Author Topic: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube  (Read 1455 times)

rvalotta

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Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« on: April 27, 2015, 01:49:16 pm »
So I bit the bullet and ordered a knockoff RAMPS board and am going to try and upgrade the cube.
From what i'm reading I should be able to safely drive 16V through the system. (Hello old Notebook power adapters)
I will be starting this build over the next few days and will document it as I go. If there is anything in particular you would like to know please let me know and I'll try and document it as I go.

Wish me luck

Budget:

$38.99      Ramps 1.4 Kit
« Last Edit: April 27, 2015, 04:43:10 pm by rvalotta »

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rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2015, 04:39:45 pm »
So upon closer inspection of my ramps board turns out they used caps rated lower then i expected... Going to have to replace 6 caps to support a higher voltage as well as one of the polyfuses. I'm thinking about replacing it with a micro blade fuse.

I'll keep you all up to date as I carry on.

Dan

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2015, 04:26:20 am »
Sounds interesting, but I wouldnt bother unless a 12v laptop power supply is an issue.  I use this one for my Frankencube : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Generic-12V-6A-AC-Power-Supply-Laptop-Adapter-for-5050-Double-density-LED-Strip-/351346124447?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51cddc669f

Let us know about the mod if you do decide to do it.

Regards
Dan

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2015, 09:08:53 am »
Actually I believe it was your posts that made me feel I needed to do this upgrade. You mentioned the standard hot end was not getting up to temp. Am I wrong?  Just to clarify all I am doing at this time is replacing the brains... hot end will come at a later date when i have a little cash to spend.

Rocco

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2015, 11:25:38 pm »
Finally had some time to tear this beast apart. Going to document the Cube connectors and what I believe they go do.

There are 3 different connectors all have a earth ground on them as well. All connectors are documented with the wires going down words  and the female connector facing away from you. Left to Right

10Pin Connector (Printer Bed)
1,2,3,4  Stepper Motor (Red, Blue, Black, Green)
5,6 Limit Switch (Grey White, Grey)
7,8 Bed Heating Element (White Black, White)
9,10 Thermistor  (Purple White, Purple

12Pin Connector (Z & Y Axis)
1,2,3,4 Z-Axis (Red White, Blue White, White Black, Green White)
5,6 Z-Axis Limit Switch (Orange White, Orange)
7,8,9,10 Y-Axis (Red, Blue, Black, Green)
11,12 Y-Axis Limit Switch (Brown White, Brown)

14 Pin Connector (Extruder)
1 (Black) Stepper
2 (Green) Stepper
3 (Not connected)
4 (Red White) Encoder
5 (Orange) Encoder
6 (Yellow) Fan
7 (White) Extruder Heater
8 (Brown) Encoder
9 (Purple) Thermistor
10 (Purple White) Thermistor
11 (Blue) Stepper
12 (Red) Stepper
13 (White Black) Extruder Heater
14 (Grey) Fan


Well now i know what each wire goes to now to try it at 12 volts (IE unmodified ramps board and see what we get)

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2015, 07:26:41 pm »
Its been a bit since I've had time to work on this... Here is what i've accomplished today.

Added connectors to all the steppers, limit switches, and thermistors. This was fun since i really didn't have much around except from servo extensions... These were cut / glued to size and connected to the 3d printer using just heatshink.

As for power i am, for now, using a ATX power supply. I'm supplying 12V to the board via 12V1 and 12V2 each able to give 22 amps.

I have stopped here as it appears i did not get anything to adhere the heatsinks to the stepper drivers. Not sure what i'm going to do. Thinking i might just use the adhesive/surface tension force of arctic silver and hope for the best.

Hoping to learn more about configuring marlin for this printer and seeing if i can get the extruder/bed to reach temp. 


rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2015, 06:55:04 pm »
Well my inexpensive upgrade of the cube just took a $200 Hit. I toasted my extruder... didn't realize the fan was not spinning.... Live and learn...

Trying to see if the extruder would get to temp on 12V without a fan is a BAD idea.

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2015, 08:08:29 pm »
So after hours of banging my head and wondering what i was doing wrong... I finally have the xyz motion working as expected.   Allow me to share a few things I learnt on the way.

1) Use a known good to begin with Dan's frankencube marlin install for example
2) If things still go wrong odds are something is **** up
- I over tightened one of the limit switches so it never registered as having reached it limits.
3) Thermal paste is conductive

I hope someone gets a chuckle at the torture i went through today.


fritshgl

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2015, 09:03:01 am »
Hello Rvalotta
Some remarks.
- The cube thermistor is a 200k thermistor.
- I think the fans do not like the 16 volt, I used 19 volt supply and 12 volt for the fans.
- 12 volt supply is to low for the hot end, 16 volt should go
- First runs with low speed I suggest.
- I have very good results with 0.2 mm layer.

good luck,
Fritshgl

Dan

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2015, 02:19:44 am »
Well my inexpensive upgrade of the cube just took a $200 Hit. I toasted my extruder... didn't realize the fan was not spinning.... Live and learn...

Trying to see if the extruder would get to temp on 12V without a fan is a BAD idea.

Eeeek! you killed a $2.50 thermal fuse.  Just bypass it (short the cables leading to and from). You'll find it wrapped around the hotend.  If the thermal fuse blows due to excessive heat, the hotend gets no power.  I did exactly the same thing.  Marlin firmware does have a failsafe against this anyway. 

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2015, 09:04:32 am »
Well in my frustration i ripped the damn thing apart and realized after that the thermal fuse was there... any by ripping it apart I mean I unwond the extruder...


rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2015, 09:43:15 am »
To keep with the updates. My bowden extruder from Geetech arrived.  Got it mounted with zip ties for a first test. I've been playing with marlin values to get the Z axis setup just right.  Fed it its first filament and realized that the stepper couldn't grip the filament... After more cursing and swearing I put it aside. Picked it back up today to try and figure out why it would not feed properly.  Turns out the access panel used to help feed the filament through that also holds the bearing is threaded as well and was not closing all the way. Backed out the screw entirely and re-closed it. Hey look it feeds now... First test print shortly just want to do a little more dry run testing. mosly around seeing is its stepping the right amount.

Wish me luck...

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2015, 03:44:24 pm »
Okay HELP!!! :)

I keep having issues with the filament feeding and I am unsure what to do.   I've tried various temps from 230-250 (ABS) and i've tried putting more tension on the "Bearing" that the filament feeds past.   Its a bowden based setup.   http://www.geeetech.com/assembled-jietai-gt9l-extruder-p-829.html

By feed issues i mean it will be fine for a while then stop feeding.

Any feedback would be helpfull

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2015, 07:18:53 pm »
Okay issue #2....

Ever time i tell it to go to Z 0 i find that it either goes properly or its about 4mm away from where 0 should be... I can't figure out why this might be.   any thoughts?

rvalotta

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Re: Ramps Upgrade to a gen 1 cube
« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2015, 05:33:22 pm »
Issue 1 is resolved the hatch that opens and closes is also threaded.  So if the screw isn't all the way out it does not close properly. Issue 2 turns out that my steps per mm is slightly different then dans that is now fixed. Calibrating my extruded then first test prints.