I’m new to this. I have been doing controls and motion control for a long time, but I’ve always used commercial products and software. I am trying to make a Zen table. I have all the parts printed, assembled and wired. I’m using a RAMBo 1.4 controller. I have power on the system, and I don’t know what to do. Help please…
Did you flash the firmware to the rambo? Or did Ryan (I’m not sure if he flashes ZXY firmware.
Do you have 3D printer experience? It’s similar to.most other Marlin builds, without all the hotend stuff.
You’ve got to make sure things are working next, as there are a lot of mistakes you could have made (not just you, anyone). Don’t skip amy steps:
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Connection: Can you use repetier host to connect to the controller via USB?
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Motion: when you send X +10mm in repetier, does it move in +X 10mm? Same with Y. There is no Z
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Endstops: type M119 in the terminal and make sure they say: Open when the switches aren’t pressed and “Triggered” when they are.
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Homing: Home Y then X (is that right?). Each home should end in it stopping, without any crunching.
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Limits: You should be at 0,0 where the home happens. Drive (using repetier) to the far corner and make sure you can get there. Write down the coordinates there. Thise are you max values in sandify.
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Run some gcode: head over to sandify and play with it, making a simple pattern (something with just a couple of loops). Put in your min and max coords. In the starting gcode add something like G1 F600. The F is speed in mm/min, so 600 is 10mm/s or about an inch every 2.5 seconds. If you out that line at the top, the other moves will all be at that speed. Save the gcode, open it in repetier, and tell it to print. You should have your first pattern running.
If you have the LCD, you can instead put the gcode file on the sd card and use “print” to run the pattern.
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Ok, So, I purchased the Rambo 1.4 from this site. I thought it came with the firmware loaded. I have loaded sketches onto it using arduino (that didn’t work… I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I figured that I can’t hurt anything). Don’t know if that is part of the problem… I’ve tried to connect using Repetier several times. I can see the Rambo in my device list in device manager. I looked on device manager, and it says the baud rate is 115200. I’ve tried autodetecting and using 115200. I tried all the baud rates, and firmwares, and nothing works. What am I doing wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The rambo needs 12V power as well as USB to run. Try it with repetier first, and 12V. Ryan does flash the boards he sells.
It needs 12 VDC? I think I have a 6VDC power supply. Could I use a 24 vdc power supply? or should I buy a 12 volt?
What psu were you planning in using with it? IIRC, it’s 12-24V.
10-24VDC. That gets used to power things like the motors, hotend, and heated bed, but also gets stepped down for the microcontroller.
I’m not sure, I think I bought it on this site. Sorry, It’s a 12 volt 6 amp supply.
That’s it. Do you knoe how to connect it?
Do I need to re-flash the firmware?
I connected it to the power terminals, jumpered the first two. Skipped the jumper to the third terminal set. I thought that was for the heated bed.
That’s exactly how I have it wired.
You can also try 250000 baud. I would have guessed that.
Then it’s not power.
What firmware do I select in Repetier? Klipper, Marlin, RepetierFirmware, Reprapfirmware, or Smoothieware?
Marlin.
Does the RTS, DTR or Buffer size matter?
https://www.v1engineering.com/repetier-host/
These are Ryan’s instructions.
Are you sure the serial port you’re using is the right one? Does it disappear when you disconnect it?
Alright, Jeffeb3, I think I had a break thru… I’m beginning to understand this. So, first off, I’m adjusting to the nomencalture… I have been programming PLC’s for 35 years… I have been doing machine control and process control since the 80’s. In PLC terms, Upload is loading the PLC program fron the PLC into your computer. Download is downloading the PLC program from your PC to the PLC… I can adjust to that. Firmware is the rev level of the PLC. The firmware is EEPROM that can not be modified on the machine. On the RAMBo, correct me if I’m wrong, I upload the Firmware using Arduino. The firmware defines the I/O and the tag names used in the program. Then I use Repetier to sent the G-code to the RAMBo loaded with the Firmware created by Ryan. Am I close?
Can I modify the firmware to get the sand table to read the G-Code from the SD card where I can load several patterns and get the Firmware to step thru the different patterns on the SD card? I think I could do that with a simple If /Then statement. Can I also midify the Firmware to ping some LED lights at different intervals? I should be able to do any of this. Can I install a couple of push buttons onto the RAMBo to initiate different actions? Isn’t all o this possible?
I think I’m beginning to understand, if my premise is correct.
Anyway, thank you so much for your help. I do have the motors moving. I don’t have them attached to the rails yet, I don’t really like the rails. I’m rethinking the mechanical setup. Another little background on me, I own an equipment manufacturing company. We produce very high precision mechanical presses (60 ton). We also service metal forming equipment and other manufacturing equipment.
I will let you know where I end up on the final design. Oh, by the by, I do this stuff for fun. I happened to be in New Your city last year, and happened to go to the Archictural Digest show. There I met Bruce Shapiro. He was profiling his Sisyphus Table. I talked to him for hours and was fascinated with what he was doing. I have been thinking about this since.
Enough of my rambling. Thank you for helping me get to where I am…