[Jack]

I apologize in advance for the photos. I thought they were ok when I took them. The flash washed out everything white.

Since my first power supply never arrived (20A LED driver for $20) I needed to order another one. I had a power supply recommended to me and I am really happy with it so far. I bought one of those Dell DA-2 D220P-01 supplies. It is rated for 18A at 12V and cost me $10 (including shipping).

This link explains the pinout.
http://azsurplus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2341

If you do not mind some ASCII art:

 _,,_
|5678|
|1234|
 ‾‾‾‾

6, 7, 8 = ground
2, 3, 4 = 12V
5 = on/off
1 = unconnected
Short 5 to ground (and keep it grounded) to turn on. Open the connection to switch off (standby).

It has an arrangement of square and angled connectors that fit in certain sections of an ATX power connector.
http://www.powerstream.com/ac-12180.htm

I desoldered one of those connectors off an old motherboard and then cut a section that the supply could mate with.

I took the power switch from a dead power supply, a 4 pin peripheral connector (I used one that provided power for a cpu fan so that the connectors would mate), and desoldered a fan connector.
Again – sorry about the washed out photos.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6x0ucf4kbmkxn95/2014-06-04%2022.35.36.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vv5faxmuxota5by/2014-06-04%2022.35.46.jpg

I stripped and tinned the other side of the 4 pin connector to connect to the RAMPS board. I also connected the heated bed for the first time!!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k74u79cxwkrfc9/2014-06-04%2022.36.12.jpg

I attached the piece of ATX power connector and the power switch with some double sided foam tape.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bdnpcv1p05w5md/2014-06-04%2022.57.14.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l2icq98jtvxtq6u/2014-06-04%2022.57.36.jpg

I now have a power switch!! I can use a 4 pin PC Y adapter if I need to split the power to something else. The soldered on fan connector that goes off to the right is connected to the E3D.

My original plan was to cut the cord from the supply and run the wires around but I am really happy with this setup.

[Jack]

I can’t tell. When the bed was trying to zoom up and then stopped moving and the motor just went click click click, it was really obvious to me that the motor was skipping those steps ;]

With the extruder the outside gear spins one way and then the other. *shrug* This is another one of those 400 step motors. I bought 4 of them. I will reduce the stepping on the driver and slow it down a little and see if that makes a difference.

I had the 400 step motor running at 1/4 steps for the Z axis. Even running at 300 mm/min it was skipping steps. When I swapped to the 200 step motor I changed the driver to 1/8 so I could test without changing the steps/mm. It worked. I was able to get through the bed level calibration without an obvious click without movement. I need to see if it will run ok at 1/16.

I have not installed the 32 step drivers for the arms. I wanted to leave the wiring compatible with other units when I was having problems moving the bed. Since I have a configuration where it works (and just needs tweaking) I might as well make that swap.

I am still using the 12v battery charger (no heated bed). I ordered one of those Dell DA-2 D220P-01 laptop chargers for $10. I am hoping to be able to power the heated bed soon =]

So my todo list:
Change Z to 1/16 and see if it still works.
Change Psi and Theta to 1/32 and rewire for new driver.
Drop extruder to 1/8 stepping? These 400 step motors have very little torque.

Hmm I thought the 400 step motors were close to half the torque of the 200 step motors. Unless I am doing the math wrong they are pretty close. 48N.cm vs 54N.cm (Yes I know that is before the stepper driver drops it down).

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10846
Kysan 1124090 Nema 17 Stepper Motor

It would be great to get out of calibration and maybe print a spool holder this week =]

Thanks for all of the hand holding. I really appreciate it. I have never done a project quite like this and I have been getting help from several people =]

Oh! hoff70, Yes that it an E3D V5 and yes the fan stays on when the printing is finished. I have been leaving the fan powered until the hotend reaches room temperature. Knowing it is safe at 50C is good to know. Thanks =]

[Jack]

Even going down to 1/4 stepping the 400 step motor had problems consistently lifting the bed. I used a borrowed 200 step motor and printed my first object.

I had some problems with the first layer sticking. I ordered a power supply and they never shipped it (got a refund) so the heated bed is not powered.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqws5nps084g2ut/2014-06-01%2014.24.56.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/twi4iyzegsibcpv/2014-06-01%2014.35.10.jpg

I removed a glop that was causing problems with the left side of the X leg.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2069pmqzfls3j3/2014-06-01%2014.38.10.jpg

I let the print continue. I was going to get whatever I was going to get from my first print, even if it was just a ball of tiny threads.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h2f2ol53z0ejsd5/2014-06-01%2014.52.36.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0p9z7svbpz18hn/2014-06-01%2015.02.14.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gto7s4z9gjbtxek/2014-06-01%2015.06.52.jpg

When the filament retracts it seems like it does not advance as far as it retreated. When it starts printing again there is a good bit of distance before plastic comes out of the nozzle again. Because of that I did not get any of the lettering on the top and very little of the top of the bottom right leg of the theta leg was printed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ezobw8340q5kzlh/2014-06-01%2015.07.35.jpg

This is wonderfully exciting!!!

[Jack]

Looking at Marlin_main.cpp (line 1972) the feedrate is hardcoded to 10000. I am going to lower that and update the firmware.

[Jack]

m203 z50
m370
m371 (platform zooms faster than motor can handle)

It looks like m371 has a set speed that is not controlled by the max speed set in m203. Is there another command that I am missing where I set the speed that the firmware will not go faster than?

[Jack]

If you use the drill bit I would recommend using:
M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
M201 X250 Y250 Z250 E8000

It seems that the Z moves ok at those speeds but when I issue M371 the Z seems to move much faster. Is there a way to slow it down during calibration?

[Jack]

I was out of town for a week and then again this past weekend. That really slowed me down. It looks like the 400 step motor has half the torque of a comparable 200 step motor. I have a borrowed 200 step motor. I am going to see if I can either slow everything down enough to use the 400 step motor or buy a 200 step motor to replace the borrowed one.

[Jack]

SENDING:M503
echo:Steps per unit:
echo: M92 X210.95 Y210.95 Z104.00 E450.00
echo:Scaling factors:
echo: M365 X1.00 Y1.00 Z1.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s):
echo: M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z300.00 E45.00
echo:Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2):
echo: M201 X400 Y400 Z400 E8000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo: M204 S9000.00 T3000.00
echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum xY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X10.00 Z10.00 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo: M206 X-4.64 Y0.00 Z10.00
echo:PID settings:
echo: M301 P16.37 I1.36 D49.36

I will try your acceleration values and see how that goes!

hfisselier: I will see what I can find out. The seller I bought from did not make the parts. I do not know where they got them. I do want to know. The parts are very colorful and people ask me about them.

[Jack]

Still no closer. I ordered some heat sinks hoping that the pausing was caused by the drivers going to sleep. I was told that since I have barely warm to the touch motors that the drivers were probably not overheating. At any rate I now have heat sinks on the drivers as well as a fan and I get the same results.

I am trying to calibrate Z. I was issuing this command:
G1 X100 Y100 Z100 F10000

I dropped the speed to 5000, then 1000. At 10000 the motor just makes noise and there is no movement. At 5000 sometimes it moves and sometimes it just makes a terrible noise. At 1000 it moves each time.

It always goes up for 20 or 30 mm and then stops, goes down for a bit and then continues climbing. I am pretty sure this is the part where the Z axis gets messed up. It drops a different amount at the pause and so the bed never ends up at the same height twice.

The voltage was at 0.6. I raised it to 0.74 just to see if it needed just a bit more. Same results. The power supply is putting out 13.77 volts (it is set for charging 12 volt batteries) and does not waver when the motors are moving.

The X and Y also pause at the same time when Z pauses for a moment.

[Jack]

Wow. Thank you for that. I was thinking something along the lines of a counterweight (suggested to me) or higher voltage or slower speed or fewer steps in the motor driver. Instead you tell me that if I build it right it will work ;]

The smooth rod was really close according to some calipers so I think it was ok. The lead screw nuts were a bit tight. The drill bit was not parallel. I mean it looked ok but the calipers told a different story.

I took care of 2 and 3 and it does not appear to be skipping steps. It hits the mark each time and it does not make clicking noises when I move it around. It is too late to print tonight but I am really hopeful that I will print the calibration phantom tomorrow.

Thank you so so much for everything =]

[Jack]

Z-axis problems.
My first problem was the coupler. I was not able to get any tool inside the holes for the captive nuts. I ordered a metal flexible coupler.
My next problem was that the hole for the Z motor did not go far enough back. I believe I have one of those over-sized Z brackets. The bracket is wider than the top and bottom Z mounts. I had to cut the top and bottom mounts into 3 pieces.
The flexible coupler would stretch and then spring shut. I asked my boss if he would print another plastic one for me. He said he could make a metal one on his lathe quicker.
Now I have an inflexible coupler and the Z-axis is straight (after expanding the holes for the motor). The motor skips a lot of steps at the top. It looks like I have the rods too close together at the top. I spaced one *slightly* farther away and now I can move the Z easily all the way to the top.
I can not get the Z-axis to work reliably. After bed leveling if I try to print the Z does not start 0.3mm from the print head. It is more like 4mm. If I pause the print and recalibrate Z with an m206 I can get the printhead right next to the bed. Once it starts to print the head dances over the bed 2 or 3 mm away.
With the motors unpowered I can easily move the bed up and down so I do not think there is just too much friction. I am not sure what to look at next.

[Jack]

For some reason I totally had that backwards. I will tell it how far away it is from the bed and try again.

I was so pleased when I found the fried component. I was looking on the RAMPS board and everything I tested seemed fine. It was convenient having RAMPS power the Arduino so I may replace the regulator. Then again I am going to have to come up with 5V for the raspberry pi at some point so I may not. =]

This is so wonderful!!

[Jack]

The replacement drivers arrived. I installed them just fine but while I was setting their output voltage/current there was a fizz noise and everything stopped working. It took me quite a while to determine that the 5v regulator on the arduino clone had fried. I am powering it via the usb port for now. Onward!

All of the motors turn, all of the endstops work and I can home the bed and the arms. I had to reverse the connector for the X and Y connectors but Z was correct. All of the motors were wired red, blue, green, black from http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4

I am having a problem with the MANUAL_*_HOME_POS. No matter what numbers I put in there the arms home to the same location. Once it is in place I can not jog in any direction. Z will go up and down at my direction.

I thought I would go ahead and move on to calibration anyway. I was able to jog around once I started to calibrate theta. I was not sure what to put after M206.

Anyhoo…It is alive!! It runs!! Wahoo!!!!!

[Jack]

I am still waiting on the replacement drivers. I did not finish the wiring last Thursday once I realized that it was not going to print.

I did that today and took some photos.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9y23nvq9b6fglib/2014-04-12%2016.33.18.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/747zlei7x6qdym2/2014-04-12%2016.33.30.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/vcm1nceht24gg73/2014-04-12%2016.33.54.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/qatycet92ecu5wu/2014-04-12%2016.34.06.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/34tw9of2v3rh4f9/2014-04-12%2016.34.29.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/ck543ozbmv7oc49/2014-04-12%2016.34.40.jpg

[Jack]

Pumpkinwaffle, I don’t know if this will be any use to you but while I was waiting on gathering parts I spent some time on the wood. I used plywood and I made my own (Iron acetate) stain for it. I have no idea if have any interest in that.

[Author]

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