Reprap Status - Electronics, Wiring, and Firmware
We have started one of the final phases of building a 3D-printer--electronics and wiring.
We are using a RAMPS 1.4, with an Arduino Mega 2560, and a 12-volt DC power supply. For our wiring, we are using Dorman Conduct-Tite primary wire and just a normal computer power cable.
The whole setup is pretty straight-forward. (You can view the RAMPS wiring instructions here.)
However, I encountered some problems when I started testing. The Arduino gets power, which is awesome, because I had a problem in the past with a broken board. At first glance, everything seemed to be working well.
Then I went to actually do stuff with it.
Nothing would move. The printer would connect to my laptop, but nothing would move. Upon further inspection, I found that the power supply was not working. I tried various combinations of wiring, only to have no results.
Next I got into the firmware. I turned off endstops, I turned off various other settings that I was sure didn't have to do with the power, but went for anyway. Basically, at this point, I was stabbing in the dark and hoping that it wasn't broken hardware.
Sure enough, it turns out it is.
So now, we await another ordering of the power supply. (*Ahem*, Matt). I will probably bring mine in to continue building, or at least, test the currently-working systems.