Monday 31 May 2010

Mega RepRap sheild

I've been working for a couple of weeks on a RepRap Arduino Mega shield. I've got a mix of early generation 2 electronics, a few home-made single sided generation 3 stepper boards, and old arduino with a screw-terminal shield and a brand-new arduino mega.

I designed myself a version of an arduino mega shield to connect the gen3 stepper boards using the 10-pin IDC cables, and it might be useful for anyone transitioning between generations of electronics. Headlines:
  • Single-sided for home-made boards
  • 5 stepper driver headers - x,y,z,a,b - should match existing gen3 electronics.
  • (future-proof?) UI interface header that *should* match gen4 electronics.
  • Heater 10-pin IDC (to plug in MOSFET driver board later) - should be able to drive a reprap setup with 1 or 2 extruders/ heated bed without an additional extruder board.
  • I2c header as per standard boards
  • Optional extra 3-pin headers for digital in\out and analog in : +5v, GND, and data pin. This makes it easy to add temperature sensors, kill switches, extra limit switches, etc (I'm only using the min endstops).
If you think it might be useful, the files are here :
Eagle files for Renoir's RepRap Mega Shield

I've just etched one using my laserprinter/laminator method, and I've just etched two more single-sided stepper drivers. I'll post some photos once it's been assembled.

p.s. All files (and anything on this blog) available under creative commons attribution 3.0 licence.
:-)

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