HELP! Setting up Prusa I3 RAMPS for first time.

Hey guys,

I've just completed building my Prusa I3 aluminum frame, all the electronics are installed as well as a LCD screen.


How do I go about setting this up for the first time?

I know I need the firmware, but what else?

So far my research is pointing to Marlin firmware.

Thank!

CB

Marlin is the most common firmware used on reprap printers, and you should be able to search for and find countless references providing help. A good starting point is the Marlin section on the reprap wiki - http://reprap.org/wiki/Marlin

The primary challenge you have ahead of you is that Marlin, like most firmware suites, has to be properly configured for the specifics of your hardware. With Marlin, the bulk of configuration settings are in file configuration.h, with less common changes sometimes necessary in additional files like pins.h and configuration_adv.h. After the files are changed, Marlin firmware is compiled and uploaded to the processor on the printer electronics using the Arduino development environment. The above wiki provides a top level overview of all this. When you run into settings you don't understand, do a web search on the setting label - that usually provides links to blogs and forum threads that will help answer what that specific setting is all about.