Missing Steps

[Tony Woollacott]

Hi there everyone,
I have now got my controller looking like it wants to do what I ask, but there seems to be a missing step in the 'Prepare' process.
I want to move my axes, but when I go through the stages I find that the stage where you select the amount to move, ie 10mm, 1mm or 0.1mm, is missing.
What do I do to fix this?
My kit is a Sainsmart mega with a ramps 1.4. The controller is their LCD 2004.

[geneb]

No Rostock MAX has _ever_ been shipped in that configuration unless it's a few that were sold out of the UK.

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi there everyone,
I have now got my controller looking like it wants to do what I ask, but there seems to be a missing step in the 'Prepare' process.
I want to move my axes, but when I go through the stages I find that the stage where you select the amount to move, ie 10mm, 1mm or 0.1mm, is missing.
What do I do to fix this?
My kit is a Sainsmart mega with a ramps 1.4. The controller is their LCD 2004.

This is not a Seemecnc printer is it? What kind of printer is it and what firmware are you attempting to use?

[Tony Woollacott]

No it is not a Seemecnc machine. I discovered you guys too late. I have built a Cartesian, but am hoping to use it to make the parts I need for my Rostock. I am obviously new to the 3D printer world and bought this kit off Ebay, the firmware is Marlin. I really hope you can help as I would hope that I can use the electronics in the Rostock once its built.

[Eaglezsoar]

Hi there everyone,
I have now got my controller looking like it wants to do what I ask, but there seems to be a missing step in the 'Prepare' process.
I want to move my axes, but when I go through the stages I find that the stage where you select the amount to move, ie 10mm, 1mm or 0.1mm, is missing.
What do I do to fix this?
My kit is a Sainsmart mega with a ramps 1.4. The controller is their LCD 2004.

Since you are running Marlin and probably Printrun/pronterface as the host and are missing the axis movement controls, I would suspect that I would find
a different flavor of the Marlin firmware and install that. Also make sure the Printrun connects to the printer when opened. The baud rates have to match
what is in the firmware. The availability of help via this forum will be limited because only a few are used to your configuration. We will try to help the best
we can though. Check the above and get back to us.
Best of luck getting her running.

[Tony Woollacott]

Thanks for the advice, you got it spot on. It took a while and I had to go through all the different flavours of Marlin one by one, but I got there in the end.
As I said before, I found your site too late in the day and so have now built this Cartesian style printer, but I have fallen in love with the Delta design and want to build one. So, what I need to find out from you now is this:
1/ can I use the ramps 1.4 and mega boards, if not what do I need?
2/ what firmware will I need and where do I get it?

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks for the advice, you got it spot on. It took a while and I had to go through all the different flavours of Marlin one by one, but I got there in the end.
As I said before, I found your site too late in the day and so have now built this Cartesian style printer, but I have fallen in love with the Delta design and want to build one. So, what I need to find out from you now is this:
1/ can I use the ramps 1.4 and mega boards, if not what do I need?
2/ what firmware will I need and where do I get it?

If you are going to build your own Delta printer you can use Ramps with Marlin or Repetier. We have found that Repetier is much smoother at controlling the step motors.
Repetier can be found at Repetier.com
I highly advise that you purchase the Rostock Max V2 kit from Seemecnc.com because it has all the parts, it has a very well written assembly manual, and I feel that it is the
best Delta printer because of the accuracy of it's prints and it's price point. It uses Repetier with a Rambo board.
If you attempt to roll your own the parts have to have good accuracy as far as fit and you will have difficulty aligning - calibrating everything. It can be done but takes a great
deal of knowledge, especially at the firmware level. Save yourself the hassle and save up for the Rostock Max V2.

[Eric]

Thanks for the advice, you got it spot on. It took a while and I had to go through all the different flavours of Marlin one by one, but I got there in the end.
As I said before, I found your site too late in the day and so have now built this Cartesian style printer, but I have fallen in love with the Delta design and want to build one. So, what I need to find out from you now is this:
1/ can I use the ramps 1.4 and mega boards, if not what do I need?
2/ what firmware will I need and where do I get it?

To answer your questions directly: Yes, you can use Ramps. The Rambo board is basically an all-in-one version of a ramps 1.4/mega arduino/motor drivers combo, albeit with some differences in pin assignments. Functionally, they're pretty much the same thing. Any software that will run on one will run on the other, assuming you set up the firmware configuration correctly for the board. In this forum, you'll get more support for the Rambo configuration, for obvious reasons. For Ramps, you're much more on your own, but it remains an extremely popular and inexpensive general purpose controller among DIYers.

If you want to build the Rostock MAX specifically, the kit is going to come with electronics already.

If you want to build a DIY delta printer in general, then the trick is to figure out which one to build. Google "mini-kossel" as a suggestion. If you get your cartesian printer working, you could make all the plastic parts for that yourself.

[Tony Woollacott]

great feedback, thanks very much. I will take all of your views on-board and make a decision as soon as I have this first printer working. Thanks again for your help.