Talk:Ultimaker's v1.3 PCB
A few questions:
When will you start selling the PCBs or kits for this shield on your website? How much would they cost?
Will this work with the firmware on the RAMPS page, use the RAMPS firmware but change some of the settings on the configuration.h file, or do you use your own custom firmware?
Is there upcoming support for thermocouples or SD cards?
-ZNahum
From the comments made by JohnnyR, the boards are not too far away from being mass manufactured and sold through the UltiMaker website.
It is using a thermocouple sensor, the AD595, and requires only changes in the config.h and pins.h files in the standard firmware.
The Tonokip firmware, appears from my POV, that it is the same as the standard firmware, but with the correct pinout for use with RAMPS.
I on the other hand I am redoing the board, before I knew that he was also doing the same thing, for the amusement of myself, using the MAX6675 as the thermocouple sensor and locking headers. It won't be for sale, but rather be easily manufactured at home, on a RepRap or toner transfer method, though be prepared to do a lot of drilling, my aim to reduce this is to use as few vias as possible, using my experience at work when I do mods on production pcbs.
Both my board and JohnnyR's will be able to be made single sided.
SD card support as well as a second extuder/DC servo and LCD support is not in this current revision. My extended plan, is that someone will develop a shield that is tiered above RAMPS to provide those features, as the board is too full to add anymore features.
Grogyan
I am aware of the board you are working on and fully support your efforts.
Doesn't JohnnyR work at UltiMachine and not UltiMaker? Both places have their own website and stores, so I'm guessing they are different groups working on RepRap projects.
I'm currently building a Prusa Mendel and am now considering the electronics. What I like about this board over JohnnyR's is that it has separate ports for the motors instead of modifying the Pololu Driver pins and it has more driver ports. My main question was when they are selling the boards because buying it from BatchPCB is quite expensive (or I can buy six of them for $20 more +shipping and have to sell them off).
-ZNahum
Sorry my mistake, yes, UltiMachine.
Yes, he will be selling them, but i'll let him say when. I don't work for either business or have my own store.
There are other companies in the world that do small batches, like 1 or 2 off for next to nothing. one I was going to deal with was PCB123, which have their own integrated schematic and board designer.
Recently a company started up near where I live that does small batches locally, still a bit expensive, but who really wants to drill some 100 holes? :)
All I suggest is to look around, or wait for UltiMachine to stock them.
Grogyan
Suggestions & Mistakes
Suggestions:
Have the mosfets be flat on the PCB so heatsinks can be attached to them or have vertical heatsinks added to the board. (They are going to get hot quickly.)
Separate the SPI pins so people can attached SD Cards/Thermistors/etc. to them. (They currently have resistors attached to them so I am assuming that you had originally intended that port to be used for the LCD.)
Have a 5 volt power connector included with the endstop ports so they can power opto/mechanical switches.
Have actual part numbers in the BOM. (i.e. state the tolerance voltage for the capacitors or a manufacture's part number for the capacitor you are using)
Mistakes:
The file name, schematic, BOM, and board files all state that that they are for the version 1.1.
What Grogyan is working on
Suggestions:
-Have the mosfets be flat on the PCB so heatsinks can be attached to them or have vertical heatsinks added to the board. (They -are going to get hot quickly.)
On my board the FETs are mounted vertically, once i've done the layout i'll get it fabbed, and if there is enough space to mount them flat I will. The FETs are rated at 55A, so in theory they shouldn't get hot, because they are power limited by the power supply, typically 60W, or 12V @ 5A max.
-Separate the SPI pins so people can attached SD Cards/Thermistors/etc. to them. (They currently have resistors attached to -them so I am assuming that you had originally intended that port to be used for the LCD.)
SPI is an odd beast, when i've worked on it, it's usually been 1 per communicating device, however the way the board is, having a Proto board tiered above should allow you to access any pins you like.
-Have a 5 volt power connector included with the endstop ports so they can power -opto/mechanical switches.
I can't think of why you want to operated a mechanical switch, like a relay, and most of the time the MAX end stops aren't used, so you can mount them there if you like. If you mean simple mechanical switches, like a micro switch, there there isn't anything you need to do, just plug and play.
