Pardon my ignorance of RAMPS, but which of the two screw terminals is the proper power input? The 5A one or the 11A one?
If I’m not mistaken, you can buy just the PCB and populate it yourself. Doesn’t seem to have all that many parts. So, if it really matters, I guess there’s that as an option, and you can buy the parts from a respectable vendor, like Digikey or some such equivalent.
5A is for board and steppers (all that mpcnc requires)
11A is for heaters/fans (mp3dp)
Neil
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OK, I have the current Marlin configured for the TMC2130 on the Ramps 1.6 board. I’m familiar with using Chilipeppr to send my gcode files to my cheap GRBL board for etching PCB’s, but, having tried it, it looks like Chilipeppr can’t talk to Marlin.
What do folks here recommend as the gcode sender for Marlin? Until my MPCNC gets built, I plan to continue etching PCB’s with my existing CNC, but I’d like to use Marlin with TMC2130 on the Ramps 1.6 board.
Pronterface is a my favorite choice, the MPCNC guides use repetier-host. If you’ve got a server (like a pi), then octoprint works well even for CNC. CNC.js sort of works with Marlin, but there are some bugs I’ve discovered.
Thanks! That works.
The problem I’m having is that when I start moving the spindle, the TMC2130 gets insanely hot with the default settings. I just reduced the default maximum current from 800 to 200, and it still gets hot, though not as fast. When I let it idle, it cools off and doesn’t get hot.
I think maybe the problem is that RAMPS accepts only 12v max? Or is it even lower than that? I had been feeding it 24v, as that’s what I had been using in my GRBL board.
Anyhow, the TMC2130 does move my spindle along the x-axis using Pronterface, and it is very quiet with stealthchop turned on.
I don’t think on the stepper side that the ramps is ok for 24 volts. Looking at the reprap page it seems like you need to do some replacement of parts to run at 24 volts on the stepper side.
That’s a good link Matthew. I’m assuming you’re not using a heated bed, so that polyfuse is just dangerous, not already on fire. From the pics, the stepper capacitor voltages look like 35V. So that leaves the arduino regulator. Did you toast that already? RAMPS should poser the arduino with just the 5A input. If it only comes on with USB power, you burnt it.
That still doesn’t explain the heat of the drivers. Are you sure you have them set up properly? When they are in standalone, the little potentiometer determines the current. If you weren’t getting th configured via spi, then they would be at whatever random current was set with that pot. The best way for me to tell was that they reported non zero registers with that debug command.
This single board seems to do nominally the same as what the two board combo (with RAMPS v1.6) was doing.
However, it can allegedly accept up to 24 volts.
I guesss there’s no benefit in powering it from 24v though, is there? After all, the board will just have to down convert it.
In any case, I’m now going to order a full set of TMC2130 modules.
FYI, I notice that some of the sellers are selling the TMC2130 with a “stepstick protector”. Anyone know what those are? Is it just a gimmick, or does it provide real value/protection?
Strange. The description for the protector on its own suggests they are for the tmc 2100, but I don’t know what they even do.
I really like how those 1.1 ones have most of the soldering done right. Someone’s been paying attention.
Well, what could it be? I’m thinking flywheel diodes and/or overcurrent protection. Anything else? I would say overheating protection, but wouldn’t that require a temperature sensor on the TMC2130 module itself?
I suppose it could have polarity protection also, in case it was plugged in wrong.
Anything else?
I wanted to chime in and add if your are sold on the tmc’s consider using a flyback diode system, or freewheeling diodes with them. It doesn’t make that big of a difference on the 12v system, but with 24v you need them or back emf will burn them up. Probably why they were so hot.
There either called tl-smoothers or silent stepstick protector. Make sure to get the ones with eight diodes. Watterott carries them.
Sorry to bump an old thread. Thanks.
Just a few things that I have been finding though my v1.6 research, since I have a RAMPS v1.6 board.
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p649C7m61qA
I’m pretty impressed with Alex Kenis. He pulls boards apart to check components. The above is his review of a v1.6 board. Yes, it appears that we can convert to 24v too. He explains in the video.
RepRap Wiki just added a v1.6 page: https://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.6
BIQU - I found some info, although not a complete board layout on their site: https://www.biqu.equipment/products/biqu-3d-printer-electronic-parts-ramps-1-6-upgrade-on-the-basis-of-ramps-1-4
The higher voltage will make the steppers move faster. Whether you need them to go faster or not is a matter of debate. Also if you can run your heatbed on 24V it will heat faster.
I can’t remember if I posted this somewhere or not. I was a bit confused about exactly what the 24V would do, since they are limiting the current output. When the driver is outputting it’s current, and let’s assume it’s on a full step, it’s sending the input voltage, until the current reached is it’s desired setting. It does that for a moment, with the length of the moment determined by it’s PWM frequency, not the speed of the motors. It will do that even if the motor is stationary.
So then how does that have any benefit, unless it was taking more than 100% duty cycle to reach the limited current? It will reach the current limit faster, but it will just have half the duty cycle, unless it gets saturated.
Heffe I don’t really understand it fully either. It was one of Ed’s articles in the magazine though. He also has two posts explaining it but I don’t that have that deep of an electrical understanding.
Dang actually here is another one, https://softsolder.com/2017/11/08/mostly-printed-cnc-stepper-drive/
I need to try and understand this.
A higher motor supply voltage improves the current waveform’s rise time, so the driver can support higher step rates. My post from some years ago (*) shows current vs. time for 9 V and 18 V supply voltages at a constant step rate; you can see why lower voltage won’t support faster steps.
The general idea is to apply enough voltage to let the current reach the commanded value for each step “quickly” in comparison with the step time. The driver controls the absolute winding current, but it can’t work miracles, because the voltage determines the rate at which the current changes.
Pondering the actual current waveforms dispels many mysteries … [grin]
(*) For motors similar to those in my old Thing-O-Matic, but the same principles apply to MPCNC motors.
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