1 (edited by Triple_S 2017-07-25 16:14:15)

Topic: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Hi guys,

First of all I would like to thank Anthem for his great guide on converting the da Vinci Jr to RAMPS, which I based my conversion on. Since I'm only explaining differences between his guide and the da Vinci Mini, please read his guide too, it's totally worth it: http://www.soliforum.com/topic/15273/ho … -ramps-14/

I performed the conversion on my da Vinci Mini w and like his conversion it's a total success. The printer may be printing even better now and since I don't need any NFC chips anymore, I can use filament bought for about one thired of the XYZPrinting price.

I would like to share a few experiences I made with other da Vinci Mini owners, cause there are a few differences between the Jr and the Mini printers. Sorry in advance for my bad english, I'm actually from germany.

My printer now looks like this:
http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/edde3a-1490711469.jpg

Power supply
One of the major differences is that the Mini is not powerd by 12 Volts like the Jr, but by 24 Volts.
The upside of that is that the currents flowing in the da Vinci Mini are only half as high as the ones in the Jr, so you can use thin cabels. Nevertheless I still used four wires for the extruder, cause there are still about 1.3 Amps flowing.
The downside is that since the RAMPS board has to be powered with 24 Volts too, you can't use it to power the Arduino directly, cause accoring to the manufacturer it can only take Voltages up to 20 Volts. Therefore you have to remove the diode D2 thats connecting the RAMPS power supply to the Arduino. It's placed directly under the place where the driver for the X motor is located. Because I did'nt want to power the Arduino over a second power supply, I replaced the diode with a AN7806 voltage regulator that decreses the 24 Volts to 6 Volts with which the Arduino can work. Even though the voltage regulator can take up to 1 Amp and there are usally only 0.1 Amps flowing through it, it gets pretty hot (I messured up to 70 °C) which is why I attached it to an extra heatsink.
I had no problems with that system at all, it's running flawlessly.
For the actual power supply I'm using a 24 Volts, 5 Amps switching power supply which is more than sufficient to power both the printer and my heated bed.

My electronics look this:
http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/ef6e9a-1490711428.jpg

Z motor
Surprisingly the Z motor does'nt have 200 major steps like the X, Y or Extruder motor, but only 48. Combined with the used M5 spiral, you have to set the steps per mm value in the firmware to 960 assuming your stepper driver is set to 1/16th steps. Otherwise you risk crashing the extruder bridge into the top of that printer. If that happens, press the Reset button on your RAMPS board FAST to prevent damage.

Accessability
I noticed that unlike Anthem wrote in his guide I had to remove nearly no parts from the printer to gain access to the needed parts. The only thing I had to remove is the plate that covers the mainboard of the printer. I left all cables in it, cause they are not in the way and I might build the printer back to stock version in case I need to use warranty.

Extruder
There are nearly no differences between the extruder of the Jr and the Mini. The heat detecting resistor should work fine with the settings of Anthem (Type 1). The only differences I noticed are that the parts of the extruder of the Mini are designed for 24 Volts instead of 12 Volts and that the flat stock cable is attached to the extruder not at the side but on the top. I removed the board in the extruder and routed the cabels I made for the extruder through the top and along the filament tube, so that they are out of the way.

Endstops
I guess the endstops of the Mini are the same like the ones in the Jr. I noticed that the middle cable of the 3 cables going to the endstops is used as ground. The cable with the Xs on it for the + power supply of the LED and the cable with the text on it is the signal cable. Like Anthem I had to add 220 Ohm resistors to power the LEDs without damaging them. The pullup resistors between +5V and the signal cables are not nessesary since they can be included by the RAMPS board if you define that in the firmware. Nevertheless I added 10 kOhm pullup resistors to be on the safe side.

Calibration
Except the Z calibration, the steps per mm settings should be the same as for the Jr. I calculated 80 steps per mm for the Y and X axis as well as [s]88[/s] (88 seems to be too much, I'm testing 86 at the moment) steps per mm for the extruder and the results are only divercing about 1/10th of a mm from the anticipated value. The maximum ranges of the axes I got are 0 - 170 for the X-axis, 0 - 185 for the Y-axis and 0 - 145 for the Z-axis.
Mind that I installed a heated bed which takes about 1 cm away from the Z-axis, so the actual range might be 0 - 155.
I am only giving these values to you as a guideline and am not responsible for any damages to your printers while using these values. I advice you all to test out your individual values very carefully and AFTER calibrating the steps per mm values. Also keep in mind that all these values only apply to the printer after it has been homed by the endstops, cause otherwise the printer does'nt know the 0 position!
The (0, 0) position of the bed (the left edge in front of the bed) is positioned at about (13, 20) relatively to the endstop positions. You have to define these values in your printer software, so it knows where the bed starts. The size of the bed is about 150x150.
Furthermore I about halfed the acceleration and maximum velocity values from the default firmware, cause it's much better for the print quality and protects the parts of the printer against damages.

Heated bed
As I already mentioned, I build myself a heated bed for the printer. Therefore I replaced the stock bed with a thin wooden plate which I can easiely drill through and which is much lighter than the original alu plate. I build the bed itself from an about 4mm thick alu plate which I attached a kapton foil on the top and two 15 Watts, 12 Volts car mirror heaters to. I connected them in line so that they an be powered by the 24 Volts of my RAMPS board. I attached the heat detecting resistor to the middle of the alu plate with a tiny screw.
Since the power of my heated bes is'nt too high, it can only reach temperatures of about 80 °C which is insufficient for printing ABS, but perfect for PLA.
Because the surface of the bed is now about 1 cm higher than the surface of the stock bed, the extruder bridge would crash into the bed while calibrating. Because of that, I raised the Z endstop with longer screws by about 1 cm which is the reason for my upper maximum of the Z axis being only 145 mm.

All in all I hope I could help everyone owning a da Vinci Mini and is considering converting it to RAMPS.
If you got any further questions, feel free to write me a PN or comment the thread.

Happy printing!

2

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Awesome job, Triple_S, and I'm glad you found my guide useful! Thanks for sharing!

It's interesting that XYZprinting went with a 24v supply for the Mini, I wasn't aware of that. Definitely adds a small complication to the mix.

I like your heated bed construction, too. I've debated recently the idea of adding a heated bed to my setup, but given that I've also expanded my Y axis to 425mm, I have a bit of a problem with buying off-the-shelf beds and making them fit smile I might be happy with a 150x300 heated bed since I rarely use the full 425mm length (but often use more than 150mm), but even that means I'd probably have to use two 150x150 off-the-shelf plates and put a solid aluminum or borosilicate layer on top, which can get tricky, if not expensive. Homegrown solutions may be an option yet.

3

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

That looks very interesting. Could you share you Marlin firmware to us with the right configuration?

4 (edited by Triple_S 2017-04-10 07:34:52)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

jjveldscholten wrote:

That looks very interesting. Could you share you Marlin firmware to us with the right configuration?

Of course, I attached the Configuration.h to this post.
Please keep in mind that although these values apply to my printer, yours might be different, so you have to test especially the endstops very carefully. By pressing the "RESET" button on the RAMPS board, you can stop all motors immediatly if one of your axis crashes.

The file should be compatible to the newest MARLIN release 1.0.2-2 https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marli … ag/1.0.2-2
If it's not, please tell me, cause I made a lot further adjustments like disableing the LCD screen timeout and changing the sound of the buzzer and I can't remember how much I had to change the Configuration.h file.

Post's attachments

Configuration.h 35.28 kb, 95 downloads since 2017-04-10 

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5

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Triple_S wrote:
jjveldscholten wrote:

That looks very interesting. Could you share you Marlin firmware to us with the right configuration?

Of course, I attached the Configuration.h to this post.
Please keep in mind that although these values apply to my printer, yours might be different, so you have to test especially the endstops very carefully. By pressing the "RESET" button on the RAMPS board, you can stop all motors immediatly if one of your axis crashes.

The file should be compatible to the newest MARLIN release 1.0.2-2 https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marli … ag/1.0.2-2
If it's not, please tell me, cause I made a lot further adjustments like disableing the LCD screen timeout and changing the sound of the buzzer and I can't remember how much I had to change the Configuration.h file.

I understand, I made my own RepRap, and it was a lot of work to do the confirugration file. But thanks for sharing it anyway. Im going to try this and hope for the best. Its a nice method to get rid of the NFC filament

6 (edited by Triple_S 2017-04-19 07:12:08)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

A little update on the status of my conversion:
I've now used my converted printer several times and I can say that the results are at least as good as they were before the conversion.

One thing I've noticed is that the steps per mm setting for the extruder motor, which was 88, was too high for my printer as after quite some time printing, the extruder motor pushed too much filament towards the extruder. I set the steps per mm setting of the extruder motor to 86 now and it's looking good so far.

7 (edited by Hildev 2017-06-20 13:08:22)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Just finished converting mine, since these guides helped alot i thought id share the result.
http://soliforum.com/i/?pPswMiL.jpg
http://soliforum.com/i/?grww6pd.jpg
Looks alot better without the plastic case.
Just needs a partcooling fan and some cable management.
The config file did not work for Marlin 1.1.1. So im attaching my config aswell. But i use the exakt same values.

Thanks to Anthem and Triple_S for sharing their work.

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Configuration.h 57.25 kb, 77 downloads since 2017-06-20 

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8

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Hello, I'm Jose.

I bought a Da Vinci mini a few months ago and I didn't noticed that they don't work third party filaments, It was my first experience with 3d printers and I was about to flunk with this topic but I started buying materials from XYZprinting, now that I have a little bit more experience I want to try this convertion, what should I need? and I want to know if there's a guide to do it correctly, because I tried to enter in the link that Triple_S attached but I couldn't access to it. Thanks in advance.

9

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

josegaltoy wrote:

Hello, I'm Jose.

I bought a Da Vinci mini a few months ago and I didn't noticed that they don't work third party filaments, It was my first experience with 3d printers and I was about to flunk with this topic but I started buying materials from XYZprinting, now that I have a little bit more experience I want to try this convertion, what should I need? and I want to know if there's a guide to do it correctly, because I tried to enter in the link that Triple_S attached but I couldn't access to it. Thanks in advance.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/15273/ho … -ramps-14/

10

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Hello, i wanted to add my config.h too.

I make this upgrade start 2017 and used the same parameters now. It was ugly to find the right parameters for the Z Axis.

I made some changes so that the nozzle fan turns at 50°C on. and the X/Y Limitswitches are inverted. (NO)

So i wanted to share my Marlin 1.1.1 with my little changed config.h. Its a compare from Tripple_S and the config from Hildev. Thanks you too!

http://soliforum.com/i/?tjW5RZK.jpg

Post's attachments

Marlin-1.1.1.rar 1.72 mb, 49 downloads since 2018-01-12 

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11

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Marlin have 1.1.7 came out, I think it worth the upgrade.

(Da Vinci 1.0, Jr. 1.0 RAMPS, miniMaker) X4, (Creality CR-10S, CR-10 mini, Ender-3) X4, Anycubic MEGA X4, Anycubic Chrion X1, ADMILAB Gantry X2 (MonoPrice Maker Select V2, Plus, Ultimate)X4--Select mini X1, Anycubic photon X4, Wanhao duplicate D7 X1.
iNSTONE Inventor Pro X2, CTC Dual X2, ANET-A8, Hictop 3DP-11, Solidoodle Press, FLSUN I3 2017X1

12 (edited by carl_m1968 2018-01-12 19:50:36)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

I have found that sometimes an upgrade can actually cause problems. Especially true with Marlin and any other firmware for tat reason. My rule of thumb is if it is not broken or not working then don't upgrade. I have had too many things ruined by a so called upgrade.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

13

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Not sure about miniMaker, but Marlin 1.1.7 works on RAMPS converted Jr. I did turn off some non-essential function such as SD card file sorting to avoid overheat Arduino board. And you can always go back to Marlin 1.1.1 if anything didn't work out for you.

(Da Vinci 1.0, Jr. 1.0 RAMPS, miniMaker) X4, (Creality CR-10S, CR-10 mini, Ender-3) X4, Anycubic MEGA X4, Anycubic Chrion X1, ADMILAB Gantry X2 (MonoPrice Maker Select V2, Plus, Ultimate)X4--Select mini X1, Anycubic photon X4, Wanhao duplicate D7 X1.
iNSTONE Inventor Pro X2, CTC Dual X2, ANET-A8, Hictop 3DP-11, Solidoodle Press, FLSUN I3 2017X1

14 (edited by carl_m1968 2018-01-16 21:39:43)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

tylerebowers wrote:

Could someone help me, I'm new to ramps and the extruder is taking forever to heat up Because I am only sending 12v to it but the extruder needs 24v. so how do I send 24v to the extruder.

You get a 24 volt power supply and relay. Use the controlled signal from the RAMPS to control the relay. The use the relay to control the 24 volts from the supply to the extruder heater.

Time is not the only issue you will have if you try to run it 12 volts. it will not be able to maintain temperature during long print moves either which will result in poor extrusion and even jams.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

15

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Cheaper and easier alternative will be buy 12V 40W heating element and 12V hotend fan.

https://www.amazon.com/WAHHING-6X20mm-C … end+heater

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CS … &psc=1

I think Carl's way you will have 24V system, which heat up slightly faster than 12V system for hotend. It will be much better solution if you plan to add heated bed because 24V heated bed heat up much faster than 12V system. However, if you are not confident on how to do it, the chance of burn the RAMPS board or MEGA board by mistake can be high.

(Da Vinci 1.0, Jr. 1.0 RAMPS, miniMaker) X4, (Creality CR-10S, CR-10 mini, Ender-3) X4, Anycubic MEGA X4, Anycubic Chrion X1, ADMILAB Gantry X2 (MonoPrice Maker Select V2, Plus, Ultimate)X4--Select mini X1, Anycubic photon X4, Wanhao duplicate D7 X1.
iNSTONE Inventor Pro X2, CTC Dual X2, ANET-A8, Hictop 3DP-11, Solidoodle Press, FLSUN I3 2017X1

16

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Can someone send me a lic of their extruder/hotbed boards original connections? I just need to know which ones connect to the left 2 dupont plugs and which ones connect to the right if I'm not mistaken the "z probe" connect on the bottom right and the top right connection is the hotbed but I don't know which one on the left is thermistor and which one is fan and polarity for the fan on j3 or j4. Note! This is for a stock board, I fried my ramps board and going back stock temporarily, just need help as this is all I like to be able to print. Sorry for the long winded post and thanks in advance

17

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

This work for da Vinci miniMaker too?

18

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

kopytov91 wrote:

This work for da Vinci miniMaker too?

Considering that it worked for the Jr, and the Mini probably is more dissimilar to the Jr than the Mini is to the Mini Maker, Id think it would work. Id actually be surprised if there were very many if any differences between the Mini Maker and the Mini (or Mini W). But at the end of the day, if its different it can still be done, just by thinking about what your doing.

19

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

kopytov91 wrote:

This work for da Vinci miniMaker too?


Once the logic and firmware is removed from the equation any controller will work. If you strip any printer down you will see they are all the same for the most part at a hardware level.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

20 (edited by nickeloaded 2018-06-26 18:16:53)

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Thanks Guys for your posts and ideas.
I converted my broken MiniMaker to a Geeetech GT2560-Board with success and struggle:

http://soliforum.com/i/?OzON4Wi.jpg
The sensors got modified with a 470 Ohm resistor(THT) between VCC and LED.
CUT the original PCB-Path!
An additional 10kOhm PullUp-resistor(SMD) is soldered between signal and Supply Voltage(not neccessary with internal pullups enabled).
The 2-pol Min and Max conncectors at the Geetech-Board were replaced with 3pol(including VCC).
After this the original Sensors could be connected directly to the Geeetech Board.

http://soliforum.com/i/?2qmbzxo.jpg

I used 20pol Flatwires(grey) to connect to extruder/hotend with 8 wires used for the heating element.
The entire electronic(except Display) is mounted inside.

A display holder/case is missing at the moment;)
After printing this case I will completely assemble the original case.

http://soliforum.com/i/?k2e4QZU.jpg

Some further Infos:
1.) Geeetech soldered 1kOhm resistor to their Power-Status-Leds... that´s way to low and overheating at 24V... I replaced them by 3.3kOhm. -.-
2.) I had to resolder the Board at some points to remove fails from their production-.-
3.) The LCD-Unit or cables did not match... connectors had to be turned by 180° -.-
4.) The supplied firmware is based on Marlin 1.0.2 ... I had to compile Marlin 1.1.8 for this Board by myself.
5.) I have to use about 10°C-15°C more nozzle temperature when printing (compared to before PLA, PETG, ABS not yet used).

21

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

nickeloaded wrote:

Thanks Guys for your posts and ideas.
I converted my broken MiniMaker to a Geeetech GT2560-Board with success and struggle:

http://soliforum.com/i/?OzON4Wi.jpg
The sensors got modified with a 470 Ohm resistor(THT) between VCC and LED.
CUT the original PCB-Path!
An additional 10kOhm PullUp-resistor(SMD) is soldered between signal and Supply Voltage(not neccessary with internal pullups enabled).
The 2-pol Min and Max conncectors at the Geetech-Board were replaced with 3pol(including VCC).
After this the original Sensors could be connected directly to the Geeetech Board.

http://soliforum.com/i/?2qmbzxo.jpg

I used 20pol Flatwires(grey) to connect to extruder/hotend with 8 wires used for the heating element.
The entire electronic(except Display) is mounted inside.

A display holder/case is missing at the moment;)
After printing this case I will completely assemble the original case.

http://soliforum.com/i/?k2e4QZU.jpg

Some further Infos:
1.) Geeetech soldered 1kOhm resistor to their Power-Status-Leds... that´s way to low and overheating at 24V... I replaced them by 3.3kOhm. -.-
2.) I had to resolder the Board at some points to remove fails from their production-.-
3.) The LCD-Unit or cables did not match... connectors had to be turned by 180° -.-
4.) The supplied firmware is based on Marlin 1.0.2 ... I had to compile Marlin 1.1.8 for this Board by myself.
5.) I have to use about 10°C-15°C more nozzle temperature when printing (compared to before PLA, PETG, ABS not yet used).

You probably need to run a PID Auto tune if you have not. That should bring your temps closer to what they where.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

22

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Did you use the RAMPS board linked by Anthem? The description says it only works with 12V. How did you get it to work with the 24V supply? Or was the voltage regulator for the Arduino all that was needed to be done?

23

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

does any one have a spare ribbon cable that goes to the hot end? i broke mine and if you converted you dont need your old one

24

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

I´d like to add that the diode underneathe the X driver is not D2.

I think I just roasted my Arduino and RAMPS board because i looked at this:
https://reprap.org/wiki/File:D1D2.jpg

25

Re: [HOWTO] Convert da Vinci Mini to RAMPS 1.4

Hi, want to apologise for anything stupid i have done or will do. But i do need some help.
So first, i suppose i stupidly screwed up again and now my LCD only works when powered over usb. Otherwhise the backlite comes on and the LCD stays blank.

Second, i just not be able to move any axis of my Mini. On the Lcd it says "Endstop X" (or y and z) so are my endstops all broken?

I feel so lost right now so if anyone have a good hint or a solution for me i´ll be so glad.