Bulldog XL settings on prusa i3 was direct drive now 5 to 1

Hi guys, receiving my Bulldog XL in the mail today, curious what settings I need to change on my prusa i3 that was a direct drive and now with the Bulldog XL will be a 5 to 1 gear ratio. My buddy told me you can change it on the lcd screen on my printer (ramps screen interface) but was wondering what you guys did when switching over to the new head.

Was 1.75 and .4 nozzle and still will be with the new parts.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2015 04:04PM by lunarkingdom.

When i switch an extruder for the long run i change the stepping in the firmware and do an update of the firmware. For short tests i adjust the steps via the screen or repetier host.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Cool, do you know what setting I change in the screen?

I believe the BullDog XL is a 5.13:1 gear ratio. RRDs info on the extruder says use 495 steps/mm, so start with that.

You change the E steps/mm on the LCD.

Depending on the firmware and version of it you will find it at the end of the motion section. It is not neccesarily supported by all firmwares.
The differences in gear ratio aside, is the diameter of the bolt identical between the two extruders? If not you have to compensate for that as well. As the dentist said, start wit the values given by rrd and go from there.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Oops, it's 5.18:1

Here's the page: [www.reprapdiscount.com]

well made a custom mount, hooked everything up, changed the value of extruder motor from 95 to 495 on the ramps control panel, then tried to run the extruder motor and it just clicks and rocks back and forth, I could not find anything that told me my wiring and 3 of the 4 colors are the same so I went for it, my wires are red grey yellow and blue, in that order so I hooked them to red brown yellow blue. I probably should have waited and verified but was in a hurry, any ideas?

thought I would add it is a subtle ticking nothing like if it was messed up or anything, sorry to say I have only calibrated my stepper motors by ear and have had good luck until now, I have not tried to change the current since wiring it up though, I want to make sure the wiring is correct before I tried.

Just google Bulldog XL wiring to find the correct order of wires

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

Since the motor is making noises, you have at least got the pairs of wires identified correctly (it would not make any noise or do anything else, otherwise). Try increasing current a little, and check that your acceleration, jerk, and speed settings aren't too high. If none of those get it moving, try reversing the connections of one pair only.

The picture I previously linked says Red, Brown,Yellow, Blue in A+ A- B+ B- order. If your colors are different, RRD may have changed motor suppliers (or you're trying to identify the colors under a fluorescent light).

Yes their motor is in Red, Brown,Yellow, Blue in A+ A- B+ B- order, my current wiring is Red, Grey, Yellow and Blue. I am sure about their stepper motor wiring just unsure about my printers wiring but I know what order they are on the previous stepper motor if I could only find a drawing online that shows what pins on nema 4 pin stepper motors are A+ A- B+ B- then I could be 100% positive of how I hooked it up. I will try upping the current when I get home in an hour and post my results, thanks for all the help guys!!! It is appreciated!!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2015 07:45PM by lunarkingdom.

ok I got it working, I had to swap the two center wires or basically had to connect:

Original wiring / bulldog stepper motor
blue / blue
yellow / brown
grey / yellow
red / red

I set my extruder setting to 495 via the ramps lcd but I can not figure out how to save it and when I power down it looses the setting, anyone know how to save it?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2015 10:04PM by lunarkingdom.

You save them to EEPROM and they will override whatever is in config.h. I prefer to modify config.h with the final values because that way the machine behaves according to the config.h file and you won't run into mysterious behavior 6 months from now when you forget that you stored constants in EEPROM.