Reprap PCB Heatbed MK2B, RAMPS 1.4 and a Ceramic Tile on an SD3

One of the first things I expected to 'deal with' was the Heat bed. I umm'ed and arr'ed about etching my own heatbed before my SD3 arrived (I etch PCB's regularly so it was added to the queue...) and then of course I got bogged down in dealing with Z-Wobble (which turned out in my case to be a amplified by a blown bearing on the z-axis, which Solidoodle Support have sorted after a few timezone related delays on followup emails - but its all sorted now fingers crossed pending USPS turnaround). However, a whoopsie with some bodged heatsinks and a dropped allen key meant I was on the hunt for some replacement stepper drivers. Then I thought I should get a few extra's "just to be safe".. then I found a local auction that meant I could have them the very next day - although it'd cost a few dollars more and they'd come packaged attached to a RAMPS 1.4 board But it also came with a RepRap Discount Smart LCD Controller/SD Card and a PCB Heatbed Mk2B Dual Power. You can find more info over at http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Heatbed_MK2 . All of which I could only see benefits with

So now I've got the RAMPS 1.4 hooked up. 90% of the connectors 'work' with the RAMPS1.4. The troublesome ones are the Limit Switches, Fan/LEDs and both heaters (Nozzle and Bed). I dealt with the Limit Switches and Fan/LEDs by putting a small Vero Board on with two rows of headers - one right angle and one vertical. This allowed me to plug the limit switches in and use some jumper wires to connect to the RAMPS board. Fan and LEDs being always on, I just used an extra 12v DC line to the same Vero Board to power them. This allowed me to retain the "Standard" SD3 connectors for use back on a Sang' if I so decide down the road - or I get around to troubleshooting my dead board.

The RAMPS 1.4 board uses screw terminals for the Bed and Extruders. Wanting to once again retain the standard connectors, I used some 'modified' JST Connectors. If you slice the male connector once on the bottom, and then along both side of the top, so you actually fit it over the standard female SD Connectors. The standard JST female interfaces perfectly with the male connectors - which makes Hotend replacements a doddle.

I've now also hooked up the PCB Heatbed. I acquired a 29A 12V DC PSU off of ebay for $30, and have run the two sets of supply lines to the RAMPS board using 30A marine cable.  On top of the PCB I've been using a ceramic tile with the usual misting of hair spray. This has actually proved super successful for both ABS and PLA. ABS sees me running 195/95, and PLA so far I've used 175/60. Its decay however is fantastic, with the bed cooling at about 2oC a minute. The biggest win though is the heat up. Using the tile on the standard bed, it took about 25 minutes with a tea towel on top to get it to sit at 95oC and for good adhesion I'd need to leave it another 10 minutes. With the PCB Heatbed, I am getting to 95oC in just 10 minutes and prints stick like glue.

I'll post some pics of the mods shortly - my Camera is presently AWOL. More than anything I wanted to share that you can use slightly butchered JST connectors like IanJohnson uses (or was it Lawsy?) to interface to the standard SD connectors. Hopefully by the time the camera returns my Mk IV will be on the hotend along with the J-Heads.

Adrian