RAMPS+ DIY build completed

I have finished building my RAMPS+ board, apart from the last few Pololu Stepper carriers as they are still out of stock in the UK. :(
But by 18th march they should start to ship out more Pololu steppers to people, so hopefully I can test it fully around then.

And while I waited for those I have just finished my first Bowden Extruder with a 1.75mm filament drive and my own design of a push-fit style hot-end, photo's and more on that tomorrow.

Rich.

RAMPS+ Electronics Build up

I printed (Toner Transfer) another RAMPS+ PCB, this time with standard FR4 material, 1oz Copper.

It came out perfectly, so I drilled it and started the assembly -

The RAMPS Wiki page is missing a good Component Ident (silk screen), if I get time I will upload one, so it's hard to see what parts I have fitted, but as with all DIY PCB assembly, you should try to start with the lowest components first and fit the tallest ones last.

Single sided RAMPS boards need a few wire links on the top, some in blue here.
the 6way 0.1" headers select the Stepping mode for the Pololu carrier boards.

I'm using Screw down terminals for motor and Mosfet outputs.

The RAMPS layout does not really provide much room for slightly chunkier components, I will give everything much more room on the PCB when I layout my new electronics design.

About  80% completed. I'm not going to fit the 2nd and 3rd extruder positions at the moment.

And talking of Extruders I was inspired by Adrian's micro extruder so I had a push on to finish the hardware for my first Bowden extruder. It will be able to swap from 3mm to 1.75mm Filament easily. And then I plan to print a dual extruder version if the hand-made one works out and the Bowden cable operation is ok - 

more on that in the next Blog post.

Rich.