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pugzor
Mine is nearly together! Just need to install the extrusion module and wire the associated connections. Unfortunately my clumsiness cost me one of my microswitches so that won't happen for a couple of days. Everything else is looking good with only a few hiccups. I still need to find a build plate (I tried cutting glass for the first time... fun but I still need to find a build plate haha).
How did you guys determine how much tension was appropriate for the drive belts? I think mine have a nice amount but it's hard to describe... They don't have much slack at all, but they're not so tight as that they might cause the tower caps to creep down over time.
I think the only way I'm really deviating from the original design is that I'm not going to pass the wiring for the extruder/feeder through the extrusion; I'm just going to run it under. Is there any issue with that or was there a specific reason (other than aesthetics) that they pass through the extrusion in the original design?
While I'm here, is there anything I should keep in mind for wiring? From the perspective of looking toward the LCD screen, I've assigned the tower on the left as X, the tower on the right as Y, and the tower at the back (with the extruder stepper) as Z. I think my main concerns are a) have I assigned the right positions for the microswitches (are they connected to the min or max pins?), and b) if I've wired my steppers correctly (everything I've seen seems to indicate that the wires are in the same order leaving the steppers as they are entering the board... for example, looking at the stepper motor connector on the motor, it might go green, red, grey, yellow, and on the RAMPS board they enter the receptacle in that order too).
EDIT: I've tried creating a new set of arms too and these seem much more equal length, so I'll give them a shot. Carbon still seemed to be the way to go for economy reasons.
For a build plate search on Ebay/Amazon for mirror plates for candles they are usually 6mm thick and seemed to be toughened glass. In the UK a 250mm diameter one is about £5.
Belts don't need to be so tight that they sound a musical note if you pluck them but they don't want to be too slack either
There's no design reason to take the wires through the extrusion, purely aesthetic.
You have your tower designations correct. You need to use the max endstop connectors for X, Y and Z and the Z min connector for the effector probe microswitch
The stepper wiring doesn't matter as long as you get the correct pairs. If all the cables from the motor are disconnected it should be easy to spin the shaft by hand. Connect two wires together, spin the shaft again, if it's just as easy to turn those wires aren't a pair. If it's suddenly much harder to turn, and feels 'notchy' then you have a pair. The connectors on RAMPS are designated 2B 2A 1A 1B the numbers designate the pair so connect one of your motor pairs to the 2's and one to the 1's. It doesn't matter, at this stage which is which but make sure all your motors connect the same way (you have half a chance of getting it correct) if a motor spins the wrong way (carriage goes up instead of down, etc) then just pull the plug off RAMPS for that motor (after disconnecting the power!) and turn it through 180 degrees. It will now spin the correct way, or you could invert the motor in Marlin.
Good luck. Let's have a 'first print' video on Youtube :)-D
Andy