Thank you. I just found it. I have been reading the forum more than the site. I will spend more time on the site now.
Cheers…
I have the RAMBO 1.4a that @vicious1 flashed…is there a way to run it with each stepper on it’s own drive (5 drivers) instead of the standard three driver configuration? Does one approach have an advantage over the other when I’m using a board that has enough drivers?
Will I ever have a use for the unused drivers later on?
I haven’t done my wiring yet, so this is the time to ask… 
You would likely have to reflash the board, using the “Dual Endstop” version of the firmware. Note – you do not have to actually install/use the dual endstops if you install this firmware, it will give you the multi-motor per axis capability though.
I know that Ryan doesn’t recommend starting in a dual endstop config, because it is just more work to get setup and running the first time. But, it really isn’t that much more difficult (reflashing the controller, installing the endstop switches and wires). If you think you will want/use the dual endstop (auto-squaring) capability, I would recommend just wiring it that way from the start. I did not, and ended up having to rewire my machine. It wasn’t horrible, but it was rework.
If you don’t plan on using the auto-squaring capability, then either way is fine (and series wiring with Ryan’s pre-made cables) is arguably “easier” to setup the first time.
I doubt it on an MPCNC… Although, I guess if you wanted to turn it into a 3D printer I guess you would need another driver for the filament feeder…
Yep - now’s the time to decide which route you want to take. If you’re certain you (eventually) want auto-squaring I would say go ahead and plan on separate drivers and dual endstops. If you’re not sure, just plan to do milling of signs, etc then take the easiest route and do series wiring. If you change your mind later it’s only a matter of rewiring.
Probably worth repeating: Ryan generally recommends starting with the series wiring and no endstops. It’s just a simpler setup to begin with and you’re more likely to get up and running quicker with less frustration for everyone involved (mostly you and him 
)… I am only throwing out that auto-squaring capability is awesome (IMO) and it is something that I found a need for almost immediately. You mileage may of course vary…
Best of luck with your build!
I would also recommend starting with the series. In the series configuration, the doubled motors will always move in lock step. In a dual endstop configuration, they will always move in lock step, except when homing, where one motor may need to travel a little farther to reach it’s endstop, so it will square itself. After the homing, they are identical.
If you have the series wiring, or you just don’t want to mess with the dual endstops while running dual endstop firmware, you should have a procedure to hold the gantry square while enabling the motors. They will start square, and move in lock step, staying square. The other alternative is to just make art, and not really care about how square it is. You can have a lot of fun and make a lot of projects this way.
Hey everyone, time for an update!
First, thank you, everyone, for the compliments on the ender, and happy to note all parts printed without a problem! No idea how much actual print time or filament was used. I just kept filling the bed when the last one was done until they were all printed.
Some final decisions were made and I have completed the build-up to wiring stage.
Decisions made:
-Final sizing. I decided to go with a 2’x2’ (610x610mm) working area and give up on the idea of aluminum at this point. There is just too much I want to learn ( wood carving, plotting, engraving) and experiment with and aluminum is something I think ill rebuild for and attack after I get some basics down. The final outer dimension of 35"x35" (889x889mm), Z work height of 4" or 101mm.
-Drag knife I went with one exactly like what Ryan has here. but ill probably be trying out a few models and will report back later what one I like most.
-Table design I decided to just build one with the same design I built my GF’s clay throwing table. I took outer dimension and added a couple of inches here and there for drag chains and a small work area, eyeballed the height so I didn’t have to bend over to watch it carve and boom, the table turned out giant… I guess its great extra storage or a future enclosure for some printers lol. (pictures below)
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Mainboard and drivers. Now that this project is my new baby that I’m interested in I stripped the half working delta and re-purposed the Big Tree Tech skr 1.3 mainboard and 2208 V3 drivers to this project. Overkill but I had them. Planning on running UART config for this so I can change and monitor driver parameters in software.
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I bought some new motors. I have enough projects that I can re-purpose the originally re-purposed motors that I was going to use xD. Now using 5x Nema 17 Bipolar 59Ncm (84oz.in) 2A for this build.
-I decided ill go with dual end stops, at-least wire everything up now, so that it’ll only be a firmware update to swap between them or not.
-Planning on running marlin 2.0 as of right now. i have the most experience with it but open to switching it up if something else offers better features or control over the machine.
The build went relatively easy so far. Documentation is great on here, can’t thank Ryan enough!
I did decide to smooth out my emt with some 220. Barrings I never did end up cleaning from the factory, they were all greased up and I just wanted to build lol, ill probably regret that later but test rolled them all as they went in and they seemed to be working good. I printed mid-span supports and some additional feet thinking I would use them but from what I’ve seen so far as long as I stay away from aluminum I should be good at this size. Correct me if I’m wrong. I have them if I want to add em later.
Questions still needing answers or decisions.
- My motors run Rated Current/phase: 2.0A and my drivers are Phase Current: 1.2A RMS, 2.0A Peak. I’ve been suggested to run them at 1A for safety. Debating what to set these to and or if I should pick up some 2209s to get a bit closer to the 2A limit, maybe 1.5A. Any suggestions here would be great.
-What microsteps to run my motors at. 2208s go up to 1/256 microsteps but from my understanding the more microsteps you go the better the resolution/smoothness of motor operation but also a decrease in holding torque? Also with UART I though there is some fancy stuff for switching this on the fly depending if the motor needs it based off its torque vs hard coding it. Idk more research is needed here. Also, stealth chop 2 / spread cycle idk if I should have these features on or not.
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Need to extend my motor cables, I have some 20g wire I bought for LEDs, I think this will work. Worried about all these interference problems I’m seeing with not enough insulation in the wiring. would this work? should I get shielded? Bigger gauge wire?
Wire - Amazon -
Debating on what connectors to buy for right off the motor to the wiring harness. I feel like ill want a plug instead of hardwiring motors straight back to board.
-Debating on the surface for the, threw down some 1/4" ply since I had it around but might swap it for some 3/4 mdf or something to try and get it a more flat surface. Plotting and laser will be the first couple of jobs with this guy before I break out into wood carving. Any recommendations here?
That’s all I got right now, at lunch at the moment. I’ll update later this weekend with more choices and build updates. BTW Kitchen remodel is pretty much done!
! IMG_20200220_203346|666x500,50%
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Update:
I decided to get 3/4" MDF for top surface and replaced the table top moving the old 1/4 ply down to the bottom shelf of the table. The MDF came slightly larger then my table so I cut it down to size on one edge then let the 1 inch hang off the back. Everything else is square with legs and base. Create a nice wire hiding spot for the X axis.
- All motors and end-stops are wired back to a temp working spot. Using a cheap wire sleving from HD, works pretty well actually as a quick wiring job. Used the tape measure trick for the Z. Future note to self, label female pins for everything as you go. After finishing up all cable runs it makes it hard to tell whats what with multiple motors coming together on a axis.
-End stops are all wired correctly and working great. All show open unless compressed. GND = N, S = NC. X=Xmin, X2=Xmax, Y=Ymin, Y2=Ymax.
-Steppers currently not configured right and or plugged in wrong. Y+/Y- moves Y but not Y2 (and or very small ammount. Same with X, X2 does not move) Z does not move. Although through swapping plugs all motors have proved to be working.
-SKR 1.3 with 2208 UART has proven to be a royal pain in the butt. I could not get the MPCNC_Ramps_T8_16T_LCD_32step_DualEndstop to compile at all in VSCode/PIO. Even after swapping PIO.ini env and board designation. I tryed a few diffrent firmwares off the forums here with each having there own issues compiling. (Stock marlin compiles just fine.) Ended up getting TT Lowrider SKR1.3 to compile after applying some fixes found here. ICT Avatar advice
I then found Glens SKR Firmware and merged changes that made since with my new version that compiled.
Currently I have a firmware that compiles although my LCD reads out “TMC Connection Error”. All end stops working fine as mentioned above and control over some stepper motors as mentioned above. All motors are rated for 2.0A, trying to control Vref over UART, I have not touched the manual on chip Vref.
Build is pretty complete for now. After I get everything working ill build a box and clean up the wiring to board.
I would love any help or advice you can give on getting the BTT SKR 1.3 + BTT 2208 V3 + UART working with dual end end stops for X,X2,Y,Y2,Z. Current Firmware configs are the ones linked here
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I needed to revert to an older version of the tmc drivers library (1.5, I think, vs 1.6, I can check when I get home) to get it to compile with Ryan’s firmware on the same board.
Are you powering the board with USB? That’s one way to get the “TMC not connected” error. That doesn’t go away until you connect to the power supply.
I like the skr 1.3, have the same board in my 3D printer and have no complaints. If you’re still having trouble, I can upload my settings.
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Thanks, A upload of a working config would be great!
I did find Error LPC176X has not been defined
and replaced TMCStepper@>=0.5.2,<0.5.3 and changed paths in PIO.ini
That did help somethings along the way, I still was not able to get mpcnc official dual end-stops for ramps working.
In my current config that is compiling I started with TMCStepper@>=0.5.2,<0.5.3 but was able to swap it back to TMCStepper@<1.0.0 and compile with no problems.
Official MPCNC ramps 1.4 dual end stop was the first thing I tried so I can’t remember what it was that I could not get past but if there is interest ill download it again and record my problems
3:14 am update, work at 8. 
I decided since I like spending all my money on this stuff I would pick up some new 2209’s. Added functionality, more current for my beefy lil 17’s.
2208 and setting up firmware was already giving me problems. Why not?
Got the 2209s today and after hours of trying to compile other people firmware setups and trying to compare and contrast between them and match up versions I said screw it and started fresh from Ryans MPCNC_Ramps_T8_16T_LCD_32step_DualEndstop
It worked! Currently have everything working correctly, all motors in sync and working, xy directions, UART, endstops and trigger status, homing using endstops (dont home z not fun).
I have all my end stop blocks as close as a 3am wood scrap can be.
This forum has been incredibly helpful in this journey so far. I rarely have to post looking for answers because there is such a wealth of trial and error documented here. Makes the process a lot easier. Thank you all for paving the way!
Calling it a night tonight by attaching the pen mount, hopefully tomorrow brings some crowns!
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It’s alive!
Test printing (carving?) the crown!
Everything seems to be working as expected so far! Question you will see in here some areas it goes slow and controlled, some areas it just speeds off real quick. Doesn’t affect output quality too much. Before I start diving into settings, anyone has recommendations or bets on what it might be or what to check?
Honestly, this is one of my favorite stages of a build beyond the final stage just making stuff. Right after its all started working and you get to start fine-tuning it till its perfect.
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Looks really good. What version of the firmware do you have and is this Ryan’s gcode for the test crown, or did you do the cam yourself?
I suspect this has to do with arcs and the “optimizations” for smaller or larger arc interpolations.
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This is my own customized version of Ryans
MPCNC_Ramps_T8_16T_LCD_32step_DualEndstop
customized just enough to get the SKR 1.3 / 2209s working in UART mode.
Everything else was pretty much the same as Ryan originally set it up.
The cam I did myself following Ryans guide.
You can see at 0:32 seconds on the video above what I am worried about. I think that was suposed to be a smooth curve. Again in the corner at :51.
Now I am using Stealth Chop on all axis, 16 micro-steps, HYBRID_THRESHOLD is turned off.
Think it can be the 16 micro-steps? I can probably bump those up to 32+ is there a loss of torque with high micro stepping? I see it does not really increase positioning accuracy but it does help to lower torque ripple. I bet it would help in this low load application but when I throw a router on going at wood would I want lower steps to get more torque?
Not sure how to estimate the required torque under that kind of a situation, then again it probably widely varies work material / aggressiveness in your tool path and even type of bit you are using.
Using these motors with a Holding Torque: 59Ncm(84oz.in) how high of a micro-step would I want to set a basic wood setup to get optimal performance in both torque and positioning? Although I guess the benefit of 2209s is that i can easily experiment with that when the need applies.
Main goal I think I’m going to print some squares and do my measurements to see how close things are coming out before worrying about these little ripples too much 
This pattern has a bunch of tiny and large arcs (G2/G3). I think it is slowing down on the tiny arcs, because it is trying to make an arc with hundreds of points, which works fine on the large arcs, but slows down on the tiny ones. I don’t think it has anything to do with your steppers or drivers or torque. I don’t think Ryan’s crown uses arcs, so that is a good test. Does your firmware have a number version in it? 415? 418?
Take a look at this thread. Keep reading though because it was solved more than once:
It does, 414D.
I’ll try out Ryans Gcode when I get home and see if I get different results.
I’ll definitely take a look and read through it on my lunch today.
Just in case anyone gets bored ill upload my firmware and gcode tonight for people to take a peek at if they desire. (all changes in firmware will be marked with a comment.)
I threw my Gcode for the crown I cam-ed and my current firmware in a google drive for anyone who wants to take a look.
In the firmware, I have marked all my changes from Ryans MPCNC_Ramps_T8_16T_LCD_32step_DualEndstop
in a comment on the line that was changed as “WJG”
If you do a search in each config file you can easily see all my changes.
I have also included “Read Me For Details SKRV1.3.TXT” In the firmware project root that explains this and my machines set up.
I would not recommend using this on your set up unless you read through and understand my changes and it matches your build. But it is fully compiling for me on VScode and PIO latest versions.
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You need to use version 418 or above for the firmware, and you gcode is not correct you do not have rapids set or even in the file. Have a look at the estlcam basics.
Thanks @vicious1 . Figured out some of the issues last night.
One I missed the step of unchecking g2 g3 in etslcam settings. That helped allot. Then I was printing about double size so adjusting steps/mm helped that out. What do you mean I don’t have rapids set?
I’ll look around for 418 and merge changes today!
Picture # 5 of the estlcam basics
Ah yes I caught that and updated it, between this and unchecking the E2/E3 everything seemed to be working great on 414D.
But I am having some troubles merging with 418D.
Y/Y2 work great, X /Z work great, X2 is doing something funky. It seems like both X/X2 are moving in the same direction but it almost seems like x2 is moving faster then X1. After about 10 mm it starts to slip.
In 418D are we still assigning E0 to a unused and shifting E1/E2?
Where is X2 = E1 and Y2 = E2 defined in the firmware?