Technical summary
RAMPS 1.4 board:
The RAMPS 1.4 is a Mega Pololu Shield, or RAMPS. Designed to fit all the electronics needs of a RepRap in one small, low-cost package. RAMPS connects a Mega to the powerful Arduino MEGA platform and offers plenty of room for expansion. The modular design includes plug-in stepper drivers and extruder control electronics on the Arduino MEGA shield for easy service, part replacement, upgrade and expansion. In addition, a number of Arduino expansion boards can be added to the system, as long as the main RAMPS board is kept at the top of the stack.
A4988 driver:
The A4988 driver is a carrier board or breakout board for Pololu's A4988 DMOS microstepping driver with translator and overcurrent protection. We therefore recommend that you read the A4988 datasheet carefully before using the product. This stepper motor driver lets you control one bipolar stepper motor with an output current of up to 2A per coil.
Features:
- Expandable to control other accessories.
- 3 Mosfets for the heating/fan outputs and 3 thermistor circuits.
- 5A fuse for extra safety and component protection
- Heated bed control with an extra 11A fuse
- Suitable for 4 A4988 stepper motor driver boards
- The shield has pin header sockets so they can be easily replaced or removed for use in future designs.
- The I2C and SPI pins are left available for future expansion.
- All the Mosfets are connected to PWM pins for more versatility.
- Servo-type connectors are used to connect to the endstops, motors and LEDs. These connectors are rated at 3A, very compact and available worldwide.
- Additional SD card available
- LEDs show when the heating outputs are on
- Possibility of connecting 2 motors to Z for Prusa Mendel
