Help with ramps software

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Advice
1

I am reusing my old 3D printer board/drivers/power supply and a few other items I already have from previous projects.

  • Arduino Mega + Ramp 1.4 (from old 3D printer)
  • 5x A4988 drivers (from old 3D printer)
  • 12v 10A power supply (from old 3D printer)
  • 12864 LCD Display (from misc project)
  • 5 x 84 oz.in nema 17 (from misc project)
  • plenty of limit switch for double end stop everywhere coz they come with many kits.

I saw 2 options:

  1. connect both X’s and both Y’s to the same driver on the ramp
  2. connect each motor to its own driver on the ramp (isn’t that a better option ?).

I only see 3 builds on the marlin page, but none that seem to fit my setup (all of it), any help would be appreciated.

2

The software is located here:

You’re looking for either V1CNC_Ramps-2.0.9.2.zip or V1CNC_Ramps_Dual-2.0.9.2.zip - depending on if you want to run dual endstops.

As for the wiring options you saw, #1 (X and Y together), that would be for a non-dual endstop setup. Wiring #2 is for dual endstop, although you can wire this way (and use the dual software), but not actually use the endstops - just don’t home.

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3

The new firmware is at MarlinBuilder releases. The V1CNC_Ramps_Dual should be pretty close. You don’t need to use endstops if you don’t want.

You will have to change the screen, unless I am getting my numbers wrong.

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4

I just got in ahead of you :slight_smile:

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5

I saw you typing and it was a race to get my post in :slight_smile:

6

Thank you for the replies, those are the 3 versions but the readme shows

  • 32microsteps (DRV8825) but isn’t the A4988 limited to 16 microsteps ?

All of them shows this really, does it just auto adapt for the A4988 with 16 microsteps or something to modify ?

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7

That is true. But it is an easy fix. M92 X100 Y100 Z400 will fix that after the flash and M500 will save it.

If you choose to compile it yourself, you can change that before compiling. In that case, you can also change the driver type. But I don’t think it makes much difference between those two drivers. We never used to change them when we all ran ramps.

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8

So I just have to change:
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 200, 200, 800 } // { 200, 200, 800, 200 } // { 80, 80, 400, 500
to
#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT { 100, 100, 400 } // { 200, 200, 800, 200 } // { 80, 80, 400, 500

and those lines (switching DRV8825 for A4988):
#define X_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define Y_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define Z_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define X2_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define Y2_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define Z2_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988

#define E0_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988
#define E1_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825 // A4988

Anything else you can think of ?
Thanks again

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9

I’m not sure it makes any difference since the firmware does not setup the A4988 driver, but the DRV8825 has a max micro-stepping of 32 vs 16 for the A4988, so you may want to fixup this line in configuration_adv.h:

#define MICROSTEP_MODES { 16, 16, 16, 16, 16, 16 } // [1,2,4,8,16]
10

it seems configuration_adv.h already has 16 microsteps, which would mean it’s setup this way from the start even for DRV8825?

#define MICROSTEP_MODES { 16, 16, 16, 16, 16, 16 } // [1,2,4,8,16]

I don’t have much of the parts yet, everything is in the mail coming in a couple days.

11

I’ve never changed those numbers.

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