Cheaper than ever

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Eric
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Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:09 am
Location: Chula Vista, CA

Cheaper than ever

Post by Eric »

It's been a while since I checked on prices for the Ramps solution...as I recall, when I bought about 18 months ago I paid:

Arduino Mega 2560: $22
Ramps 1.4 Board, KIT: $25 (Was about $40 assembled, but it was an easy kit for me)
A4988 Driver Board: 5 for $50
Total: $97

If I were buying today, the economics of volume sales have clearly kicked in, and I could get it for:

Arduino Mega 2560: $15
Ramps 1.4 Board, assembled: $13
A4988 Driver Board: $3 x 5 = $15
Total: $43 (I also looked for it bundled, cheapest I saw was $53)

Nothing against any of the mega-based all-in-one boards, as they do the same job with nicer connectors. But that's also their weakness...break anything on the electronics and you have to replace the whole board to fix it. With the ramps electronics bundle, you just replace what you broke, either a driver or the arduino. (The ramps board itself rarely gets hurt...the few components on them are pretty tough.)

Anyway, for the real DIYer's who can diagnose their own problems and configure their own software, this is still a good option.
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Eaglezsoar
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Re: Cheaper than ever

Post by Eaglezsoar »

Eric wrote:It's been a while since I checked on prices for the Ramps solution...as I recall, when I bought about 18 months ago I paid:

Arduino Mega 2560: $22
Ramps 1.4 Board, KIT: $25 (Was about $40 assembled, but it was an easy kit for me)
A4988 Driver Board: 5 for $50
Total: $97

If I were buying today, the economics of volume sales have clearly kicked in, and I could get it for:

Arduino Mega 2560: $15
Ramps 1.4 Board, assembled: $13
A4988 Driver Board: $3 x 5 = $15
Total: $43 (I also looked for it bundled, cheapest I saw was $53)

Nothing against any of the mega-based all-in-one boards, as they do the same job with nicer connectors. But that's also their weakness...break anything on the electronics and you have to replace the whole board to fix it. With the ramps electronics bundle, you just replace what you broke, either a driver or the arduino. (The ramps board itself rarely gets hurt...the few components on them are pretty tough.)

Anyway, for the real DIYer's who can diagnose their own problems and configure their own software, this is still a good option.
Are these prices based on Ebay or do you have a different source?
Eric
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Posts: 726
Joined: Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:09 am
Location: Chula Vista, CA

Re: Cheaper than ever

Post by Eric »

That's right, I was looking at Ebay prices both times, buy it now, shipping included.
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