@Nathan_Walkner At this point tens of thousands of RAMPS type boards have been used with good results. For the price/performance it’s a good option and in most applications a relay triggered heated bed isn’t required. The issue at hand isn’t the application of any specific solution but rather the safety of having someone with little to no experience work with live line power.
@Nathan_Walkner Tell you what, go grab a 24v PSU, power it up, and grab V+ and V- with each hand. Come back and tell us what that feels like. Then cut a power cord in half, plug it in, grab hot and neutral with your two hands, then come back and tell us… well… nevermind, I guess we’ll just have to read about it in the obit page.
I’ve been shocked twice by malfunctioning 3d printers because of cheap Chinese components, but it’s never been more than a tingle, because 24vdc is only dangerous with very low resistance shorts. What scares ME is dumb-shit newbies running mains power to an i3-style Y-bed (ulgh), fatiguing or fretting away the wire insulation, and electrocuting themselves (or their kid) when the entire frame goes hot.
The only beds where I wouldn’t be concerned about mains voltage heaters are large deltas or other stationary-bed designs, built by experienced and competent makers. Or maybe a Z-bed IF it’s flex-rated wiring inside a cable chain with suitable bend radius. (Even a lot of OEMs screw up the cable chain bend radius thing.)
Yes, high bed currents through crappy RAMPS boards is a serious safety issue, I completely agree with that. Although from what I see around the web, a much larger percentage of cheap SSRs burn up than cheap RAMPS boards. In either case, that is exactly why people building high-power printers need to shell out for slightly higher quality than AliExpress garbage.
@Nathan_Walkner The difference? Number of terminations, length of wiring, location of wiring, flexing of wiring, and number of unreliable components carrying hazardous voltage levels between the wall outlet and the load. Any monkey with an Internet connection can figure out how to strip the end of a power cable and hook up three terminals a few inches away.
Time to turn down the libertarian bent arguments. This has strayed quite far off track. Yes you have the right to use anything you want. Yes others have the right to advise their fellows about dangers. No we don’t need to have an argument over people not wanting to be told what’s dangerous. I suggest everyone move on.