background image

18 | 

P a g e

 

 

2.2.4

 

Connect the Hot-End Fan 

NOTE: 

We are currently working on a much better method of connecting the 

fans, we realise this is not ideal! Please contact us if you have any issues, we would 
be happy to assist you. 

Now you need to connect the Hot-End 

fan to the 12V power supply connector. 

Unscrew the terminal screws, remove 
the two right hand side power wires 

(brown and blue). 

 
Next insert the hotend fan wires. Make 

sure that wire with the black mark or 

black wire (ground) is on the right most 
connecter positon, so that the polarities 

match. 
 

Insert the Brown (12V) and Blue 

(Ground) power leads back into the 
terminals along with the hotend fan. 

Tighten and make sure the connections 

are 

secure

 

 

Summary of Contents for PRUSA I3

Page 1: ...PRUSA I3 ELECTRONICS AND SOFTWARE GUIDE June 2016 Rev1 0 DIYElectronics co za ...

Page 2: ...AMPS Fan 15 2 2 3 Connecting the Power Supply 17 2 2 4 Connect the Hot End Fan 18 2 2 1 Printer Firmware for RAMPS Marlin 20 3 Software Setup 21 3 1 Install Repetier Host 21 3 1 1 Configuring Repetier Host 22 3 1 2 A Note on CAD Software and Part Files 25 4 Printer Setup Testing 26 4 1 Understanding the Power Supply 26 4 1 1 Check Wiring and Turn on Power Supply 27 4 1 2 Connect the Printer to the...

Page 3: ...rinter Please follow this guide carefully especially with the electronics since they are delicate Never work on your electronics with the power on or the USB plugged in and avoid shorting the electronics with anything metallic as this is the fast track to disappointment 1 1 Helpful Symbols Warning Please read the following text carefully Information Useful tip note or advice to help you along ...

Page 4: ... orientations correctly and make sure you have no short circuits If you live in a low humidity area with large amounts of static electricity E G Johannesburg we suggest you use an anti static mat for this part of the assembly Note Your RAMPS board is assembled with motor drivers installed and the correct firmware loaded The assembled boards have been fully tested to ensure you have a printer up an...

Page 5: ...4 P a g e 2 1 Electronics Wiring Reference Diagram Figure 1 Electronics Wiring Reference ...

Page 6: ...5 P a g e 2 2 RAMPS Assembly Note After the mechanical assembly of the printer in the previous chapter the Arduino Mega and Power Supply should be installed on the printer frame ...

Page 7: ...k into place with a screwdriver or needle nose pliers Line up the pins and press down Once you are happy that all of the pins are in place press down on all edges of the Ramps board to ensure good connections are made This is what your Ramps and Arduino assembly should look like when pressed together properly Check all sides are properly connected ...

Page 8: ...7 P a g e ...

Page 9: ...ed bed wires to the D8 port and make sure they are secure The heated bed has no polarity the order of the wires does not matter Insert the HotEnd heater cables into terminal D10 Tighten and ensure a good connection Once again the heater has no polarity ...

Page 10: ...9 P a g e 2 2 3 Connecting Thermistors Place the two pin connector for the Hotend thermistor into the T0 position on the RAMPS board as shown Do the same for the Heat Bed thermistor into T1 position ...

Page 11: ...e auto level sensor upgrade please skip to the next section for endstop wiring with the auto level board Connect the endstop connectors to the RAMPS board Use the two LEFT MOST pins Just like the images If you connect using the right most pins you risk damaging the board ...

Page 12: ... auto level adaptor module to the RAMPS board as shown Make sure you connect it to the 5th and 6th row of pins from the bottom of the endstop connectors As shown in the second image the bottom four rows are still exposed for the X and Y endstops Connect the X and Y endstops to the locations as shown in the second image Remember to connect the RAMPS fan to one of the three 12V headers Orientate the...

Page 13: ...12 P a g e Connect the 12V lead from the auto level module to the 12V Aux connector on the RAMPS board ...

Page 14: ...orientate with the black wire side at the bottom of the connector Handy tip When you get the printer running and IF one of the stepper motors operates in the incorrect direction all you need to do is flip the stepper motors connector 180 degrees IE the side with the RED wire at the bottom See troubleshooting for more info ...

Page 15: ...ort on the LCD to the EXP1 port on the adaptor and the EXP2 port to the EXP2 port These ports are shown in the images below The procedure is the same for the Graphical LCD module Please note however that you will need to use the graphical LCD enabled firmware If you purchased the graphical LCD as part of your kit this should be loaded for you from the factory ...

Page 16: ...rackets Use 4x M3x20 screws nuts Insert the two pin Ramps fan connector to the 12V pins on the ramps board as shown Make sure that the black ground pin is on the right Alternatively If you have the Auto Level upgrade kit you must use the 12V supply pins on the top of the adaptor module see section 2 2 5 ...

Page 17: ...16 P a g e Finally clip the fan mount onto the edges of the RAMPS board Be careful not to disturb any of the wiring or components ...

Page 18: ...17 P a g e 2 2 3 Connecting the Power Supply Plug the Green 12V power connector from your Power Supply into the RAMPS Make sure it is seated Firmly Also make sure none of the power cables are loose ...

Page 19: ...the Hot End fan to the 12V power supply connector Unscrew the terminal screws remove the two right hand side power wires brown and blue Next insert the hotend fan wires Make sure that wire with the black mark or black wire ground is on the right most connecter positon so that the polarities match Insert the Brown 12V and Blue Ground power leads back into the terminals along with the hotend fan Tig...

Page 20: ...red up your electronics Please check the wiring diagram in section 2 1 at least twice and confirm your connections before turning on for the first time The next sections will cover what to do before turning on for the first time ...

Page 21: ...en we assemble your printer or kit there is no need to change the firmware We will have loaded the correct firmware for your configuration If you have an issue with the firmware you can follow the guide at the following link to flash one of our pre compiled Marlin files to your printer http www diyelectronics co za firmware RAMPS_XLoader_Guide_rev1 pdf ...

Page 22: ...d have also included Slic3r a package used to slice your 3D models into G Code ready for printing via RH How to manually control your printer https www repetier com documentation repetier host rhmanual control More documentation on Repetier Host https www repetier com documentation repetier host 1 An alternative control software we recommend is Cura should you have problems with Repetier Host Goog...

Page 23: ... Repetier Host installed Open the program and Click the Printer Settings icon or select it from menu Config Printer Settings In the top text box give your new printer a friendly name Port Auto or select the port your printer is on Baud Rate 250 000 ...

Page 24: ...ht want to change some settings to your personal preferences Click Extruder tab nothing serious to change here however your nozzle diameter needs to be set to 0 4mm as this is the standard size on our printers This is just for the filament visualization and not important for slicing ...

Page 25: ... Printer Shape set the bed size here Print Area Standard kit 200 x 200mm Plus Premium kit 250 x 270mm Finally click apply and then click Connect as indicated in the following screen Your printer should now be connected ...

Page 26: ...ntor which are expensive commercial CAD packages For free CAD packages we recommend Autodesk 123Design Google Sketchup or OpenSCAD is also good if you are into programming This link has a few guides if you d like to check the different packages out http hackaday com 2014 02 19 3d printering making a thing with solidworks http thingiverse com Has plenty of awesome prints if you are not interested i...

Page 27: ... be powered by two sources USB Cable Only powers the Arduino however cannot run the printer DC Power Supply Powers the entire printer and allows the printer to print You can program and communicate with the electronics with only the USB cable connected but you cannot print without the power supply turned on ...

Page 28: ...Power Supply Double check your wiring to make sure no errors or shortsare present Turn on the power supply Any sign of trouble burning smell etc Turn off immediately and contact us If all is well turn off power supply and move to the next step ...

Page 29: ...power supply off connect the USB cable to the printer and the PC Turn on the power supply Connect to the printer in Repetier Host The connect button should turn green after a few seconds indicating the printer is connected If not see troubleshooting section ...

Page 30: ...h your printer now turning on and connecting to the software host we are ready to start testing and calibrating all the components Please follow each test carefully and make sure each test is successful before moving on to the next test ...

Page 31: ... that this test is run correctly Both values should be similar to the current room temperature If there are any problems refer to the following table Zero Temp 0ºC Thermistor likely unplugged or wrong position check wiring Repetier RAMPS will give a MINTEMP error Very High Temp Possible short in thermistor wiring or to heater block bed Check wiring Possible damaged thermistor Negative Temp Incompa...

Page 32: ...Use the following guide for temperatures PLA Hotend 180ºC 200ºC Bed 40ºC 50ºC ABS Hotend 200ºC 255ºC Bed 70ºC 100ºC Note Beware of hot components Any sign of trouble burning smell etc TURN OFF If either of the components does not heat up refer to the troubleshooting guide Also ensure that the Bed and Extruder are not switched around i e bed should respond to bed temperature changes You can leave t...

Page 33: ...ops are pressed In the Repetier Host G Code command line run the M119 command as shown below Note the result in the text log Reporting endstop status x_min open x_max open y_min open y_max open z_min open z_max open All of the endstops should read open if not make sure none are pressed and check wiring ...

Page 34: ...p z_min TRIGGERED NOTE If you have an autolevel upgrade then you will need to hold a steel object such as a screwdriver under the inductive sensor to trigger the Z endstop All of the max endstops should always read open if any of them read TRIGGERED then it is likely you have an endstop plugged into the wrong location If any of the endstops do not work as described then please check wiring and con...

Page 35: ...ponding axis should move a short distance away from the endstop Axis Moves Toward Endstop See troubleshooting on how to reverse an axis This is done by flipping the motor plug Wrong Axis Moves e g clicked 1 on X axis and Y axis moved check motor plugs are in correct location on RAMPS board Axis Does Not Move See troubleshooting guide on checking an axis that does not work ...

Page 36: ...omed Next try homing each axis by clicking each home button i e the X in house button The corresponding axis should then move toward the endstop and then stop Axis Does Not Stop When Hitting Endstop Check the endstop setup is working as per previous section Finally try the home all button Each axis should home in turn ...

Page 37: ...afety feature and prevents jamming of the drive gear Click the extrude 50mm button in Repetier Host The extruder should now turn Make sure the large gear is turning clockwise i e the hobbed bolt is turning the correct direction to drive filament into the extruder The Extruder is Turning the Wrong Direction See troubleshooting guide to reverse the axis direction This is done by flipping the motor p...

Page 38: ...ou are using an all metal hotend for the first time heat the hotend to 240ºC and tighten the nozzle with a No 8 spanner before extruding any filament to prevent leaks Not too tight or you will damage the fragile heat break ...

Page 39: ...ge for your plastic Turn the motors off by clicking the motors off button in Repetier Host Take the beginning of your chosen filament and cut off the end to create a straight starting point If you are changing filament begin by turning the gear in the direction shown to retract the filament from the hot nozzle Open the filament idler cam gear ...

Page 40: ...ilament if present by pulling upwards Feed the new filament end into the extruder body until it starts to extrude from the nozzle If you did not completely open the idler then you may need to turn the extruder gear to do this ...

Page 41: ...mately half way compressed Manually turn the extruder gear until the filament is extruded from the nozzle If it does not make sure that the hobbed bolt is not jammed with stripped plastic If it is open the idler and carefully clean the plastic from the hobbed bolt teeth until it is clean You have now successfully loaded new filament ...

Page 42: ...should be ready for calibration and printing NOTE Our preloaded firmware should be good enough to start printing with if you like We recommend you refer to the calibration section either now or the near future to ensure that the hobbed bolt calibration is correct as each hobbed bolt varies slightly ...

Page 43: ... Troubleshooting T My stepper motors are shaking juddering jump around move in the wrong direction occasionally A This is usually caused by a loose wire or connector or from the connector being placed incorrectly only on 3pins and not all 4 pins on the RAMPs board Another cause is the motor current being set too low or too high Try turning the adjustment potentiometer on the stepper motor driver 1...

Reviews: