the cork sheet.

I am thinking of how to fix the cork sheet to the heatbed, Glue is one way and some strips of the metal tape another. I will probably start out with some metal tape strips as this will make it easier to do service later on.

So far so good. Tomorrow it is time to make some anchors for the heatbed leveling screws with their springs. Then to fit the heatbed and cables to the build plate base ply.

Today's part done!

/Peter

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