1mx1m hot plate?

Quote
rowow122
I had to scrap the gantry style system due to after a week the bolts would loosen up and that caused wobble. ....
But I should have it finished with photos in a few days, or at most a week.

Loctite makes miracle ! OK, it is expensive

BTW, did you account for thermal expansion ? You will need very strong and tight bolts to counter it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/2016 01:07AM by MKSA.

I have locktite, but the way openbuild rails work's it wont help. The bolts done loosen up but rather the eccentric spacers loosen up.

Hello Guys,
I found this thread quite informative and liked the different attitudes of how to get things done.
Like, buying stuff VS. making stuff yourself.
But even the Idea of making a 1m printer. wow. quite a challenge.
what do you plan on printing? furniture?
I would like to see some pictures of your current progress rowow.

Furniture and other models that people need. I already have a few requests.

Sorry about still not uploading the video. I have everything setup, except I am having issues with my recent ramp boards I have been purchasing. The caps off the main 12v overheat and after 30 seconds of operation they shut down. Ive tried from 3 different amazon prime seller and they all have the same issue. Now I am purchasing from ebay with a new board, which is being connected right now and in 30 mins ill test it.

Does anyone else have these issues? I remember purchasing a board from china a while back and they had the same exact issues.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2016 02:09PM by rowow.

Have you checked that you are not feeding more than 12V to the 5A input?

I am surprised that you are building a large and expensive 3D printer and then using the cheap and ancient electronics, often manufactured to poor quality standards, to control it.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Yes I have. The power supply has been calibrated to exactly 12v
And I just tested out the new board, and it works! All I have left is to affix the fan on the controller and organize the wires. Im also supposed to get a new camera in a few days, so ill record it with that.

But what is going on with the other boards? Is it only happening to me or is there some sort of capacitor defects going on?

Electrolytic capacitors getting hot usually means one of two things:

1. Too much voltage. This could be temporary, e.g. the PSU voltage overshoots a lot when first turned on, then settles back to the correct value. Or the PSU voltage may rise temporarily when the bed heater turns off.

2. Capacitors fitted the wrong way round. Compare your RAMPS boards with photos on the web and check that the stripes on the capacitors face in the same direction.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

1. Some boards work perfectly fine, and others instantly turn hot. And I don't use a heated bed.

2. They look like the right way, however when comparing the overheated boards to the working boards I noticed one cap is much bigger then the other...
Overheated board: 500uf
Normal board: 900uf

So I found the issue. Should I make a new forum post warning of others on the issue? I use drv8825 stepper controllers so they use 2x more power, this might be why the caps are overheating due to high load.

You found a difference, not a problem. Why would a capacitance value difference cause the modules to fail?

Too many people post warnings about bad products without realizing that it is the user, not the product, that is the problem. Unless you can figure out exactly what is wrong with the product, keep your "bad product" warnings to yourself.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Its a problem as certain manufacturers are cheaping out for lower uf capacitors. I wanted to make a warning so that if other people have the same problem as me, they wont go through 6 returns (like me) to find a single board that works...
I already know what the problem is, I already know what is and isn't a bad product, and I just want to help others so if they come across the same issue they will know what the problem is. Whats wrong with that?

Nevermind. Post a warning. Be sure to put negative reviews on the vendors at Amazon.com, too.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Already have. But it does not compensate me for the hours of time wasting on reconnecting the boards... I have never in my life remembered exactly how to rewire something so many times

Quote
rowow
Already have. But it does not compensate me for the hours of time wasting on reconnecting the boards... I have never in my life remembered exactly how to rewire something so many times

So buy a good quality 32-bit controller board next time.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I dont think you read my posts, but I never had these issues before... Im not going to spend $100 on a single board when I can get it for $5... Issues like these happen in life, when you grow up you will see it happens everywhere, and the best thing you can do it read other peoples review's and posts to learn from their mistakes. Which is what I will be doing once I get my camera. A proper post helping other users identifying cheap boards, something I wish I had when I first encountered the problem.

Quote
rowow
I dont think you read my posts, but I never had these issues before... Im not going to spend $100 on a single board when I can get it for $5....

To some extent at least, you get what you pay for. There have been lots of reports about poor quality Chinese-made RAMPS boards and stepsticks. It's hard to escape the conclusion that the manufacturers don't test the boards at all before they ship them. So if you buy cheap electronics, you must expect to spend more time on getting it working properly. You have been lucky in the past, or perhaps you paid more and maybe got a better quality board.

I can understand why someone trying to build a printer for under $300 chooses the cheapest electronics they can find. But it amazes me when someone spends a serious amount money building a large printer with quality mechanical components, and then chooses bargain-basement electronics to run it, given the well-publicised limitations and frequent quality problems that they have.

Btw RAMPS 1.4 isn't supposed to have any 500uF or 900uF capacitors on the board. Can you read the voltage rating?

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Again, the issue is not that the board has not been tested, or that the board is broken in some way, but rather manufacturers are using less powerful components. This can cause issues for some users such as me who use powerful stepper drivers.

I am building the whole printer under $600 so I dont know why you said "serious amount of money". Even though openbuilds is a very expensive and high quality rail system, its the most cheapest and strongest for long distance rails. That's the only reason why I use openbuilds, because its the cheapest. Not everything needs to be built overpriced like a iphone, to the point where you cant afford extra components such as a lcd panel, remote control by a raspberry pi, and so on and so forth. I would take those addons much rather then a slightly more quality board (even though the iphone is a horrible quality phone).

Also the board that did work was the cheapest option with fastnfree on ebay, compared to another board for $20 which turned out to be a resale from amazon... Not everything expensive is high quality, and not everything cheap is low quality. You just have to research long and hard in the ocean of chinese junk until you can find a device much more better then the rest, while being the cheapest. Then you buy a shit load of it before the seller runs out of stock or you will have to go on anther search agian...

On the 900uf capacitor, im a bit stupid and mixed up the polyfuses for capacitors... Didnt even know PTC where even a thing...

Quote
rowow
Again, the issue is not that the board has not been tested, or that the board is broken in some way, but rather manufacturers are using less powerful components.

How do you know that, and what's the difference anyway? It doesn't really matter, because either way, you bought cheap electronics and you got what you paid for.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I know that because when I compare all the boards that overheat to my boards that dont overheat the polyfuses are smaller... And did you not read what I said? I paid $20 for a premium board and it has a smaller polyfuse then my much cheaper $8 board... So no, I did not get what I paid for.

Do you really believe in "get what you paid for"? Yeah let me buy $200 jordan shoes when my work boots only cost $20 and will last 10x longer while 10x cheaper.

Sure, you can waste a lot of money paying for something that is fashionable but not any better for doing the job than the less expensive competition. But 3D printer controller boards are not (yet) being marketed as fashion items. And if one day you buy $10 work boots instead of $20 ones, you may find that they don't last as long.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I cant say much about controller boards being marketed all fancy like (as I dont know a specific example), however extruders such as the e3d titan or filament by matterhacks, or even whole 3d printers by 3d systems and their cube printers, are just a few examples of each 3d printer market being taken over by marketing for the fancy. So I wouldn't be surprised if there are boards already being marketed as fashion items. Although, their target audience wouldn't be smart enough to connect a dupont pin even if it costed $5 per pin...

And what is your favorite controller board? And what advantages does it have over a regular ramps1.4 board?

Quote
rowow
And what is your favorite controller board? And what advantages does it have over a regular ramps1.4 board?

I have only used two series of controller boards: various versions of the Duet, and RAMPS 1.4. The first board I used was the Duet 0.6. When I encountered RAMPS 1.4, it felt like I was in a time warp, like giving up Windows and Linux and going back to DOS or even CP/M. So my favourite board is obviously the Duet series - in particular the newly-launched Duet WiFi, which I co-designed. However, there are many other boards around - Smoothieboard and clones, RAMBO and RUMBA to name a few. All of them are better than Arduino/RAMPS in at least some of the following respects:

1. Provision of an adequate 5V regulator. The one on the Arduino is guaranteed to overheat if you connect much more than just a RAMPS to it, e.g. a graphical LCD. Nearly everyone wants to include a graphical LCD or a touch screen in their printer these days.

2. Provision of a proper USB port with flow control, not USB-over-serial with no flow control. Without this, you can't safely print from a host computer over USB (except from a dedicate host such as Octoprint, and even with that some users have reported data starvation problems), or get a decent file upload speed to an SD card.

3. Stepper drivers mounted on a PCB of a sufficient size to cool them properly. With the exception of the THB6128, stepper driver chips used in RepRaps are designed to be cooled from the underside via the PCB. Stepsticks have totally inadequate PCB area for this, that's why they can only run at a little over half the rated current of the chip without overheating. Those stick-on heatsinks are only for show. In small printers you can get away with this low current rating, but not in larger printers.

4. Software-settable stepper motor current. Most users struggle to set the pots on stepsticks, they often resort to trial and error, and many burn out drivers in the process. Far better to command the correct motor current in firmware.

5. Easy adjustment of firmware settings without having to rebuild and re-upload the firmware every time. Also makes it easier to upgrade to more recent firmware versions, because you don't need to merge your settings in.

6. 24V compatibility. Not an issue for entry-level printers with 200x200mm beds, but necessary for anything bigger, unless you go really big and use a mains-voltage bed heater.

7. 32-bit processor, capable of supporting advanced features such as precise step pulse timing (= smoother and quieter) and extruder pressure advance. Especially important when driving a delta printer. The extra power also makes it easier to write good, reliable firmware. 32-bit processors now cost less than high pin count 8-bit processors such as the atmega2560, so the days of 8-bit boards are well and truly numbered.

8. Web interface. Not essential, but once you've used a good web interface, you'll never want to go back to using a USB host program. Also provides fast upload of gcode files to the SD card. Using Ethernet or WiFi to control the printer avoids the ground loop issues you get with USB, which is a common cause of controller boards freezing or resetting mid print.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2016 07:06PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Most of the following I dont have issues with, however what I do want is 24v

However its not worth it for $150...
It would be cheaper to get a FMD2740A stepper controller which delivers 4a, 50v and does 128 microstepping...

Which all comes back to the original issue. Would you rather pay $150 for a overpriced over marketed board that does 24v and 32 bit processing (which currently I have no issues with 8bit processing)
Or get FMD2740A stepper controllers for less the cost and that gives you up to 4a, 50v...

I dont know about you but I would much rather have speed and power then 32 bit processing... My ramps 1.4 board has no issues even with a lcd panel/sd card. And the only other thing I need is octoprint. Which is done by a raspberry pi

If, after dc42s description, you can see no reason to make the switch to a 32 bit controller, I can see no reason to encourage you to do so.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Maybe I missed something, let me review each of his reasons.

1: I have a lcd panel and my board does not overheat. Might be an issue for different lcd panels but I use a full graphics display and it works fine

2: I plan to only use sd/octoprint as running a computer the same time as a a printer is very energy inefficient. My computer uses more power then my printer...

3: I know about the heatsink underneath the stepper controller. However a heatsink on top actually does help. And for higher loads, you would need a stepper controller such as a FMD2740C

4: I dont have issues with setting pots. Never burnt one, and even if I did it only costs $2...

5: Thats a really nice thing to have. However it only helps slightly during calibration, and I either way save the firmware file in case the board breaks...

6: Agree, however a FMD2740C is much more higher voltage, and higher amperage

7: I dont care about noise, and everything else sounds like marketing bs and only gives slight improvements if any in areas I dont need.

8: I will be using octoprint.



So if those are all the reasons then you have to be kidding me. $150 for that? half of which are not actual problems such as #1 #3 #4 #5

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2016 08:40PM by rowow.

It seems you have a pretty good handle on what you want/need and what you don't...

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

No I dont. I am simply asking and debating why one object is better then another. If one provides a invalid reason for their product, then I will provide a counterclaim as to me it seems to be incorrect. However your not really helping either side in this conversation and is rather ruining the whole point of one.

Let me rehash things a little....
It seems that we need (more or less)

1. An adequate 5V power supply
2. Fast transport of Gcode from a host computer to the printer.
3. Stepper drivers that are adequately cooled.
4. Software-settable stepper motor current (although I think this more a nice-to-have than must-have)
5. Easy upgrade to newer firmware (and therefore settings in EEPROM rather than hard-coded into firmware).
6. 24V compatibility, although 12V is adequate for small stuff.
7. Precise step pulse timing. Extruder pressure advance?
8. Web interface, accessible via WiFi/Ethernet.
9. Easy to write good, reliable firmware.

You can achieve all of that with dc42's new board, which is nice, but $150.
If you consider a Raspberry Pi to be part of your printer, you can achieve most of that with (e.g.) a RPi3 and Octoprint and Mega2560+RAMPS+8255 drivers for about $100, including cables and wall warts and stuff like that.

A couple of other things that *I* would like:
10. Modular rather than monolithic construction. In the extreme, that would be a little single-chip (8-bit?, 4-bit?, FPGA?) controller for each stepper, with a smarter controller synchronizing them all. The stepper controllers would be on the same board as their respective driver electronics.
11. Easy to add more steppers (e.g. Diamond hotend)
12. Easy to add more inputs/outputs (filament motion sensor, filament thickness sensor, smoke detector, lights, fans, cameras, etc)
13. An easy scripting language (or maybe Python or similar) to hook all these things together.
14. Internet notifications (email, IM), visibility and controllability (and therefore security)

Quote
frankvdh
Let me rehash things a little....
It seems that we need (more or less)

1. An adequate 5V power supply
2. Fast transport of Gcode from a host computer to the printer.
3. Stepper drivers that are adequately cooled.
4. Software-settable stepper motor current (although I think this more a nice-to-have than must-have)
5. Easy upgrade to newer firmware (and therefore settings in EEPROM rather than hard-coded into firmware).
6. 24V compatibility, although 12V is adequate for small stuff.
7. Precise step pulse timing. Extruder pressure advance?
8. Web interface, accessible via WiFi/Ethernet.
9. Easy to write good, reliable firmware.

You can achieve all of that with dc42's new board, which is nice, but $150.
If you consider a Raspberry Pi to be part of your printer, you can achieve most of that with (e.g.) a RPi3 and Octoprint and Mega2560+RAMPS+8255 drivers for about $100, including cables and wall warts and stuff like that.

A couple of other things that *I* would like:
10. Modular rather than monolithic construction. In the extreme, that would be a little single-chip (8-bit?, 4-bit?, FPGA?) controller for each stepper, with a smarter controller synchronizing them all. The stepper controllers would be on the same board as their respective driver electronics.
11. Easy to add more steppers (e.g. Diamond hotend)
12. Easy to add more inputs/outputs (filament motion sensor, filament thickness sensor, smoke detector, lights, fans, cameras, etc)
13. An easy scripting language (or maybe Python or similar) to hook all these things together.
14. Internet notifications (email, IM), visibility and controllability (and therefore security)

1. A good board design will have a suitable on board switched regulator.
2. Who cares, use a SD card, your printer then remains independent of your host. Critical on long prints.
3. yep
4. If you've never used it you won't miss it i suppose but it does make it simple and simple is good, not everyone knows or wants to know how to measure a voltage to set a current... move to the 21st century.
5. yep, one reason I will never use a Ramps board
6. 24v should really become the default these days, little to no reason to stay with 12v.
7. 32bit electronics will do it easier and faster allowing ultimately better precision and higher pulse rate allowing for 0.9deg steppers when desired.
8. I've got Octoprint connected to a Flashforge Creator Pro which it supports and I find Octoprint to be unstable and painful and have gone completely back to just using sneakernet on the SD card... Web control of the Duet however is wonderful and ensures any future controller must have web based services.
9. yep.
10. An idealistic goal that really doesn't work in the real world of PCB pricing and construction. A single monolithic board with all the basics will always be cheaper than the same set of basics on two or more boards. The reality is most people really just want one board that works.
11. Anyone doing a diamond hotend with quality components, not cheap chinese clones can likely afford a high end board anyway.
12. this one I fully agree with but where do you draw the line, microprocessors only have so many pins.
13. Again enthusiasts and tinkerers want this but this is a very small percentage of the user base.
14. Most sort of say you should be close by and monitoring but yeah this would be nice.

I shouldn't be surprised that people are prepared to pay $10 for a controller then spend 10's of hours making it work or getting multiple return/refund cycles when an initial outlay on a more modern board (any 32 bit board) may have saved time and effort. This drive to save every cent with the cheapest capital outlay is not in any way unique to this hobby
I for one would rather spend the $$ upfront and be printing things but I understand not everyone has the money to do this.

If that's the best you guys can provide then im done. Again, half of what you said is completly bs and is not an issue. Adequate 5v power supply? My ramps board has NO issues running a full graphics display. Maybe you should quit paying $30 for a cheap broken board. And stepper driver cooling? Again, WHO HAS ISSUES WITH THAT??? I use drv8825, the most heat producing stepper controller, and all I need is a small heatsink and a fan on top and its fine. Yes I know your supposed to cool it from underneath. But in the end, IT DOESN'T MATTER.

You all remind me of managers in a meeting complaining about the most stupid things when in real life none of those exists and you have much greater problems to worry about. Have fun with your $150 ripoff board while for the same price ill have octoprint and 50v, 4a, 128step, stepper controllers.

Quote
aussiephil

I shouldn't be surprised that people are prepared to pay $10 for a controller then spend 10's of hours making it work or getting multiple return/refund cycles when an initial outlay on a more modern board (any 32 bit board) may have saved time and effort. This drive to save every cent with the cheapest capital outlay is not in any way unique to this hobby
I for one would rather spend the $$ upfront and be printing things but I understand not everyone has the money to do this.

Its $8 for a board... The reason people are not spending $150 for a junk board is because its a waste of money, not because people don't have money. The reprap community would rather save 5$ here and there and it all stacks up to hundreths of dollars. Your illogical reasons is why 3d printers costed at least $500, while you can make one yourself for $300. All because american manufacturers like you wasted money left and right while other people can build it for cheaper, and spend the rest of the money on upgrades and parts.

With the recent issue it at max took 4 hours of my time, not 10's, which is alot but this is a one time problem and in the dozens of printers I made I never had a issue like this. If you read the post you would understand the issue...
So please dont lie and spread bullshit. The least you can do is read the post as I have already explained the situation multiple times.