MakerBot using RAMPS?

[Simon Bird]

Dear all,

I am a technician in an art college and have established a small 3d print facility

I have taken it on myself to repair a broken Replicator 2X, 

 I have a small amount of experience building Reprap Prusa and Mendelmax

I would be grateful for any help or advise on replacing the MightyBoard  with RAMPS or Sanguinolo boards?

or used Pronterface/printrun instead of Makerware

Many thanks 

Simon

[Jetguy]

Why would you step backwards and do such a swap?

Begin flaming war now.

 

No, honestly, why not fix it correctly and just repair/replace the mainboard and run Sailfish firmware with Makerware?

What advantage do you expect to gain from going to Ramps? Ramps generally isn't rated for 24V which all the fans and heaters are (Yes, I know you can mod them and ensure the Arduino Mega 2560 is isolated) but that then means powering it over USB right?

 

Again, this is just opinion but that is taking a serious step back in ease of use and potentially functionality.

 

In some ways, I understand the desire to use what you are familiar with but honestly, it can be done, but it's not exactly as simple as you think. First off, you have to replace the thermocouples with thermistors on the heads, and then likely also change the thermisor circuit on the HBP, then change and adapt all the endstops and motor wiring.

It's a ripe distaster equivalent to building and wiring a new bot from scratch.

The advantage is about 0% and the pain and cost is higher than you are really thinking off hand.

[Dan Newman]

On 02/06/2014, 4:43 AM, Simon Bird wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I am a technician in an art college and have established a small 3d print
> facility

> I have taken it on myself to repair a broken *Replicator 2X, *

>
> I have a small amount of experience building Reprap Prusa and Mendelmax
>

> I would be grateful for any help or advise on replacing the *MightyBoard *with
> RAMPS or Sanguinolo boards?

You will then need to

1.remove the thermocouples from the extruders and replace
them with thermistors apropriate to the boards and firmware builds.

2. Likely abandon the existing LCD / button / SD card interface and
replace it them with units apropros to the electronics and firmware
you choose to run. Either that or work out the wiring interface and
make an appropriate patch cable / patch board / etc. to jumper them
over to what is expected by the new electronics.

3. Also work out the current levels expected by the existing stepper
motors and then ensure that the firmware build and electronics you
are using meet those requirements. Particularly with the Z stepper
motor.

4. I've likely forgotten something.

> or used Pronterface/printrun instead of Makerware

Won't work: they do not speak s3g/x3g. Makerbots do not accept
gcode. They use a binary protocol referred to as s3g/x3g. (Dates
back to the RepRap world circa 2009/2010.)

Dan

[Dan Newman]

On 02/06/2014, 7:50 AM, Dan Newman wrote:
> On 02/06/2014, 4:43 AM, Simon Bird wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am a technician in an art college and have established a small 3d print
>> facility
>> I have taken it on myself to repair a broken *Replicator 2X, *
>>
>> I have a small amount of experience building Reprap Prusa and Mendelmax
>>
>> I would be grateful for any help or advise on replacing the *MightyBoard *with
>> RAMPS or Sanguinolo boards?
>
> You will then need to
>
> 1.remove the thermocouples from the extruders and replace
> them with thermistors apropriate to the boards and firmware builds.
>
> 2. Likely abandon the existing LCD / button / SD card interface and
> replace it them with units apropros to the electronics and firmware
> you choose to run. Either that or work out the wiring interface and
> make an appropriate patch cable / patch board / etc. to jumper them
> over to what is expected by the new electronics.
>
> 3. Also work out the current levels expected by the existing stepper
> motors and then ensure that the firmware build and electronics you
> are using meet those requirements. Particularly with the Z stepper
> motor.
>
> 4. I've likely forgotten something.

As in changing from 24V to 12V if you use a 12V system. That means
changing the heater cores (after find ones with the correct diameters),
changing the HBP for one meant for 12V operation. (The MBI HBP isn't
a dual voltage unit.)

Dan

[Dan Newman]

BTW,

if the motherboard in the 2X is dead, you can buy clone boards for
about FlashForge USA or WanHao USA,

http://www.flashforge-usa.com/shop/parts-accessories/mightyboard.html
http://wanhaousa.com/collections/electronics/products/wanhao-mightyboard

BUT THERE'S AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT. These clone boards are based upon
the MightyBoard rev E used in the Replicator 1. You have a Replicator 2X
which has either a rev G or rev H board. There's an interface difference
with the ribbon cable to the LCD/button/SD card module.

Rev E: 3.3V for the LCD are generated on the rev E board and sent over
pins 21, 23, & 25 of the ribbon cable to the module.

Rev G, H: 3.3V for the LCD are generated on the module itself. Pins
21, 23, & 25 of the ribbon cable are tied to ground.

If you plug in a Rep 2 or 2X LCD module into a rev E board you will
short the 3.3V rail to ground. Not good. So, you need to remove
the wires for those three pins from the ribbon cable. (Why they didn't
leave them as "no connection", I don't know. Sounds like an oversight?)

If you do have to replace the board and do use a rev E clone board, then
double check what I wrote above. The schematics for the rev E board may
be found at

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16058


MBI went closed source with the Rep 2 and so there are no schematics
available for it (despite the board having OSHW logos and verbage
and stating that parts of it are derived from the Arduino....).

Dan

[Simon Bird]

Thank you Jetguy and dan

for your really helpful replies

 I contacted Makerbot more than 2 weeks ago about the repair

and they referred me to the UK stockist but haven't sent any prices or full stock list

I'm guessing that the Mighty Board doesn't have  significantly more sophisticated components

than RAMPS /Sanguino relative to its price to its price

The flashforge board is $165 on the US website but I have no price on the Mighty board yet

I will investigate buying  FlashForge parts as Dan has recommended as there is a UK stockist

but I'll be wary about the wiring.

It seems that UK buyers can get some clone parts from ebay but I don't know the implications of that yet

If contacting Makerbot or Flashforge is unhelpful or too expensive then converting the could be an interesting challenge

here are some board types:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PrintrBoard-Rev-E-for-Prusa-Mendel-Printrbot-MendelMax-replaces-RAMPS-Gen6-/281287310231?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417e07bb97

RAMPS

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SINTRON-NEW-3D-Printer-kit-Mega-2560-RAMPS-1-4-5X-A4988-For-Arduino-RepRap-/161276675283?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item258cd6c4d3

drivers

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MakerBot-RepRap-Stepper-Motor-Driver-v3-3-/281088644420?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4172305544

Thanks again, I will repost when I get some Uk prices for MB brand parts

Simon

[Dan Newman]

> The flashforge board is $165 on the US website but I have no price on the
> Mighty board yet

Folks have reported upwards of $400 - $500 price quotes from MBI. The
price range perhaps having to do with whether or not stepper drivers
are included. (They are on the boards from FF and WanHao.)

The electronics for the boards are comparable. It's just MBI's price
which isn't competitive.

> It seems that UK buyers can get some clone parts from ebay but I don't know
> the implications of that yet

One of the clone boards -- that found in MBot3D clones for instance --
requires a dual voltage power supply (+5 and +24V DC). The MBI,
FlashForge, and WanHao boards all use a +24VDC PSU. And there could
be other differences with an arbitrary clone board.

Dan

[Gregory Sullivan]

I would contact FF and see if you can get one of the new 2560 boards

On Monday, June 2, 2014 7:43:54 AM UTC-4, Simon Bird wrote:

[Jetguy]

Even then, to stick a Rev E into a 2X requires "significant" effort and rewiring along with a custom config and so forth.

I see a limited saving and huge PITA just to sort it all out and rewire the machine.

 

At least posting here, maybe Tiffany will take notice and get some real support channel action going here with a dead Replicator 2X at a school. That's just bad PR and they need to pony up and solve this ASAP.

 

Nobody should be stuck replacing a controller in a new 2X.