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Hi.
I designed a PCB to unify the extruder connections. You can see more details in the project that I have posted:
https://www.pcbway.com/project/share...d_printer.html
The idea is to unify the connections to be able to change the extruder by another head as a laser, etc. Do you think it is necessary to modify something to improve the design before considering it definitive?
Thank you
I put two pictures about the design:
Attachment 11348
Attachment 11349
The idea is interesting but a couple issues come to mind.
The heater requires a lot of current compared to the other connections. Placing the heater connector in the same wire connection with the other wires means you need a large current connector and also wire that can handle the amount of current and insulation to match. The connections also need to be very tight for the heater as the higher current with loose plugs results in extra heat on the connectors which is a common failure point on ramps boards.
A better idea would be to place the heater connector on its own and leave the rest of the wires on a main connector.
Interesting. The Da Vinci Jr ( and maybe others ) have a similar setup, with a single flat wire connector carrying current for sensors, heater and fan. I agree with cgimark there are several issues.
1- too much current in the wires for the hotend heater. I see you are already using 3 pins to supply each power and ground to the heater. I think that is too few. Heres why: For example, is you plan on a 40 watt heater, that will use 40/12 = 3.33 amps. Allowing for safety, assume 6 amps. Flat ribbon cable is usually 28awg, and can carry 1.0 amps , yielding a 3.3% (0.4 volts) voltage drop for a 3 foot distance. For 6 amps, use 6 wires for the + AND 6 wires for the ground. ( see https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm ). Better solution is as cgimark suggests, separate connector to deliver the hotend current.
2- orientation of the big connector will results in poor flexibility for the direction of movement. ( based on you pictures ). Either rotate the pcb 90* or the main connector.
3- solution would be only for a single axis of movement hotend carriage ( like a Cartesian ) due to the 28 pin cable flexibility.
You design looks nice, a few minor changes and I think you have a solution. Thanks for sharing.