attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

In RAMPS 1.4 the capacitors and resistors are now surface mount (SMD) components. This provided more space for more passive components, as well as headers. This does add another set of steps to the assembly process, but we stuck with larger sizes to make it fairly painless.

There are multiple boards all based on the RAMPS 1.3/1.4 design with minor variations in form factors and components, for example Prusa, Ultimaker and others. Other incarnations combined the components of the Arduino ATmega and the RAMPS into a single board, some using ATMega128. They may have different power/rating capabilities but the basic structure and electrical behavior is very similar and we describe them as RAMPS compatible, in fact most boards in firmwares like Marlin are treated as derivate of RAMPS.

This section presents the basic steps to wire an assemble RAMPS 1.4 board assuming the more common scenarios. Check the #Assembly section to learn how to assemble your own Ramps 1.4 board.

Notice that the bed thermistor connects to a header block of three pairs. From left to right they are labeled T0 for the first extruder, T1 for the heatbed, and T2 for a second extruder.

The extruder has a heating element (heater cartridge) in the heating block that connects to the screw terminal labeled D10. The heating element must be 12V and consume an average of 2.5 amps. The temperature of the extruder is monitored by a thermistor also installed in the heat block. The thermistor is connected in the terminal labeled T0 (uses pin A15 in Arduino). (The thermistor does not have a polarity.)

The endstops are the switches that tell the firmware when one of its axis (X, Y, Z) has reached either (or both) its minimum or maximum limit. In the board you will find six 3 pin connectors labeled (from left to right) X-MIN, X-MAX, Y-MIN, Y-MAX, Z-MIN, and Z-MAX. While you may connect both endstops for an axis the common setup is to use only one per axis. (Note firmwares implements software endstops for the opposite side using the dimensions on the build area of the printer.)

To simplify the setup of the firmware it is easier to only use the minimum pins of each axis. The minimum is also know as the home location of your axis, on our traditional cartesian FDM printers we said that the end stop for the Z axis is in the bottom end of the frame, for the X axis is to the left of the frame and for the Y axis is somewhere near the back. (Note: all of this can be configured at will but requires more changes in the firmware. Check this excellent page explaining endstops from the Marlin Firmware guys.)

You have endstops with 3-pin connectors. Now days when shopping online is very common to find 3-pins endstops with leds, mainly due to all the Ender 3, CR-10 and similar clones that use them.

Is also common to find endstops with 2-pin connector or using only 2-wires (even if the connector has 3-pins). This is also the case when you wire your endstops directly, in which case only the COMMON and NC pins of the switch are used.

From top-to bottom you will notice that for each axis the first pin is the Signal S, the second is GND, and lastly the 5V pin. In a two pin connection the + pin is NOT used.

When wiring a 2-pin endstop the NC pin is connected to GND (-) on the board. The COMMON pin (marked as C or S) is connected to the S on the board. Usually the endstop will have their pins identified.

When wiring a 3-pin endstop is best not to make assumptions about the pinout on the endstop, check for markings on the PCB, read the manufacture"s information or use a multimeter to identify the pins.

Once you have figure out the type of endstops all that is left to do is to plug the corresponding connector for each axis using minimum pins in the board.

The board allows up to 5 independent motors using stepper motor drivers which today is mainly drivers using the board design of Pololu like the A4988, the DRV8825 or even TMC2130.

Before installing the driver you need to set up the jumpers corresponding to each stepper to set the steps. These jumpers define the microsteps for that particular driver. For A4988 setting all the jumpers will set the micro stepping to 1/16 of a step. For a DRV8825 setting the last jumper will enable 1/16 micro stepping.

Some notes on TMC2130: Getting TMC2130 stepper drivers to work on a RAMPS 1.4 board requires modifications to the board. TMC2130 stepper drivers are configure by software using SPI. TMC2130 drivers require the pins from AUX02 and AUX-3 to be available if for example you have an SD Card or and LCD, chances are that you won"t be able to setup the SPI interface for the TMC2130.

A RAMPS 1.4 board using traditional Pololu drivers provide from 1A to 1.2A of current and about 4V to a NEMA motor. The force a motor can produce is mainly measure by its holding torque (For example 3.2 kg-cm, You will also find this in Newtons or oz-in)

The force it can produce. The main metrics for this is the holding torque (For example 3.2 kg-cm, You will also find this in Newtons or oz-in). For most designs an average of 44 N·cm is enough force to handle your everyday prints.

The steps of a motor is how accurately it can move. This is given in degrees per step or steps per revolution. For example in 3D printing an average NEMA17 motor used is 1.8 or 0.9 degrees with 200/400 steps per revolution. If a motor makes a 1.8 degree rotation in one step, then to complete one revolution (that is 360 degrees in a circle) it will take 200 steps. Most common NEMA 17 motors are 1.8 degree steppers.

A motor will have 4 cables either directly attached or as a ribbon that has a (JST-XH) six pin connector in the motor. The other end of the connector will be a 4 pin header that attaches to the RAMPS board. (From the six pins of a motor only four are used on the connector.)

Since the motor has two coils (2 phases motors), each coil has two pairs of cables. Like shown on the above picture the trick is to identify what pin in the motor corresponds to a pair. The illustration shows two common combinations, we call them straight and cross. The straight has the pins for the coil in order and the cross switches the two in the middle.

The other thing with the two cables in a pair is their polarity. The polarity tells the direction of the spin. There is not such thing as wrong direction instead the direction is dictated by how is the motor used and the control board. For this reason in many motor diagrams you will NOT see polarity specified as is left for the implementation of the design to select the default direction.

Using a multimeter in continuity (resistance/diode test mode) you can test the combinations of pins until you find the pair that belongs to one coil. In continuity test you will have a low resistance value, some multimeters beep or read "short/closed" to indicate when you found a pair. Use the first picture as reference to check if you have a straight or crossed pinout.

Hint If you are swapping a motor in a printer or equipment already wired, then check both ends to see which are the pairs, use the picture "Common Coil Combinations" for reference. If your new motor came with a cable then compare the motor end of the new and old connector to quickly tell if its cross or straight. Usually black/green are in one side and blue/red in the other (don"t mind the order of the pairs), if you see one cable from one of these two pairs swap in the middle two pins, chances is that you have a crossed connector for your motor.

Connect the 12V power cables to the positive end (+) on the board. In your Power Supply (PSU) these cables may be yellow or red and are usually labeled V+ or 12V. The black cable is negative/ground and is usually labeled V- or COM. Always check the label on the power supply for actual cable details or see the manufacturer"s manual.

The board has two pairs of connectors for power, one labeled 11A and the other 5A, both of these pairs are 12V connections. The 11 amps pair is used to power the heated bed. The 5 amps source is used to power the board, the rest of the printer"s components and the Arduino board.

Your power supply should be able to deliver 16 amps, is ok if it delivers more. The generic S360-12 power supply is commonly used in 3D printers and provide about 30A/360W. Other variants are the S-480 and S-600 for 480W and 600W respectively.

The heater block on the extruder shares the 5A source, make sure that the amperage/current drawn by additional extruders can be supported by the board.

The RAMPS 1.4 has a 1N4004 diode labeled D1 which allows 12V to feed and power the Arduino Mega 2560 board. This diode is installed in most pre-assemble boards, thus the Arduino board is powered by the Ramps by default.

When the RAMPS is not powered or if the diode is not installed or cut/removed, the Arduino gets its power from USB or a power supply connected to its 2.1mm (center positive) power jack.

The Arduino provides a Vin connection to connect an external power source that can be from 7V to 12V, remember the diode D1 can not be connected if you plan to power the Arduino using its Vin.

The PS_ON pin is intended to switch your power supply on and off. Many firmwares support pulling this pin low with M80 command to turn the power supply on, and M81 to turn it off. This behavior is desired for ATX power supplies and can be modified in firmware to support 5V high power supplies like those borrowed from an Xbox.

If you want to use PS_ON to turn on your power supply then don"t use diode D1, you need your Arduino to be powered from 5Vsb otherwise when no USB is connected the PS_ON pin floats (and your power supply pulses on and off).

Or you can hack up a 12V laptop power supply, or other 12 V "wall wart" power supply. Make sure that the power supply can output 5A or greater. Additional 11A may be needed for heated bed support.

The 5V pin in that connector on RAMPS only supplies the 5V to the auxiliary servo connectors. It is designed so that you can jumper it to the VCC pin and use the Arduino"s power supply to supply 5V for extra servos if you are only powered from USB or 5V. Since there is not a lot of extra power from the Arduino"s power supply you can connect it directly to your 5V power supply if you have one. You can also leave this pin not connected if you have no plan to add extra servos.

First, the 1N4004 diode (Diode D1) connects the RAMPS input voltage to the Arduino Mega which has a recommended maximum input voltage of 12 volts. If your board does not have this diode soldered in (or if you cut it), you will need to power the Mega through the USB connector or through a separate 5v line, but this allows a higher RAMPS voltage.

Second, most boards use 25v or 35v aluminum electrolytic capacitors (C2, C3, C4, C6, C7, C9, and C10). To be safe, you should only go to half of your rated maximum voltage -- thus if your board has 35v capacitors (code VZA) then you should use a maximum input of 17.5v. The absolute maximum voltage is determined by the Pololu servo drivers, which themselves are limited to 35V.

DON"T secure Arduino/RAMPS with conductive screws through both mounting holes. The screw may cut into the positive trace creating a HIGH current short.

On R1+ board the extruder heater is connected to the plug labeled D9. This connector corresponds to the original D10 of RAMPS board and still responds to Arduino"s pin 10.

As of 2012 Marlin has built-in support for RAMPS 1.3 and Ramps 1.4 boards. Marlin"s Firmware up to version 1.1.9 and even version 2 compile with ease using new version of the Arduinos IDE. Compiling a firmware older than 1.1.x require changes to the code or to use an older IDE version.

The SRAMP Firmware is a fork of Marlin v1.1.9 exclusively tailored Mendel/Cartesian printers using 8Bit Microcontrollers. The firmware sports a new GCODE parser and aims to make it easier hobby builders to add features (LCD, SD, etc).

Working preconfigured Sprinter firmware can be downloaded here: File:UltiMachineRAMPS1-4Sprinter.zip. Mechanical is in the folder ending with ME, optical endstop firmware is in the folder ending in OE.

mechanical endstops (now the default ultimachine.com option) require #define OPTO_PULLUPS_INTERNAL 1 to be added to configuration.h if not there by default.

Note * You can use Female Headers which are not the exact size, but they are hard to break/cut so in this case buy some extra! (one wasted header per cut)

A BOM for sourcing the RAMPS components from Mouser is also available in this google spreadsheet (This list is incomplete and has missing or incorrect quantities.)

The surface mount can be done a few ways. Since all the SMT components on this board are large 2 pad parts you can do pin by pin soldering pretty easy with normal soldering equipment. Start by putting a small amount of solder on one pad. If you have flux, coat the soldered pad. Use the tweezers to hold the component down in position and heat the solder to tack the component into place (make sure the entire solder blob flows so you don"t get a cold solder). Then solder the other pad. Also popular is using solder paste for pad by pad soldering, Oven Reflow (need link), and HotplateReflowTechnique

These must be placed in the proper orientation. The board has the foot print of the components printed on it. The rounded corners on the base of the capacitor must line up with the white print on the PCB.

These must be placed in the proper orientation. The board has the foot print of the components printed on it. The rounded corners on the base of the capacitor must line up with the white print on the PCB.

Solder 1 1x6, 6 1x4, and 7 2x3 pin headers on top of the board. The long post should be standing up to take a connector. Solder one leg on each one to tack them into place. Then re-heat the joint and push on the component until it is perfectly situated. Then you"ll want to solder the rest of the leads. You will get burnt if you touch the other side of the pin you are soldering.

Place the female headers for the stepper drivers on top of the board. You can use the 1x8 and 1x6 pin headers to jig them straight. Turn the board over and solder these pins.

This section assumes you are using Pololu, but there are other options. Insert two 1x8 pin headers into the board. If you bought a kit with one 16 pin header, simply cut it so that you have two 1x8. Make sure that the side with the labels has the long ends of the posts, and the side you want to solder is the side with the heat sink. Doing this backwards will cause you not to see the labels and will most likely not fit. Remember to apply a heat-sink to the largest chip on the back.

D1 should only be installed if the 5A rail is powered by 12V. It can be omitted and the Arduino will be powered from USB. You will want D1 installed if you add components to print without a PC. To reiterate, D1 MUST be omitted if you are powering the 5A rail by more than 12V, or the power is not absolutely clean, otherwise you may damage your ramps.

This is the smaller yellow fuse. This can be placed in any orientation. When soldering the fuses it is best to use a piece of 3mm filament or something similar to keep the ceramic coating on the pins from blocking proper solder along the through hole.

Since the fuses are the tallest parts, it is simpler and more convenient to solder them last. From this point on, solder the rest of the RAMPS in order of bottom pins, reset switch, terminals, mosfets and then fuses.

Place these on the bottom of the board with the long post out to plug into the Arduino MEGA. You can plug them into the MEGA to hold them in place while you solder. Do not overheat the pins while in Arduino or you may damage its connectors.

This must be oriented where the wire holes are turned towards the edge of the board. Solder a pin on each end and make sure the component is flat on the board and solder the middle pins.

Connect Motors (Do not disconnect or connect motors while powered; if the connection is loose, this will cause the motors to misbehave and possibly kill your stepper driver.)

As there are (by 2019) many different producers of the RAMPS 1.4 board, some who have made their own changes to the design files, thus some boards have some close to critical issues. See examples below.

A "thermals" design flaw has been noted in the RAMPS 1.4 Eagle CAD files. This has been confirmed by visual inspection of production boards, which consistently shows only between two and three (almost never four) thermal-isolating traces per side of the PCB, to power-carrying pins, of under a 0.5 amp carrying-capacity per trace, assuming a 1oz copper thickness.

This image is also in error (it isn"t: it"s a photograph of an existing production RAMPS 1.4 board), the left two unpopulated pins on the image are for the always on fan and use very little current. So are not an issue (actually it is)

The problem may be fixed in the Eagle CAD files - for a future version of RAMPS only - by disabling "thermals" on the GND, +12V and the +12V2 Copper pour. However on existing (mass-produced) RAMPS 1.4 boards, estimating the total widths (including all thermals from all tracks on both sides of the PCB) checking with an online copper width calculator and adding up the total current, assuming a 1oz copper PCB the maximum safe current on the fuses (giving only a 10C rise in temperature of the thermal-isolation tracks) is only around 6 (six) amps and in other areas the maximum safe current (assuming the same 10C rise in temperature) is around 8 (eight) amps.

This problem may potentially be fixed on existing RAMPS 1.4 boards by augmenting the power traces with suitably-thick insulated wires with sufficient current-carrying capacity, soldering them to all the relevant pins.

Minimum total parallel trace with measured on the bed power rail was about 80mil, which would equate to a 4 amp safe limit using the above considerations. Board is marked with "www.bigtee-tech.com" where the "UltiMachine" and "reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4" markings are in the original 1.4 design.

Note the decreased isolation of the copper pours. Slikscren has the "reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4" marking but not the "UltiMachine" found on the original design.

Using a "JY-MCU" (vendor Shenzhen Jiayuan Electronic Co.,Ltd.) Bluetooth modules (HC03, HC05, HC06 chipsets) to setup a wireless connection to the Arduino.

Before the module can be used, the default setting has to be changed. You can connect to and modify the BT JY-MCU module settings via the Arduino mega 2560 using the pin 10 and pin 9 as Rx and Tx terminals, respectively. Make sure you connect Rx on the BT module to the Tx on the arduino and vice versa, in other words Rx goes to Tx and vice versa. Upload the simple code to arduino located on an instructable entitled "Success-Using-the-JY-MCU-linvor-Bluetooth-Module". Use the serial monitor within arduino IDE or another terminal program, with baudrate set to 9600 and "No Line Ending" selected, enter the following commands:

Alternatively, you can connect to the module from PC via USB<->RS232 (RxD/TxD) interface with default settings (9600, N, 8, 1). The module shouldn"t be paired at that moment. Use the same AT commands as above.

On RAMPS/Arduino Mega the UART level are 5V but the BT module supports only 3.3V input. Therefore the TxD level has to be divided by resistor. This passive solution is fast enough for 115kBaud. Overall only 4 wires have to be soldered.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

I want to upgrade my Anet A8"s motherboard (the stock one is broken anyway, see: Anet A8 reading 739°C from the extruder thermistor!) to the RAMPS 1.4, without having to get a new LCD/microSD module. I am thinking of getting both a smart adapter and sdramps, then maybe plug the sdramps and the stock Anet A8 LCD into the smart adapter, but I am not sure whether the sdramps module has a different pinout than the RAMPS smart controller, which is what the smart adapter is made for.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

It is recommended to look at the pin layout of the stepper driver and the RAMPS. However all A4988 and DRV8825 stepper driver are built the same. So you can use the potentiometer as a reference point, but always double check the pin layout. Be carefull! If you mount the stepper drivers wrong, you will destroy them and the RAMPS board probably as well.

The connector of the stepper motor is just above the stepper drivers for each axis/extruder. They are all labeled on the RAMPS. It does not really matter which way you connect the stepper motors. You won’t destroy anything, only the direction will be switched. Later you can fix the direction by turning the connector around or changing it in the firmware. So when you have loaded your firmware move your axis for some mm in one direction and check that it is moving in the right direction. Also use the same colour order like in the picture.

Be carefull when connecting the limit switches. DO NOT connect the + and – pins with your limit switch. You are causing a short and probably destroying your RAMPS/Arduino. See the picture how to connect the limit switches. From left to right there are the pins for the min-X, max-X, min-Y, max-Y, min-Z, max-Z.

Connect the heatbed to D8. Keep in mind the connectors are at their limit providing that much current to the heatbed. There were many reports on burning connectors, both of the power input of the RAMPS and the connection of the heatbed. So I highly recommend you buying an external mosfet for the heatbed and use (end) terminals for your connections.

The last thing you have to do, is to wire the display. For that you will need a Smart adapter. The smart adapter connects to the pins at the end of the RAMPS (opposite side of the power input). This adapter will fit your old screen (2004) or the bigger full graphic LCD (12864). If the screen module has a SD Card reader, make sure you connect the two cables right (EXP1 to EXP1, EXP2 to EXP2). If they are connected wrong you will get a beeping noise (if you have a beeper on the module).

Check all connections, the orientation of the stepper drivers and so on. Then power up the RAMPS board and look for magic smoke. You then have to flash a firmware on your arduino.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

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attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund — and you won’t even need a receipt.* We want you to be satisfied with your Micro Center purchase. However, if you need help or need to return an item, we’re here for you!

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attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

Just letting you know recently I found out my 3D printer motherboard was fried. I bought a new mother board Ramps 1.4. Today I finished all the wiring for the 3D printer and tried uploading some code to it. I uploaded the most recent version of marlin that I rendered for my 3D printer. I then downloaded Repsnapper a 3D printer host software and I managed to connect to my 3D printer. Then something unexplained happened. The 3D printer wasn"t displaying anything on it"s LCD display which was weird. I then tried moving the motors nothing happened. I am not receiving any notifications for the temperature of the 3D printer"s heated bed and hot end. I can"t control or receive anything from the 3D printer. Somehow it ironically is able to connect to Repsnapper somehow. Can I have some help because I have no idea what is going on? Thanks!!!

Just letting you guys know problem solved. It was a result of two problems the motors weren"t moving. First of all the stepper motors needed some jumps underneath them in order to work and the thermistor wasn"t working. The thermistor was easy to figure out I figured that out yesterday but unfortunately I misread the instructions I was reading. Thanks for all your help. It truly was an honor to have your time.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

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attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

We guarantee your satisfaction on every product we sell with a full refund — and you won’t even need a receipt.* We want you to be satisfied with your Micro Center purchase. However, if you need help or need to return an item, we’re here for you!

If an item you have purchased from us is not working as expected, please visit one of our in-store Knowledge Experts for free help, where they can solve your problem or even exchange the item for a product that better suits your needs.

Desktop / notebook computers, tablets, processors, motherboards, digital cameras, camcorders and projectors, 3D printers, 3D scanners, and CD/DVD duplicators

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

About: Avid 3D printer builder, currently completing my 3rd printer design. If you like what you see and maybe even implement what provide, consider supporting subscribing to my youtube channel https://www.youtube.co…

In this instructable I will walk through all the components and steps required to setup a 3D Printer using the most commonly used RAMPS 1.4 controller board.

Please note that although most components on the 3D printer run 12Volts and less. You do need to connect your power brick to 110 Volts. BE CAREFULL, YOU ARE DEALING WITH LIVE POWER.

There are many other boards on the market and I"ve personally had good luck with the KFB2.0 board with acts almost identical to the RAMPS 1.4 but uses slightly different connectors.

The Type of extruder you purchase is up to you. You can choose from Direct Extrusion (motor on the Extruder) or a Bowden type of extrusion (motor feeds filamant through a tube to Hot-end) but it won"t make a difference in hooking them up.

it was pointed out, some of the pictures show wires directly screwed into components. It best to use fork connectors and ferrules for better connectivity:

The Shield should fit right on top of the Arduino board. The USB port on the Arduino should be on the same side as the Green power connector on the Shield. Make sure that all the pins from the bottom of the shield line up with the connectors on the Arduino. Push both boards snuggly together (this may sting a little)

Before adding the Stepper Drivers you need to decide what type of micro stepping is needed by the 3D Printer. I"m not going explain what exactly it means (there is plenty of articles on that). in general, when you buy a 1.8 deg. step angle (200 steps/revolution), the micro stepping becomes a multiplier. What"s important is that for the RAMPS 1.4 most precise stepping is 1/16th micro stepping (16 x 200 = 3200 steps/rotation).

In order to instruct the hardware to use 1/16th micro stepping, jumpers are added between the banks in which the stepper drivers will fit. For 1/16th stepping you need to add three jumpers under each driver. Make sure they are on straight, it"s easy to plunge one of these past the actual pin.

VERY IMPORTANT!! Note how the drivers A4988 Stepper drivers above have a little potentiometer on top (this little phillips screw). When inserting your stepper Driver MAKE SURE THE POTENTIOMETER POINTS AWAY FROM THE BOARDS POWER END (GREEN CONNECTOR).

If you are still unsure: Find a labeled pin on one or more corners of the stepper driver board (DIR, GND, ENABLE, VMOT) and match it up to the RAMPS pinouts.

I hate to say this but, sometimes you"ll find that the bays for these stepper drivers are too close, or the edges of your stepper driver are a bit too wide. In the image above you can see a gap between the top two drivers, whereas the bottom ones barely fit. It might make for a very tight fit and in cases where it doesn"t fit, you may have to file some of the edges from the stepper driver.

It"s a bit hard to see on the smart Adapter I have here, but but you can kind of make out that the left connector (10 pins) says EXP2 and the right connector says EXP1. These correspond with the EXP1 and EXP2 connectors on the LCD board

power comes in on two tracks into the Ramps 1.4 shield. One track is 12V 5A which powers the board and motors, the second track is 12V 11A which powers the heated elements like the extruder and heated bed.

Connect the wires as seen in the images. Be careful, as you can see, the 110V live wire is exposed. Unplug your power source prior to lifting the lid accessing the screws.

Also, note that when you plug in the RAMPS 1.4 with a USB cable to your computer the LCD will come one and you can program the Arduino that way. There is no power to run any motors or heating elements though. For that, you do need the external power source.

Stepper motors come in many varieties and with different power specifications. The printer built in the previous instructable uses Nema 17 0.4Amp Stepper motors. These aren"t the strongest steppers but they do just fine. My CoreXY printer that can handle more speed/torque runs 2.0Amp stepper motors.

Generally the Nema 17 Stepper motors and associated cables are configured correctly, so when you plug them in, they"ll run at first try. If your stepper motor is making funky jumps or just shakes, it generally means the wires from the motor don"t line up with the 2B 2A 1A 1B pins on the board.

If that happens you"ll need to closely look at the data sheet that generally is shown when you purchase the steppers (or it will say something like Black(A+), Green(A-), Red(B+), Blue(B-)). Granted when the wires don"t line up it can be a bit of a puzzle trying to figure out the proper combination.

If you"re building a Prusa/RepRap type printer, you"ll employ 2 stepper motors for the Z-Axis. The RAMPS 1.4 shield has accounted for this and offers two rows of connection pins for the Z-Axis.

Nowadays you can buy really fancy stepper drivers that feel resistance. Along with Marlin software changes you can do without end stops. In most printers though, you"ll need end stops to make sure your X/Y and Z axis don"t run off the rail (or worse; tear something of your printer apart).

The RAMPS 1.4 comes with 6 end stop connections (X Min, X Max, Y Min, Y Max, Z Min, Z Max). Rarely do you use all six. What you"re really interested in is either the Max or Min. If you know one, you can limit movement based on it"s location (0) via the software (if I can detect Min and know my bed is only 200mm wide then I can tell the software to not move beyond min+200)

The most common types of end stops are mechanical swithes, optical switches and proximity sensors. Proximity Sensors tend to only be used for the Z-Axis in conjunction with Auto Bed Leveling. I won"t cover inductive sensor wiring here but if you"re interested, I did write something on the wiring in this article Proximity-Sensor-Detection LJ12A3-4-Z-BX vs LJ12A3-4-Z/BY wiring

If you are using the most commonly used end stops "Makerbot Designed Mechanical Endstop Kit", it comes with little circuit board and wiring. It will light up an LED when triggered.

There are 3 wires coming from the end stop: RED/BLACK/GREEN IMPORTANT: make sure the wires correspond with the image above. If you turn around the connector on the RAMPS board and accidentally put the RED wire on the Signal (as opposed to +) YOU WILL SMELL SMOKE real fast.

If you forego the fancy Makerbot Switch (don"t do it for the price, it"s generally more about the size of the sensor) and instead go with a micro switch it"s my experience wiring is a bit easier. You really only need two wires. solder the wire to the two outside pins of the Micro switch and connect them to the -(minus) and s (signal) pin on the ramps.

You can test the micro switches and their behavior by opening an application like Pronterface or Octo Print and sending the g-code m119. It will show the state of all end stops. As seen in the video below.

The Extruder (the hot-end that spits out the plastic) generally has 6 wires associated and possibly more if you you use auto bed leveling and an additional Hot-end Cooling fan (Unlike the Heat sink fan, it cools the last layer of deposited plastic).

The normal wiring setup generally means we hook the heat sink cooling fan to the 12V fan connector on the RAMPS 1.4. These fan pins can be found between the fuses and the X Stepper Driver (see image above). On the image the left pin is + so make sure the red wire from the fan connects to that one. Oh, and for some reason all wires on 3D printers seem to come at 1 meter but the cooling fan wires generally never do. Be prepared to extend them.

The RAMPS Board has 3 Thermistor hookups (2 extruders, 1 heated bed). The Thermistor wire for the extruder (The white skinny wires) go on T0. Polarity does not matter.

Most heated bed you buy will come with wires and thermistor but are often not yet connected. The most common heated bed is the one seen in the image (the MK 2B by Joseph Prusa, or most likely some clone of it).

At the bottom of the bed you"ll generally see either two or three metal connectors to which to solder the power. If your printer is 12V follow the instructions and solder one wire to both 2 and 3 and the second wire to 1. Don"t bother with the LED connection, There really is no point to those.

The glass bead head of the thermistor goes right into the tiny hole at the center of the bed (this so it will close up to the material on top (like a glass plate).

There you have it. All the wiring that was done for the Laminated 3D printer. These instructions are pretty much the same of any other RAMPS 1.4 installation. There are additional options such as Hotend Cooling fan and Auto Bed Leveling (both of which can be done with the standard RAMPS 1.4) but I"ll save those for another instructable.

The only jumpers you really care about are the jumpers that will be under the stepper drivers. if you fill the three rows under each stepper driver you will use, it will set the micro stepping to the highest (1/16th on the A4988). each jumper oriented shield to shield (see ramps image below). Microstepping options in other image

Do you change the default value of the potentiometer in the stepper driver or do you let it be? I have a 2.6 V 1.2 A NEMA 17 Stepper motor but I am not sure what the current and voltage value on the stepper driver should be to get the best result.

You may have to end up tweaking it when running. I have mine at about 0.6v (If I remember correctly. You can change the pot meter when running the motor and kind of go by sound. If you want to do it right: https://youtu.be/OpaUwWouyE00

I searched more and figured out that there is not a universal standard for colors and letters. I used a multimeter to find out which wire is for what coil inside the motor.

Hi, I’m trying to use this setup for a robotics project, how would I include sensors to trigger motors on the 2560 if the ramps has used all the pins? Do I run a master/slave setup

How do you wire up a 3-wire endstop (makerbot) as a runout sensor? I know you have to use one of the servo ports but I don"t know which one and what wire goes where.

Can I use a MKS base board, v1.6 and control the printing action using Octoprint which will loaded on rasperby pi, instead of using the RAMPS kit ? and i was wondering how can i callibrate or it ? or if you have a guide to use step up the printer using MKS-BASE ?

I"m not familiar with the MKS 1.6 but when I started out with my KFB 2.0 board it"s closed "pin output" pal was the "MKS gen L". Wiring the KFB2.0 3D Printer Controller : 11 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables Check it out and I think you"ll find the layout and setup very similar.

As for calibration; that will be independent of board and all configuration in the Marlin Software. Check out my other instructable starting at step 10: 3D Printer Cantilever 2.0 C3Dt/c : 14 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables There"s also videos associated that walk you through some of the steps.

Hi, i have a question. My arduino mega works fine but when i fit the Ramps 1.4 board to it and plug it into my computer the leds on the mega board do not come on nor does my computer acknowledge it either aubily or on device manager. If i take the ramps board off the mega is recognised. Am i right in assuming the ramps board is faulty?

that hasn"t happened to me so I can"t be certain. Certainly doesn"t sound right. Here"s a link with what sounds like an issue similar to yours (with some things to try) https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/39mzvb/help_ramps_board_makes_arduino_stop_working/0

The power source in this printer actually uses (ring connectors) and the power unit is covered but, you are correct. This was the very first printer I built (over 5 years ago) when forks and ferrules were barely on the radar. All my subsequent printer designs here use forks and ferrules.

I"ve installed Marlin on my Arduino board, no issue. Installed the jumpers and drivers to the Ramps 1.4 board, plugged the Ramps into the Arduino, added the LCD adapter board and connected the LCD screen. Plug it into the computer with the USB cable and voila, she fires up great, ready to go. Unplug the USB and connect the Ramps board to my 12VDC power supply + to +, - to -, and *nothing*. My VOM is showing 12.1 volts at the connectors on the Ramps board, but no LED"s on the boards light up and the display screen doesn"t work. Unhook the power supply, reconnect the Ramps to the computer with the USB cable and it comes back to life. What gives? I"ve triple-checked every connection and it all matches documentation in this instructable. Am I right in thinking I got a bad Ramps board?More CommentsPost Comment

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

It is a Mega Pololu Shield, or RAMPS for short,designed to fit the entire electronics needed for a RepRap in one small package for low cost. RAMPS interfaces  Mega with the powerful  MEGA platform and has plenty room for expansion. The modular design includes plug in stepper drivers and extruder control electronics on MEGA shield for easy service, part replacement, upgrade-ability and expansion. Additionally, a number of expansion boards can be added to the system as long as the main RAMPS board is kept to the top of the stack. This board is mostly based on Adrian"s Pololu_Electronics and work by Tonok. Copper etch resists methods suggested by Vik. Also inspired by Vik"s work with EasyDrivers. circuit design based mostly on Adrian"s Pololu_Electronics Joaz at RepRapSource.com supplied initial pin definitions and many design improvements. Much inspiration, suggestions, and ideas from Prusajr, Kliment, Maxbots, Rick, and many others in the RepRap community.

Sainsmart Mega2560 R3 is an ATmega2560 as core microcontroller development board itself has 54 groups digital I / O input / output terminal (14 groups do PWM outputs), 16 sets of simulation than the input side, group 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), using the 16 MHz crystal oscillator. With the bootloader, download the program directly via USB without having to go through other external writer. Supply part of the optional USB power, or as an external power using the AC-to-DC adapter and battery. Development IDE interface is based on open-source principles, allows you to free download for use in project work, school teaching, motor control, interactive works.

This product is a carrier board or breakout board for Allegro"s A4988 DMOS Microstepping Driver with Translator and Overcurrent Protection by Pololu; we therefore recommend careful reading of the A4988 datasheet before using this product. This stepper motor driver lets you control one bipolar stepper motor at up to 2 A output current per coil.

This Smart Controller contains a SD-Card reader, an rotary encoder and a 20 Character x 4 Line Yellow LCD display. You can easy connect it to your Ramps board using the "smart adapter" included.

After connecting this panel to your Ramps you don"t need your pc any more, the Smart Controller supplies power for your SD card. Further more all actions like calibration, axes movements can be done by just using the rotary encoder on the Smart Controller. Print your 3D designs without PC, just with a g-code design stored on the SD card.

SainSmart Mechanical Endstop perfect for any 3D printer (Including Prusa Mendel i2, Prusa i3, MendelMax, Rostock etc...) also for use on CNC machines and other electronic applications.

Breakout board for the microSD socket that is not much bigger than your fingernail. Compatible with the SPI interface found on any SD card, this tiny form factor was created for cell phone storage and is perfect for your next 3D printer project! Board comes fully assembled and tested.The bare socket is available.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

This Smart Controller contains a SD-Card reader, an rotary encoder and a 128×64 LCD display. You can easy connect it to your Ramps board using the “smart adapter” included. After connecting this panel to your Ramps you don’t need your pc any more, the Smart Controller supplies power for your SD card. Further more, all actions like calibration, axes movements can be done by just using the rotary encoder on the Smart Controller. Print your 3D designs without PC, just with a g-code design stored on the SD card.

Compared to the 2004 Smart LCD Controller With Adapter, this 128×64 screen can display more information, which would help for you run the 3D printer without a computer.

LED background light control circuit, a small function of intelligent controller, With pin short time to decide on all LED turn or steering 30 seconds

You can turn on the light time to do long or short form of the adjustment TRIMM R4100K from 10 seconds to 2 minutes If you use a print job at night and parts department, which means that the new modifications LCD backlight would be suitable for you

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

RepRap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield, or RAMPS for short. It is designed to fit the entire electronics needed for a RepRap in one small package for low cost. RAMPS interfaces an Arduino Mega with the powerful Arduino MEGA platform and has plenty room for expansion. The modular design includes plug in stepper drivers and extruder control electronics on an Arduino MEGA shield for easy service, part replacement, upgrade-ability and expansion. Additionally, a number of Arduino expansion boards can be added to the system as long as the main RAMPS board is kept to the top of the stack.

Version 1.4 uses surface mount capacitors and resistors to further cover edge issue cases. As of version 1.3 in order to fit more stuff RAMPS is no longer designed for easy circuit home etching. If you want to etch your own PCB either get version 1.25 or Generation 7 Electronics. Version 1.25 and earlier are “1.5 layer” designed boards (i.e. it’s double sided board, but one of layers can easily be replaced with wire-jumpers) that is printable on your RepRap with the etch resist pen method, or home fabbed with toner transfer.

This board is mostly based on Adrian’s Pololu_Electronics and work by Tonok. Copper etch resists methods suggested by Vik. Also inspired by Vik’s work with EasyDrivers. Circuit design based mostly on Adrian’s Pololu_Electronics. Joaz at RepRapSource.com supplied initial pin definitions and many design improvements. Much inspiration, suggestions, and ideas from Prusajr, Kliment, Maxbots, Rick, and many others in the RepRap community.

Servo style connectors are used to connect to the endstops, motors, and leds. These connectors are gold plated, rated for 3A, very compact, and globally available.

You will need the Arduino software to upload the firmware to Arduino Mega. The version of Arduino you need may be determined by the firmware you want to use. The current (as of 2014-01-22) Marlin firmware is compatible with Arduino version 1.0.5. Some other firmwares may require Arduino software version 0023, NOT the most recent version. Please see your firmware documentations if you need assistance.

Troubleshooting: You may need to make sure that the driver is installed for the Arduino MEGA by going to Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Device Manager. If the device that appears/disappears when you plug in and unplug the board USB is “Unknown Device” under “Other devices”, then you need to right click on the device and click the update driver button. Find where on your computer you saved/installed the Arduino software, and tell the wizard to search in the driver folder there. Windows 8 will give this error: “The third party INF does not contain digital signature”. If so, save the zip for the latest version of Arduino on your PC, and repeat the steps above with the driver folder in there. It should contain the digital signature Windows needs.

Sprinter and Marlin are popular and stable firmwares for RAMPS as of 3/28/2012. Pronterface is a cross platform printer control program that can be used for testing/printing.

Working preconfigured Marlin firmware can be downloaded. is for mechanical endstops. For optical, you will need to reverse the endstop logic in configuration.h. The language of display is in italian, but can easy be changed in language.h. It is preconfigured for the RepRap Discount Smart Controller and similar LCD module. You will need to disable LCD in configuration.h if not using it.

mechanical endstops (now the default ultimachine.com option) require #define OPTO_PULLUPS_INTERNAL 1 to be added to configuration.h if not there by default.

Standard RAMPS has a 5A PTC fuse that runs the Arduino Mega, the stepper motor drivers, and the D10 and D9 outputs. This PTC fuse is rated for a max of 30V, however other components on the board are rated for lower voltages, so care should be taken when using any voltage >12V.

RAMPS was developed with 12V systems in mind, but it is possible to run it at 24V with various precautions. Most RAMPS boards will happily run at 13.8V or slightly higher with no modification. It is not recommended to exceed 15V for a standard setup, especially if you’ve bought your board from a cheaper supplier who may have used lower spec components than are recommended.

Many PSU’s overestimate their max current capability. The max current you require will depend on all your components and the voltage you run them at. For a standard RAMPS board, running a machine with a heated bed, your PSU should generate 12V at >16A (20+A is better, as some PSU’s overestimate their capabilities).

RAMPS is quite happy with the 12 V line from PCPowerSupply. Or you can hack up a 12V laptop power supply, or other 12 V “wall wart” power supply. Make sure that the power supply can output 5A or greater. Additional 11A may be needed for heated bed support.

The PS_ON pin is intended to switch your power supply on and off. Many firmwares support pulling this pin low with M80 command to turn the power supply on, and M81 to turn it off. This behavior is desired for ATX power supplies and can be modified in firmware to support 5V high power supplies like those borrowed from an Xbox.

Without D1 installed, or when the 12VIN is not connected, the Arduino gets its power from USB. If you want your kit powered without USB connected you need to solder in D1 OR connect VCC to your PSU.

The VCC pin can be connected to your ATX’s 5Vsb to continuously power the Arduino from your ATX power supply. You will want to make sure that D1 is not installed or cut out. The Arduino is not designed to be powered directly on the VCC rail and the VIN pin at the same time.

If you want to use PS_ON to turn on your power supply then don’t use diode D1, you need your Arduino to be powered from 5Vsb otherwise when no USB is connected the PS_ON pin floats (and your power supply pulses on and off).

The 5V pin in that connector on RAMPS only supplies the 5V to the auxiliary servo connectors. It is designed so that you can jumper it to the VCC pin and use the Arduino’s power supply to supply 5V for extra servos if you are only powered from USB or 5V. Since there is not a lot of extra power from the Arduino’s power supply you can connect it directly to your 5V power supply if you have one. You can also leave this pin not connected if you have no plan to add extra servos.

First, the 1N4004 diode connects the RAMPS input voltage to the Arduino Mega which has a recommended maximum input voltage of 12 volts. If your board does not have this diode soldered in (or if you cut it), you will need to power the Mega through the USB connector or through a separate 5v line, but this allows a higher RAMPS voltage.

Second, most boards use 25v or 35v aluminum electrolytic capactors (C2, C3, C4, C6, C7, C9, and C10). To be safe, you should only go to half of your rated maximum voltage — thus if your board has 35v capacitors (code VZA) then you should use a maximum input of 17.5v. The absolute maximum voltage is determined by the pololu servo drivers, which themselves are limited to 35V.

If your board has a 1N4004 diode soldered in, do not apply more than 12 V to it. Original flavor Arduino Mega are rated to 12 V input. While Arduino Mega 2560 can take 20 V, it is not recommended.

Adjust the potentiometer (small screw) on the stepper driver in question by rotating the screw counterclockwise to decrease the current going to the stepper motor.

Unless you provide external 5V power or provide 5V through USB cable, the regulator on the Arduino supplies 5V power to the Arduino, the RAMPS (which uses very little) and anything else connected to it. With nothing else powered from the RAMPS, the voltage regulator will run quite warm but not overheat (in tests, I was even able to turn up the input voltage from 12V to 15V without overheating it). With a 20×4 LCD connected, it’s still OK with 12V input. However, if you power a servo or a graphic LCD from the RAMPS, then you will almost certainly overheat the voltage regulator. The usual symptom is that the system will not work unless it is connected to a PC via USB. Or the system may work for a few minutes, hours or days, then fail.

Workarounds include (a) removing D1 on the RAMPS and providing external 5V power to the Arduino/RAMPS; (b) driving the backlight of the graphical LCD from 12V through a series resistor instead of from 5V (a 120 ohm 1W resistor is about right for 12864-type displays), (c) using an Arduino variant with a more powerful voltage regulator (e.g. Taurino).

The STP55NF06L mosfet is not really adequate to drive a 10A heated bed without a heatsink, so on boards supplied without a heatsink it runs very hot. This is often exacerbated by the previous issue (overheating 5V regulator), which causes the voltage on the 5V rail to be significantly lower than 5V and insufficient to turn the mosfet fully on.

Workaround: either add a heatsink, or (preferably) replace the bed heater mosfet (Q3) by a better type such as IRLB8743PBF or IRLB3034PBF. Also check that the voltage on the 5V rail is close to 5V, preferably at least 4.75V.

This is due to the lack of a true USB port on the Arduino Mega, which uses USB-over-serial instead, and the consequent lack of driver-level flow control. As a result, flow control has to be done at application level by the host program waiting to receive “OK” after sending each command. General purpose host operating systems such as Windows and Linux cannot do this efficiently. Some host programs and operating system combinations work better than others, but this issue has even been reported by some users running Octoprint on a dedicated Raspberry Pi host.

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

This is a copy of the instructions from http://beginner3dprinting.com which has been offline. There are no photos and I haven’t been in touch with the author yet since the website is offline but I have referenced it for reference.

This guide is intended for anyone who would like to convert their Duplicator i3 from Melzi to RAMPS. RAMPS is not the only board replacement available, but the only one that will be covered in this guide. The process is essentially the same for the other boards.

The RAMPS 1.4 board I received had a few bent pins that required attention before mating it to the ARDUINO. Take a few moments and check both your RAMPS and Arduino Mega and make sure everything appears as it should.

ATTENTION – It is very important to install your stepper drivers facing the correct direction. Failure to do so can and most likely will result in your drivers giving up the smoke.

2- Place the heatsink over the chip and lightly press down. Making sure that the heatsink does not short out any of the exposed pins on the driver board.

Each stepper driver has a small screw potentiometer. The stepper drivers should be installed into the RAMPS 1.4 board with the screws on the lcd controller side of the RAMPS 1.4 board.INCORRECT Stepper Driver OrientationCorrect Orientation

attaching lcd panel to ramps board manufacturer

We provide new electronics, like Megatronics. Which is cheaper, has more features and is compatible with RAMPS. It is advised to use Megatronics instead of RAMPS for new printers. Check our electronics comparison page here for more details.

RepRap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield, or RAMPS for short. It is designed to fit the entire electronics needed for a RepRap in one small package for low cost. RAMPS interfaces an Arduino MEGA with the powerful Arduino MEGA platform and has plenty room for expansion. The modular design includes plug in stepper drivers and extruder control electronics on an Arduino MEGA shield for easy service, part replacement, upgrade-ability and expansion. Additionally as long as the main RAMPS board is kept to the top of the stack a number of Arduino expansion boards can be added to the system.

In RAMPS 1.4, the resistors and capacitors are now surface mount to fit more passive components. This does add another set of steps to assembly, but we stuck with larger sizes to make it fairly painless.