[HOWTO] Convert Da Vinci Jr to RAMPS 1.4 (Page 8 of 11)

Check the connection of your heating element with meter to see if it actually gets the power and double check if you have power output from your D10. Hot end heater don't have direction, just make sure your D10 have 12V out put and your heater actually gets the power.

If your D10 give 12V, your heater don't gets it, redo the wiring. If your D10 give 24V, you need new heater, you can get 2 for $5 on ebay, and you need 24V version.

If board don't output 12V, check your marlin configuration.h and see if you get the settings right. or you burned your MOSFET, get an replacement on ebay for about $5.

You can't extract the firmware. It is encoded and all you get is a bin file. You would have to have the non-encoded firmware because there will be edits you would need to make as well as port assignment changes to.

What kind of speed are you looking for? On a machine of that size and materials it is made of the best you could do without ringing and other anomalies would be 40mm/s while 25 to 30mm/s is more realistic. the only gain from the conversion is being open source and being much more quite.

Well, I have two Jr converted to RAMPS, they have no problem printing at 40mm/s, it generate significantly more noise however, I have to limit the speed to 30mm/s to make it stay quite.

However, after conversion, it take longer to print a object than with the stock firmware. The stock firmware prints at over-extrusion mode and therefore the nozzle move significant less distance. That is how Jr. can print at slow speed and stay quiet and still manage to print a object in reasonable amount of time. After conversion, I slice with Cura setting nozzle to 0.5mm and 0.6mm and achieve similar result at 20mm/s in similar amount of time. And XYZprinting filament is giving much better result at this setting when compared with 3rd party filament. However, when set nozzle to 0.4mm, it gives much better result after conversion while take longer time if set at the same speed.

So I think the gain from the conversion is
1. Being open source, work with most of slicer software and servers.

2. being much more quite if you set motor current carefully and don't destroy the case. This is the primary reason I did the conversion.

2. Increased resolution. I did not expect this, but I think you can achieve this by slice with cura and convert your file with three-dub without convert to ramps.

3. Increased strength of the print. For reason I don't fully understood, my print generated with XYZprinting filament did not last long. They break easier and I have to reprint it after the conversion with 3rd party filament. My speculation is the PLA filament XYZprinting use is pure or made with ultra fine powder so that they works better in over-extrusion mode. The 3rd party filament have different filling (non-PLA stuff) and is less fine grounded and enhance physically property of the final print.

based on the printing quality, I would also recommend people to avoid xyzprinting.
based on the filament price, I would also recommend people to avoid Da vinvi Jr. and mini
however, these two problem can be avoided by RAMPS conversion.

Only advantage of Da vinci Jr. really has is the case for the noise control when taking the price of the machine into consideration. if printing noise doesn't borther you, don't buy it.

after ramps conversion, the only thing borthers me sometimes is the print size, but I have not so far find anything can print bigger and quiet affordable.

mechanical one is good, easy to use and simple to wire. just follow the instruction on your ramps board for wiring, it is simple and you are unlikely to fry anything. then remove the old end stop.

You may need to print out some mount for the mechanical endstop if your endstop does not fit or you have trouble to mount it.
These mount are for Da Vince 1.0, it may or may not fit Jr. but you can easily make some adjustment with tinkcad.
http://www.techmonkeybusiness.com/model … _Files.zip

Just finished printing a new hot end holder and a mount for the ramps.  Will post pictures when done.  Just have to mount and shorten all wires and put the case back on.

All proprietary electronics removed.  Even the board in the hot end.  Will be replacing the hot end with a genuine e3d lite.

Burned out one endstop so siliconed one in the Z.  You only need a 220ohm resistor on each endstop  (I put inline with some heat shrink over it). You can enable pull ups in ramps.

The mounts are integrated into the z and y.  Trying to figure out where I can position some microswitches.

It was my fault, shorted it out.  Endstops seem to be all the same.  Either way plan on switching them to small mechanical switches.

Probably cost more to modify this printer than buy another but then wouldn't learn anything.  I am actually surprised at the prints coming out of this thing now.  They are flawless.  Plus I like the enclosure.

Looking to add heated bed now.

If your neighbors can hear your printer then you have VERY thin walls or very NOSEY neighbors. I have used all sorts of 3d printers and I have never had a single one that could be heard through a wall or behind a closed door.

Almost done.  Complete strip down and rewire. Printed a bracket for the ramps board on the side.

Ok ladies and gents, can you guys help a mechanical fitter out with this electronic shizzle?
I don’t know if this will work but I tried attaching a sketch of what I’m understanding the optical endstop wiring to look like? Can anyone verify this please?

check with multimeter on ground and signal. you should get very low voltage by default. once endstop blocked by paper. voltage increase to greater than 3v