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A injury slowed down the build, but finally managed to get everything together. Finished up the wiring tonight, but it seem like RAMPS is getting no power? I've got a magma head so the fan is wired directly into the ramps power connection. That works, but that is it, no LEDs, no LCD. I've checked the power connections multiple times as well as taking it apart a few for kicks. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi eghm,
What type of power supply are you using? If you are using the ATX PC type power supply, usually you have so connect two logic wires together to get the supply to allow current to flow through the 12VDC lines, but consult your power supply manual.
He's got 12V because his magma cooling fan is working. eghm, remember you need to connect 12v + and - to both the 11A and 5A sections on the ramps board power plug. Also, does your ramps board and lcd light up when you plug in a usb cable to the pc? if that doesn't work there may be something defective. Check those and if no luck post a pic of your ramps connections.
Thanks gmay3, ya I've got the connection made on the ATX, i've used an ATX as a power supply before so was expecting to need to do so.
Yes, TopJimmyCooks, I've got 11A and 5A wired up as described ( I'll attach a picture later). No LCD or LED lights when I plug in my usb cable to either of my Macs, I do get a "USB Device is drawing too much power" warning, and the ramps board does not show up on my list of USB devices.
Have you tried unplugging the 11A/5A connector, fans, and other peripherals from the RAMPS board and then plugging in the USB? I'm guessing that there is a short somewhere since your computer is saying it's drawing too much power. If you can rule out the add-on wiring then that would be proof of a defective RAMPS board which I would think Colin would replace.
Be careful though, it's not worth damaging your computers USB port or getting a shock over to try to debug it too far!
Attachment 2775 pic of my wired power plug as requested.
The fact that the computer is detecting a USB power problem indicates to me that there's a problem in the 5V distribution somewhere. I don't think that would pick up an issue in the printer's 12V wiring. A problem in the 5V would have to be in the USB cable, the Arduino/RAMPS board pair, or the smart panel. If I understand the Arduino power select circuit, a shorted USB cable would be an issue for the computer but the Arduino would still power up from the printer's power supply. That would leave either the Arduino/RAMPS or the smart panel as primary suspects, but I'd still try another USB cable if you haven't already. Definitely try unplugging the cables going to the LCD and see if the error on the computer goes away when attempting to power RAMPS from the USB cable. As another power indicator to watch for, I get two short bursts of green on RAMPS LED1 when the Arduino/RAMPS pair powers up.
Disconnected the stops, steppers, and therms then I get the 2 green LED flashes and the LCD displays and the USB device power warning goes away. Looks like there must be a short in one of those, I'll plug them in one at a time and see if I can track that down. Thanks everyone for your assistance
Oh, yeah, could be a problem in the endstop wiring too. Double check which two of the three pins you're using in the 3-pin endstop connectors. You might have the endstop switches incorrectly wired between +5 and ground. That would not be good.Quote:
Originally Posted by eghm
EDIT: Looking at the RAMPS board mounted on the printer, the endstop switches go to the two pins on the left side of the 3-pin connectors. If they are installed off a pin to the right or the connectors are installed rotated 180-degrees, the endstop switches will be wired between +5 and ground. The motor and thermistor wiring wouldn't be a factor here since neither tie directly to the 5v distribution.
I suspect this might have been the case, having plugged everything back in everything seems A-OK now.Quote:
Originally Posted by printbus
Great! I'll bet the connectors were installed off a pin. It's really easy to do.
Started test printing (3 mm) with hollow cube, things were hard and slow going until I put a load on the 5v (with a fan) of my Antec VP-450 450 Watt Power Supply. I've included some pictures of the 40% hollow cube, I'ld appreciate any advice on what to tune to improve the quality of my print. Thanks!
Attachment 2778Attachment 2779Attachment 2780
EDIT: Surprised at how smooth the front and back are. The sides need work. I'm guessing I need to tighten things up to get rid of play.
Glad to hear that the debugging worked and you solved the problem!
Hmm, seems like something is either structurally wrong with the axes or there was an issue with the gcode since it didn't come out square. I think your extruder looks like it is probably set up ok!
A couple things to try:
Just start up pronterface and move the x and y 10 mm. Verify that they are moving in that ballpark. If not then you know its something structural. Tighten up your belts/delrin idlers and make sure that all your axes are rock solid and there is no play in them when you try to move them in any other direction then they are supposed to go.
What slicer are you using?
Thanks gmay3, I used pronterface as you described and sure enough there was a problem with my x-axis not moving as much as it should, the reason is it didn't have the set screws in it! Ran another hollow cube test at 50% scale and it looks much better. Though the wavy lines makes me think I need to lower my z.
Attachment 2802
Yes, looks normal except your nozzle is too high on the first layer. I would recalibrate the height of your z endstop switch so that until a sheet of paper just catches between the nozzle and bed for a start point.
Fantastic! That looks much better, good detective work!
Yes I agree with you, a little lower and you'll be golden. As an example, your z endstop should be set so that it trips/clicks when the end of your nozzle is about 70% of your desired layer height above the glass. You might find that you need to get the nozzle even closer to get a good stick but think of the nozzle as smoothing that first layer of plastic down over your glass bed.
Here's my bed leveling procedure in case it's any help. I'm sure you already have one!
1. Connect to pronterface and home your axes where your nozzle is all the way in the corner (probably the back right one).
2. Make sure your nozzle is about 5mm away from touching the glass.
3. Adjust the z axis and get the nozzle about 1mm away. Then start lowering it at a 0.1mm increments in proterface and slip a business card or feeler gauge under the nozzle.
4. Feel under the nozzle as your lower it and stop when there just a little resistance between the glass, business card, and nozzle when you try to pull the business card away.
5. Loosen and adjust your z endstop upwards so that it clicks against the axis then tighten it back down.
6. Move your z axis up a few mm until the z endstop unclicks and lower it slowly to see if it stops at your desired height, fine tune if necessary.
7. Once your happy with that corner, lower the z axis until it stops, then move your x axis towards the middle and watch the space underneath the nozzle. If it's getting less and less, adjust the bed at the corner you're heading towards until your sure the nozzle can make it all the way there without scraping along the glass. You may find that if you're not able to adjust that corner or it's bending your heatbed too much. If this is the case, try to make sure the x axis is level across the top. You can adjust this by turning the z rods on either side to tilt the x axis.
8. Once this corner is done and you can feel a little resistance on your business card in this corner and you are happy with height under the nozzle in both back corners repeat this procedure with the front two.
You might find that the heat during a print slightly changes the height under the nozzle but this should get you started in the right place.
In the future, definitely try out clough42's improved z endstop design found here. Adjusting the stock makerfarm endstops can be pretty tricky. This will help you easily fine tune even more and it's fantastic! http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:336665
I found that preheating my bed for at least 8 to 10 minutes makes a huge difference.
If I set the Z stop when the bed is cold, the nozzle will be way too low when I goto actually print.
Noticed my stock head fan shroud is melting last night,
so I cant wait to get the entire Clough42 setup installed, including auto bed leveling!
But the the Z stop bracket that gmay3 linked is a MUST at the very least, it really helps.
Good point jtice! I'll have to try that next time!
Yeah my stock fan shroud was melting too. I trimmed some melted plastic away (just enough so it's not touching the heater block) and wedged and glued in a small flat piece of a scrap print between the bottom edge of my hexagon cooler fan and the fan shroud. This lifted the bottom of the fan shroud off the top of the heater block.
I've got all the stuff printed for Clough42 built in cooler but I'm still waiting to receive the small fan from China! This fix should hold until the new fan comes in.
Yea I need to order the fan and servo for that project soon.
I think the fan he links to is on DigiKey? So that should show up fast, the servo is pretty common, can snag it off ebay I figure.
Probably going to see if I can crank out some prints I want to do, then do a rebuild with Clough42s setup, and make some changes to the firmware,
like making it autohome a bit faster, little stuff like that.
Yes I think the one he recommended was from digikey. I've never ordered from digikey and I have amazon prime so I found this one which may or may not be a good fit. I still haven't received it to verify it's quality and ability to cool the hot end, but I'll update this post with my findings.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
**UPDATE
I received this fan and it fits clough42's part perfectly. I haven't installed everything to verify that it has enough power to keep the hotend cool but I will update this post with that info soon.
I have Prime also, and I think thats one I saw on there also, but I cant find any specs on it.
The one Clough42 links to is 3 CPM, which I think is pretty good for a 25mm fan, thats why I was trying to find that spec for the Amazon one.
I Primed the servo because I was impatient: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CCZ2CRA
Works great. Used the rest of the servos for stuff I've printed with the 3d printer.
Thanks guys, was hugely helpful. I did it hot and got some good results. I've printed Clough42's z stops and will do the improved fan after a move.
Greatly enjoying the new z stop, wasn't going to do anything till after the move, but then saw the Rosetta comet obj ( http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29482548 ) one thing led to another and I'm trying to figure out why my z seems to rise a bit too much at regular intervals. I saw this when printing a spare Gear Kit and my fix was to use a different kit. These prints were done one after another not at the same time. Using Slic3r 1.1.7 and converted the obj using Sketchup Non-commercial 14.1.1283 and SimLab 4.0 OBJ Importer trial (several times).
Attachment 2940
Anyone have the wrench sizes for the M5 nuts and the eccentric spacer please? Upon stetting up again I notice that my X carriage can giggle and need to get it tighter, I think that might be causing my print problem above. Anyone have any tips for keeping the thermistor in the hot end?
8mm wrench. What hot end do you have? I followed a suggestion by ZennmasterM and used a dab of Permatex Muffler & Tailpipe sealer to hold the thermistor in the hex hot end. It's held surprisingly well.Quote:
Originally Posted by eghm
Thanks printbus. I've got a 0.4mm hexagon for 3mm filament.Quote:
Originally Posted by printbus
I've noticed that when I do tall prints, my Z axis ends up being noticeably no longer level. Is this something the metal Z connectors could help with? I assume I'ld want the 5mm to 8 mm ones?
I think some others have reported the tubing connectors softening on long prints and starting to slip. Your printer likely has the stepper motors that get very hot in use, so softening of the tubing is a likely possibility. Have you already added zip ties to the couplers to help keep them tight?Quote:
Originally Posted by eghm
You'd want 5mm x 5mm couplers, since the motor shafts are 5mm and the threaded rods are M5. The metal couplers bring a few things to consider. To provide fit tolerance, the M5 rods aren't really 5mm in diameter - they're something like 4.8mm. So, they can be tough to grip with the couplers. There are two types of metal couplers. One has split ends, with a single screw that pulls the end of the coupler together to tighten on the shaft. With these, you can add foil or foil tape to the rod to thicken it, and/or tighten the screw essentially as hard as you dare without snapping it. There's another type of coupler that uses two set screws to tighten on the shaft instead of the split end. They're harder to find, but are arguably a better way to go. The spiral cut of the typical coupler can lead to an audible ringing noise as the motors turn. A few turns of clear packaging tape on mine dampened the ringing enough to eliminate it.
EDIT: Also note that if you still have the Z endstop bracket mounted behind the area of the coupler, the large diameter of the metal coupler requires you to use a ball end driver on the endstop bracket.
FWIW, here's a link to some of the dual set screw couplers - http://www.amazon.com/Toolmall-Stepp...+shaft+coupler
Nope, I haven't, but I'll do that and put a couple of Z couplers on my shopping list. Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by printbus