Constructing a 3D Printer [Prusa I3]

Constructing a 3D Printer [Prusa I3]

SECTION 5 - Electronics - Page 1
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5

Wooden frame : part 1 - part 2 - part 3

Y Axis : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
X-Z axis : part 1 - part 2
Extruder : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
Electronics : [[ part 1 ]] - part 2 - part 3

LETHAL VOLTAGES INVOLVED. I DO NOT TAKE ANY

RESPONSABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES. PROCEED WITH
CAUTION
We need a schematic in order to construct our printer.
The schematic can be found below :

We unbox our power supply (S-250-12 5V / 20A

MAX)

Select your input voltage (220/110V). In Europe we use 220V.

Front view of the power supply :

For security reasons we have to make a front cover for our power supply.
We need :
3 pieces 165x20x10mm for the front panel
2 pieces 60x20x10mm for the legs
1 piece 145x20x10mm for the top
1 piece 165x20x10mm for the top part 2
10 M3 woodscrews 20 mm long
Wood glue
The schematics can be found here [open the dxf with LibreCAD]
In order to open the included 3D Model use FreeCAD.
Assemble the front mask like below :

The three red cylinders indicate the screws that fix the mask on the power supply.
Glue the panel using clamps

Put the screws on the

front
Lateral view :

Back view :

Finished panel :

Notice this is another panel but the design is the same.

Make the two front cuts using a drill and a rasp.

Cut 4 pair-wires like the photo below. (1 meter each)

You have to mark the negative pole of each pair.

The negative pole is marked with a black strip
Use a multimeter if you are not sure.
Place the wires.
Notice two pairs are in parallel (used for the heatbed).

The forth pair is indicated by the red and black line.

Now cut your 220V cable carefull

Grind the legs of the 220V switch

Place the switch into the panel and solder the 220V switch with the power cord.
Use heatshrink tubes in order to isolate the live connections.
Notice that this kind of switch has polarity in order to function correctly the led.

Pass the 12V cables through the slot (4 pairs).

Double-check the polarity of the 220V cables and of the switch.
Shrink the heatshrink tubes. Or isolate using hotglue.

Now screw the 3 pairs into the Ramps 1.4 jack like the photo below .
Notice that the black sign is the negative pole.

Notice again that the left line (11A) has two parallel cable pairs.

IMPORTANT Double/triple check your 220V and 12V connections :

Screw the wooden mask into your power supply.

The final result of our power supply :

Add a 80mm fan over the top using zip ties.

Fix the 220V power cable with zip ties also on the power case.

Use the forth cable pair in order to power the fan.

CAUTION re-check everything before pluging the power supply into the mains.
Make sure that the 12V cables are not shorted. Test the power supply using a multimeter

:
If you get 12 - 12.5 V you are good to go .
If you are way off then shut down the power, remove the plug from the mains, unscrew
the wooden mask and adjust the trimpot with a screwdriver shown below :

Do not adjust this trimpot with the mains plugged.

SECTION 5 - Electronics - Page 2

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3
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5

Wooden frame : part 1 - part 2 - part 3

Y Axis : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
X-Z axis : part 1 - part 2
Extruder : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
Electronics : part 1 - [[ part 2 ]] - part 3

We need to prepare our Ramps 1.4

Solder the diode like the photos below.

Please notice the polarity.

Unbox your four StepStick A4988 drivers.

Solder carefully all the pin legs of the A4988 drivers.

Measure the resistor Rs.

Unfortunately not all the A4988 drivers have the same Rs resistor.
We need to find this value in order to limit our maximum current.
We must not exceed 1.7 A for our 42BYGHW811 motors.
Try to find out your correct type of stepper motor driver that you use.
For the pololu we have Rs=0.05 Ohm

Ebay blue stepstick. Rs=0.1

Ohm
Older reprapworld stepstick Rs=0.2 Ohm

A better and more secure way to find Rs is to measure the two Rs resistors with a
precise multimeter into the Ohm range.
I am going to use a UT61E multimeter.
We need a multimeter capable to "detect" two digits after the decimal point.
In order to do this measurement you need to attach the two leads and press the relative
button (). Be sure you get relatively 0 ohms. This way you set the relative resistance of
the multimeter leads to zero.
If you get 0.01 Ohm for example retry by pressing the relative button () again.

Below is the measurement of the ebay stepstick Rs=0.1 Ohm

Place the heatsinks to the drivers. Do not ignore this step.

Pay attention to not shortcircuit some pins with the heatsink

Place the four drivers at Ramps.

Notice the polarity.

Place a heatsink to the mosfet Q3.

The assembly order is :
Screw head / Insulation Bushing / Mosfet Hole / Insulation Film / Heatsink TO220
Please do not ignore the insulation bushing & film.
Take a look at the picture below :

Clip Ramps board over the arduino mega board.

Now we have to do all the cabling.

Find your cables.

x3 for the endstops
x4 for the motors [X,Y,Z,Extruder]
x2 for the thermistors [Extruder,heatbed]
x2 [one parallel pair] for the heatbed

The schematic :

Plugging the cables :

Connect the heatbed with ramps by doing these steps :

Separate the two legs of the thermistor EPCOS B57560G104F and isolate each leg with
kapton tape.
Crimp or twist the thermistor legs with the wire.

Parallelize the two pair cables and make one thicker pair.
Solder the unified pair into the heatbed.
Stick the thermistor into the hole and keep it stable using kapton tape.

Plug carefully all your wires into ramps like the two photos below :

Do not forget to solder the motor cables with the ramps cables. Pay attention soldering
the same color cables.
Notice into the T0 you have to plug the extruder thermistor and into T1 the
heatbed thermistor.

Constructing a 3D Printer [Prusa I3]

SECTION 5 - Electronics - Page 3
Section
Section
Section
Section
Section

1
2
3
4
5

Wooden frame : part 1 - part 2 - part 3

Y Axis : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
X-Z axis : part 1 - part 2
Extruder : part 1 - part 2 - part 3
Electronics : part 1 - part 2 - [[ part 3 ]]

Now we have to limit our A4988 drivers using the formula :

Imax = Vref/(8*Rs)
We need to set the X,Y,Z drivers at Imax = 1.2A
Notice since the Z motors are in parallel I_z_max=Imax/2 => I_z_max=0.6A
So we have to set :
For a pololu A4988 Rs=0.05 ohm => Vref=0.48V
For a StepStick A4988 Rs=0.1 ohm => Vref=0.95V [this was my case]
For a reprapworld A4988 Rs=0.2 ohm => Vref=1.90V

For the extruder driver we have to limit it at Imax=1A

So we have to set :
For a pololu A4988 Rs=0.05 ohm => Vref=0.40V
For a StepStick A4988 Rs=0.1 ohm => Vref=0.80V
For a reprapworld A4988 Rs=0.2 ohm => Vref=1.60V [this was my case]
Calculate Vref using a multimeter at DC volts range.
Turn on the power supply and measure Vref like the pictures below.
The Vref+ is located at the trimpot of each driver.
Vref- is the ground.
Once measured the Vref switch off the power supply. Turn 15 degrees the trimpot
(clockwise increses the Vref) using a small screwdriver.
Remove the screwdriver and then switch on the power supply.
Remeasure Vref again.
Do not try to change Vref with the power on.
Do this procedure for all four drivers individually.

You are almost done !

Using two M3 wood screws 10 mm long, screw the arduino board into the bottom of the
wooden frame like the picture below :

Block the power supply with the frame using perforated metal tape.
Top view :

Back view :

Now do some cable managment.

You must also place a 80 mm fan into ramps.

First way - Place by side :

Alternative way - Place over the top :

The printed part shown above (printed twice) can be downloaded here.
It is thing:138370 on thingiverse.
Notice that even if it needed a 60 mm fan i mounted a 80mm fan. It is better to use a 80
mm fan on ramps.
Connect the forth 12V wire with the two 80 mm fans [Ramps fan and power supply fan]
and with the small 30mm extruder fan
Notice that the fans have red (+) and black (-) cable.
Connect them with the correct polarity.

Hotglue the 12V screw terminal.

Final result :

By doing this procedure you have set up all your electronic parts.
Your stepper motors should be connected with ramps.
Also both fans (ramps & power supply) should work when the power is on.

By this time we have finished all the construcion of our prusa I3 engine.
The only thing to do is to fix the X-Z frame with the Y axis and start calibrating our
machine.
In the next section we will see how we can calibrate our machine and what software we
need in order to start printing !

Goal
By the end of this step your RepRap machine should look like this:

And in addition it will have an aluminium plate on top of the red circuit board.

Tools
You will need the following tools:
1. M3 Allen key
2. Cross-head screwdriver
3. Multimeter

4. Soldering iron and solder

Parts
Hardware

Quantity

Lasercut insulator

PCB bed heater

Glass printing plate

Foldback spring clips

M3 x 40mm screws

30mm springs

M3 nuts

13

M3 washers

16

10K glass bead thermistor

(arrowed; this is very very
small;spec here)

twin ribbon wire

1.1m

20A wire

1.1m

3mm LED

1k resistor

Aluminium heat spreader

M3 x 10mm or 16mm countersunk

screws*

3mm dia. Heatshrink (usually black)

30mm

5.5mm dia. Heatshrink (usually grey)

30mm

Cable tie

*Either works fine.

Click the image for a high-res version.

At this stage you will have a long piece of 20A wire. Use all of it. As the last step in these instructions
you will cut it to length.
Get the twin ribbon wires by stripping them off the wider ribbon cable supplied with the kit. If that
ribbon cable has a colored stripe down one side, strip the two wires furthest from it. If it has no
coloured stripe, strip from one side, then put the remaining ribbon flat on the bench and run a felttipped marker down one side:

This will make the wires in it easier to identify later. Set the wider ribbon aside for later use.

Step 1: Main assembly

Use the countersunk screws together with four nuts and washers to sandwich the heated bed PCB
between the aluminium plate and the MDF insulator.
The zig-zag heater track on the PCB faces up towards the aluminium plate.
Make sure that the PCB solder terminals, the rectangular cut in the insulator, and the notch out of the
aluminium plate all line up.
Take care not to break the lasercut springs in the corner of the insulator. (These are to allow for
differential expansion.)

Here is a view of the underside. Use a pencil to mark + and - as shown. This will help with the wiring.

Step 2: Wiring

Bend the LED's legs and resistor legs as shown above and insert them from the MDF insulator side.
The longer LED leg goes to the end marked +.

The LED and the resistor are in series, and the two of them together are in parallel with the main
heater element - the zig-zag pattern of the PCB.

Solder the LED and the resistor as shown on the aluminium plate side. You may find this easier if you
prop the bed up on something clear of the bench.
Trim the wires flush with the top of the PCB using side cutters. Make sure that the connections do not
project higher than the thickness of the aluminium plate, or they will foul the glass plate which will go
on top of it.
Locate the 10K Glass Bead thermistor. This is very small and can get lost in the folds of the bag. It
looks like this (M3 nut for size comparison):

Solder the twin ribbon wires onto the thermistor as shown above. Stagger the connections. Use the
insulation stripped from the short connection to insulate the thermistor wire.
Tin the ends of the wires, then tin the wires on the thermistor, then sweat them together.

Insulate the joins with a length of heatshrink.

Strip the insulation from the other ends of the wires and use your meter to check the resistance. It
should be about 10K ohms, though the exact value will depend on room temperature.

Bend the thermistor at right angles and tape it to the bed. Make sure it goes through the hole in the
insulator and the hole in the PCB and touches the aluminium plate. If you like you can add a little
heatsink grease to improve the thermal contact between the thermistor and the plate.

Pack the hole in the insulator with something fluffy: cotton wool or a bit of scrunched tissue both work
well. Put tape over the hole. (The LED and resistor are the wrong way round in this picture - ignore
them.)
Lead the wires to the edge of the bed where the two cable-grip holes are and tape them down. Use
the holes on the side you marked -. Note the strain relief loop; don't run the wires straight.

Bare the ends of the high current wire. Put heatshrink on such that it covers only a couple of mm of
the bare strands.
The picture shows one wire complete, the other ready to be wrapped.

Push the wires through the bed as shown and bend them flat against the tinned areas of the PCB
(you may need to drill the holes out with a 3mm diameter drill first. Do this from the tinned side to get
a clean hole). The wire with the black stripe goes to the side marked -. Solder the wires. Be generous
with the solder (it's giving both mechanical strength and high current carrying capacity), but again
make sure that the join is lower than the thickness of the aluminium plate.
Put the glass plate on the aluminium and make sure that none of the wires nor the LED stick out and
foul it.

Use the cable tie to attach the high-current wires and the thermistor wires. Again, note that the highcurrent wires are not pulled taught. They have a strain relief loop. Make sure they do not project too
far on the MDF insulator side - if they do bend them gently flatter.
Pull the cable tie good and tight (but take care not to break the lasercut insulator), and then clip the
excess off it.

Step 3: Attach to the machine

Put the three long screws through the mounting holes with washers under their heads.
Put the springs on. The sequence from the screw head goes:

1. Screw head
2. Washer
3. MDF insulator
4. Washer
5. Spring
6. Washer
7. Nut
8. Nut

If you want a superb machine (of course you do), before you mount the bed put a little superglue on
the heads of the screws that hold down the toothed-belt clamps, cut two rectangles of aluminium foil
about 20 mm x 30 mm and glue these onto the screw heads. These will act as a heat shield, and will
prevent the printed clamps from getting warm.
Note that we will shortly upgrade the design of the Y bearing mounts to move the hexagonal nut cavity
to the top of them when when they are mounted in the machine. This will make bed adjustment easier.
Either way, pull the nuts into their hexagonal recesses in the printed bearing holders on the Y carriage
with a shorter screw with a washer under its head. Take care that the nut and the hexagon are
aligned.

Use the last three nuts and washers to mount the bed on the machine. If you have the newer variant
the washers go underneath and you need to leave the lower nuts lose for the moment. If you have the
older variant the washers go on top, and you need to do the nuts up on both sides of the printed Y
bearing holder finger tight.
Adjust the screws to get the bed roughly level (measure the heights of the corners above the Y rods
with digital callipers).
Tighten the nuts against the Y carriage to secure the bed.
Adjust the nuts above that set the spring compression so that the bed is held firmly against the screw
heads, but can be pushed down with a finger.
Fit the glass plate using the four clips and check that the Y axis moves freely back and forth. Then
take the glass off and put it in a safe place - you don't want to break it as you build the rest of the
machine...
Finally, take a look at the wiring page and run the fat cable roughly along the route it will take round
the machine. Cut it a little long (you don't want it to be too short...) and save the rest - you will use the
remainder for the power supply and the other power wire in the machine.