RAMPS and Arduino??? Please help
So I am interested in acquiring a prusa i3 and I have a couple of questions about the electronics
What is the deal with the ramps shield, I don’t know much about Arduino. If I bought the stepper drivers and ramps shield, do I need to purchase an Arduino as well? If so what is the recommended Arduino to buy?
Yes you need both. Ramps and Arduino. Usually all 3d printing shops will sell you both
You’ll need an Arduino MEGA or a clone. http://sainsmart.com sells some cheap RAMPS 1.4 boards and knockoff Arduino MEGAs. I haven’t had any of their megas fail to work for me. There will be people telling you to “support arduino” by buying their overpriced boards…I wouldn’t.
Yeah an ‘Shield’ is an add on board that sits over/plugs into the arduino. no idea why they used the word ‘shield’ thou…
Additionally you could use RAMBo or RUMBA - they combine the Arduino Mega and the RAMPS on a single board.
Fora new user, go ahead and get the arduino mega and ramps or respective clone. It’s the defacto standard so you’ll have the easiest setup
If you can wait for shipping… deal extreme has an awesome deal on a full kit. DEFINITELY get the LCD Control Shield with it. Worth the $$ 10x over.
RAMPS: ($69)
http://dx.com/p/reprap-ramps-kit-3d-printer-extension-board-driver-board-shield-w-5-motor-driver-modules-192635
Mega (knock off): ($20.50)
RAMPS LCD: ($29)
http://dx.com/p/robotale-ramps-1-4-fr4-smart-control-board-w-lcd-sd-for-3d-printer-red-green-black-252744
Free shipping on all – but takes about a month to get the US usually.
@Justin_Hawkins sainsmart sells the RAMPS for like $24…
@ThantiK Assembelled WITH pololous? Doubtful.
The dx one has 5 pololous included.
Thanks everyone, lots of food for thought, cheers for the prices @Justin_Hawkins and @ThantiK
@Justin_Hawkins , they are built, but you have to pay a few bucks more to ship from states