M2 Electrical Connectios

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Gary Schwartz

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May 31, 2013, 5:48:33 PM5/31/13
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Where do I find correct polarity of the connections in the electronics case?
 

Dale Reed

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May 31, 2013, 10:06:41 PM5/31/13
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Gary,
 
The attached photos show what I found to be the correct connections.
 
The heater and fan connectors only go in one way.  The X and Y limit switch connectors go with the wired socket positions toward the back of the printer and the unwired position toward the front.  The stepper motor connectors go with the blue wire toward the front of the printer.  The thermistor connectors are not polarity sensitive, but note that connectors T0 adn T2 are used, position T1 is skipped.  For the stepper motors, the X axis connector is toward the front, then the Y, then TWO Z connectors (M2 only uses ONE Z axis stepper, so skip the second connector).  The next (fifth) connector is extruder 1, and the last (sixth from the front) is for a second extruder (not used on M2).
 
Try jogging the extruders one by one from your control panel software (Pronterface, Simplify3D Createor, whatever).  If it jogs the wrong way, KILL POWER, then reverse the connector.  (Don't unplug the connectors for the motors under power -- the inductive spike can damage the RAMBo electronics.)  Try turning on temperature monitoring and putting your hand on the extruder tip (with NO heating!).  You should see the temperature go up a degree or two from ambient.  If either temperature doesn't read ambient (say, 25-ish C), check the thermistor connectors.
 
When you go to home the Z-axis the first time, send the home command an IMMEDIATELY trip the switch with something like a pencil.  If the Z-axis doesn't stop, KILL POWER, then reverse the Z-axis connector on the RAMBo board.
 
Let me know if you get it working.
 
Dale
DCP_1413.JPG
DCP_1415.JPG

Dale Reed

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May 31, 2013, 10:12:17 PM5/31/13
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And I forgot: on the SDCard connectors, the 8-wire (2x4) connector goes in the SPI connector with the "marked" side facing the left side of the printer, and the six-wire (1x6) connector goes on the bottom of the SDCard socket with the color-marked wire toward the left-hand side of the printer (once the lid is put on the box), toward the electronics cooling fan.
 
Knew I missed something!
 
Dale

On Friday, May 31, 2013 5:48:33 PM UTC-4, Gary Schwartz wrote:

Gary Schwartz

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Jun 1, 2013, 9:21:11 AM6/1/13
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Thanks again Dale.​
"The X and Y limit switch connectors ..."
I assume these go on the Min sides, representing home.  Correct?
 
"The stepper motor connectors go with the blue wire toward the front of the printer ..."
I had these reversed based on the RAMBo Wiki photos.
 
"T0 adn T2 are used, position T1 is skipped."
I had that one right.
 
"For the stepper motors, the X axis connector is toward the front, then the Y, then TWO Z connectors (M2 only uses ONE Z axis stepper, so skip the second connector). The next (fifth) connector is extruder 1, and the last (sixth from the front) is for a second extruder (not used on M2)."
 
I had this right.
 
"(Don't unplug the connectors for the motors under power -- the inductive spike can damage the RAMBo electronics.)"
 
I learned this the hard way when building Prusa ... $13.00+/mistake.
 
* Do you have photo of installed SD card holder?
* Where did you learn of the correct connections?  Did I miss something in the instructions, or MG site, or MG group?
 
I have to leave now for a funeral (not mine yet).  I'll give status of my project sometime tomorrow.  But will check in here today hopeful of updates.
 
BTW I have photos of solutions to stumbling blocks I encountered during my build.  Send them to ??
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

      Gary
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Gary Schwartz

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Jun 1, 2013, 7:23:51 PM6/1/13
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Thanks Brad.
 
I didn't have a problem with that part.  I had a problem with the motor, end stops, and SD connections.​
 
I think Dale got me straightened out on them. 
 
Have you seen any instructions that show these connections on the RAMBo?

      Gary
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On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 9:51 PM, Brad Hill <uns...@gmail.com> wrote:
The silkscreen on the pcb has + and - markers. Also I believe the connectors are polarized so you can't really plug them in backwards.

Dale Reed

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Jun 1, 2013, 8:34:49 PM6/1/13
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 "The X and Y limit switch connectors ..."
'I assume these go on the Min sides, representing home. Correct?'
 
These are 3-pin connectors with only the center and one side pin populated/wired.  The annotated picture of the RAMBo board shows the connectors with "-", "+" and "S".  The side populated pin should go to the "S" (switched) pin.  Minus and Plus are ground and +5 volts respectively.  The ideas is that you can use either pull-up or pull-down logic for the switches.  The "S" gets connected to either minus or plus when the switch is made (axis hits home).   At the switch end, if you pulled the wires off to mount the switch and forgot which pins get hooked up, look at the switch with a magnifying glass and use the "NO" and "C" pins, and leave the "NC" pin unconnected.  (I think that's right -- I'm working from memory here!)
 
"The stepper motor connectors go with the blue wire toward the front of the printer ..."
'I had these reversed based on the RAMBo Wiki photos.'
So did I.  All my motors ran backwards first time.  Glad to have saved you some trouble.
 
"T0 adn T2 are used, position T1 is skipped."
'I had that one right.'
Cool.  Adn I can't type.
 
"For the stepper motors, the X axis connector is toward the front, then the Y, then TWO Z connectors (M2 only uses ONE Z axis stepper, so skip the second connector). The next (fifth) connector is extruder 1, and the last (sixth from the front) is for a second extruder (not used on M2)."
'I had this right.'
Yep.  The annotated picure nails this one.
 
"(Don't unplug the connectors for the motors under power -- the inductive spike can damage the RAMBo electronics.)"
'I learned this the hard way when building Prusa ... $13.00+/mistake.'
D'Ohh!    Yes,semiconductors can become conductors when you put that much voltage across.  Then you let the magic smoke out and that's that.
 
'* Do you have photo of installed SD card holder?'
Not a great one.  I make take some more photos.  The photos I have don't really show the mark on the 8-pin connector or the (barely) colored wire on the 6-pin connector.  I don't think you'll destroy the SDCard if you have it wrong, but, like the other stuff, pull out the card and power down before you change a connector, then power up (to get a clean boot of the RAMBo), then put in the card and see if you can talk to it.
 
'* Where did you learn of the correct connections? Did I miss something in the instructions, or MG site, or MG group?'
No, you didn't miss anything.  I had to try all four possibilities before I got it right.  My frustration is your information.  Enjoy.  See the note above about not destroying anything.  (Of course, maybe I was just lucky.)
 
'BTW I have photos of solutions to stumbling blocks I encountered during my build.  Send them to ??'    elad...@gmail.com
If that link doesn't work, I'll PM you using the link from the daily digest.  (I get that sent to my gmail account. You can, too --- check your forum settings.)
 
Dale
 
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