for the actual calibration of the extruder, however, there is a proper way of doing it.

Based on information I have learned here in these forums (scattered around in various threads, but it is all here) I wrote up the following guides...BOTH parts are necessary to do the job properly and get the best results possible.

https://northwoods3d.weebly.com/blog/fi … ion-part-1

https://northwoods3d.weebly.com/blog/-f … coming-out

For the extruder driver just adjust it the same way. Back off till it stalls then nudge it up till it works.

For all the other calibrations it is the same regardless of the board. it comes down to the firmware. Marlin and Repetier are the same in regards to making and saving the adjusted steps.

Smoothie which does not apply here is a bit different.

I have searched for how to properly calibrate the extruder and drivers for the RUMBA on the Solidoodle, however the search results don't appear to be consistent.  What is the most accurate way to finish dialing in the calibrations on the drivers and the extruder?

and for the extruder, you need to properly calibrate it. dont guess, actually do the calibrations.
If you need more info on how to do the calibrations, just ask

kgkern - if you properly calibrate the extruder - with the stock feed gear - you should end up closer to 200 (hint: the stock setting of 138 was way too high, resulting in serious over extrusion) My favorite machine is set to 203 running stock feed gear.

this is wrong however: empty/empty/jumpered
that is only 1/16th stepping according to the wiki page for Rumba
Put jumpers on all 3 sets of pins to guarantee 1/32nd

It ended up being my blue and red motor wires were switched.  I do want to confirm that I have the extruder driver setup correctly for 1/32 steps though.  I have the jumpers under the driver to empty/empty/jumpered (going from top of board to bottom).  I changed the following in Configuration.h

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {88,88,2268,276}

the last value was originally 138, so I doubled it to 276, is this the correct?

That is correct, but you really should not run your extruder at 32. At the speeds it runs it makes very little noise. The only thing that increasing the microsteps will do is lower torque. Which the extruder is the last place you want to compromise torque at.

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT   {88,88,2268,276}

the last value was originally 138, so I doubled it to 276, is this the correct?

The ONLY things that should have been changed in the firmware you were linked to above are the board designation (#define MOTHERBOARD 80), and the thermistor table number to go with the E3D (#define TEMP_SENSOR_0 5) - those are the only 2 things you needed to change.
If you changed other things as well, I would go back and re-download a fresh copy from the link - ONLY change those two things, and re-upload to the board.

I had the Z stop on Z+, switched it to Z- like the above images, and that fixed it.  Now the only thing I think I have left to get it up and running again is that when I home in Repetier, it homes correctly.  However when I load a new print, when it loads the print gcode, it tries raising Z about 5-7 or so, even though the stop is triggered, and therefore hits the extruder and pushes it into the bed, then of course I have to kill it, lower it then re-home.  I've tried changing the firmware but can't find the right setting apparently.  This wasn't an issue with the old Printrboard, so I'm not sure what I'm missing in the firmware to fix it raising the bed and crashing into the extruder when the print loads?

Are you slicing the file based on the current settings of the machine or are you using a file that has been previously sliced. If it is doing this once the gcode is activated then it is in the startup gcode and is most likely and offset value in there.

i also used some old computer case wiring to extend the thermistor wires