Need help.

I will not be purchasing the hardware for my i3 rework for about 2 months but my electronics + motors will be here next week and I need to test them. So, where do I go to learn what to do? I need to load some printing firmware but which one I don't know though most people seem to run Marlin. Is there some place I can go that will give me instructions on what to load, how to load it, what I need on my PC to do it and what values do what and I need to change?

Basically I just need to make sure the motors work and the Ramps is working (I have my j-head coming but I don't want to test that until the hardware is done).

I need a place to do a crash course and a walk through this weekend.


Thank you.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

On the PC you need to install Pronterface (aka Printrun I think)

There is a writeup here http://www.nextdayreprap.co.uk/pronterface-installation-reprap-prusa-mendel-computer-setup/

Firmware. You'll need to load the Arduino development environment. The official download link is http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Firmware for the Arduino Mega 2560 attached to the RAMPS. Most people use Marlin.
https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/
But you will need to change the configuration file to match your setup (which is not trivial) - Probably better off finding a pre-configured version to match your printer (Sorry I can't help on that one)

Will be hard to find something preconfigured as I am self building this.

Thank you for the help.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Its still probably easier to get hold of the config file for an i3 and then modify that, (unless yours is radically different)

Nope, a simple Arduino 2560 R3 + Ramps 1.4 running on 24V.

If you know where I can find such a config file I would love the url.

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

Grab the RAMPS download from [www.makerfarm.com] (the might be embedded in the build document for the I3 there).
Then if you hook up your motors you can test.
Unless you disable Min-temp in the firmware you will not be able to test the heating functions without a thermistor. I would go
ahead and wire up the thermistor from your J-head and you can then test that it is being read correctly by the firmware.
Then with it hooked up you can test voltage on the hotend and heated bed with a volt meter.

The docs on Makerfarm also have a really good RAMPS wiring diagram.

Quote
bytemedwb
Grab the RAMPS download from [www.makerfarm.com] (the might be embedded in the build document for the I3 there).
Then if you hook up your motors you can test.
Unless you disable Min-temp in the firmware you will not be able to test the heating functions without a thermistor. I would go
ahead and wire up the thermistor from your J-head and you can then test that it is being read correctly by the firmware.
Then with it hooked up you can test voltage on the hotend and heated bed with a volt meter.

The docs on Makerfarm also have a really good RAMPS wiring diagram.

Since I am not going to be able to heat up the j-head how do I read the thermistor to be sure it is being read correctly by the firmware?

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I await Skynet and my last vision will be of a RepRap self replicating the robots that is destroying the human race.

I've read that a 100k ohm resistor can be substituted for the 100K ohm NTC Thermistor.
Something like this should allow you to test your motors without having to heat it up.

I think 100k is too high.

From memory, I think that you'd need a resistor more like 10k or perhaps even lower to simulate around 200 deg.

Its better to get a 100k potentiometer (aka pot) and connect that to the sense input.

You can then vary the pot to simulate whatever temperature you want.

@rogerclark,

Tks for the idea of using a potentiometer to simulate different temperatures.

The thermister should read room temp normally. You could use a hair dryer or heat gun to heat it up to see the change.
Probably a cany thermometer or other could be used to test accuracy. However, the thermister tables are pretty good if
you are using one of the standard thermister types. You could also use a Ohm meter and measure the resistance and
then use the thermister specs to calculate what temp should be read. But that to me would be overkill.
I would just want to make sure that the thermister is actually sensing temp.