Add an LCD control panel to the Mini?

Hi All,

Has anyone added an LCD control panel to the Mini? If so, can you share what you did?

Thanks!

Chuck

The RAMBo-mini has two spots on the board for the wiring to an LCD, but your board may not have that spot populated with the appropriate connector. I don’t have the connector information needed to point you too, but here’s an image showing the spot in the middle of the lower edge of the board:

The Mini RAMBos are not populated with an LCD header. The original header was to a quite rare LCD, so we didn’t include the headers as it added cost for little gain.

Hi Chuck have you looked into the Matter Hacker Controller for the mini. Nice controller. Has wireless camera etc to snap a picture of the print and send to your phone.

Hi All would the Mini Rambo 1.3a work with the lulzbot mini as is with current firmwate and if so would be a seamless solution to workingbwith an lcd unit?

Why would you want to spend the time and money putting a LCD readout on a Mini? Check on eBay the going market value for a used Mini and there are a lot of them for sale, is $800-900 sometimes less. The Mini is a great design as is, and well constructed.

Instead of mounting a LCD, get a Pi2 and put OctoPrint on it. Then you have a web GUI to control your printer from anywhere in your house. You can add a HDMI monitor w/ touchscreen or mouse if you really want local control.

Hi All

I know ease of use for remote control via IP is best for operating but the novelty and efficiency of printing without a pc or laptop over usb begged to be done on the mini. I swapped out the mini rambo 1.0 for the mini 1.3a which has the lcd pins that is a 1 to 1 mapping for the reprap smart controller and full graphics controller lcd’s. I customized and enhanced the firmware and will post the fw in hex format for those who need it. I know thete are numerous flavours of rrd lcd’s and I cant vouch for all brands but ask me and I’ll say which I tested. The viki lcd’s I get working partially dunno if they are compatible but if they are I will get those working too.

I am building a Mini, and I am now at the stage where I need to purchase the Rambo-mini board. I have been considering the 1.3a but didn’t know if the current firmware would work with it. Are you saying that you have a good firmware that you could share that will provide all the same functions with the added lcd support? If so, would you please share?

The current firmware should work with any of the Rambo boards.

I can say without a doubt that 1.3a board works. I shorted out my original board with a boneheaded action of my own and so I replaced the board myself rather than be printerless for the time it would take to send mine back in for repair. The stock firmware in Cura Lulzbot edition works perfectly, with the exception that the cooling fan for the electronics box runs at full blast all the time (I ended up just connecting it to a separate powersupply so I can moderate the fan speed).

As for the GLCD – I ordered one but I’ve sent it back for testing. I had assumed that the red stripe on the connector cable indicated pin-1 – it appears that whoever builds the GLCD has the red stripe set to indicate pin 10, but I can’t be certain of this, it’s based on something I read regarding the non-graphic version when troubleshooting the display. Anyway, you do have to build a custom firmware from Lulzbot’s sources in the Arduino IDE and make a couple very minor changes (one uncomment and change one variable value), then upload that to the Mini Rambo board over the USB connection using the Arduino IDE (it’ll compile then upload). With the custom firmware, I could print just like normal using a computer connected via USB, but I can’t confirm that the GLCD works because I think I burned something out with my pin 1 assumption – all I’ve ever seen on it is the backlight for the display. I haven’t heard back from Lulzbot yet if it is actually burned out. If it isn’t burned out, then I didn’t make the correct firmware changes, so take the following with that lump of salt.

If you order the 1.3a and a GLCD, here are some links:

About Pin1 for the non-graphic version, might apply to GLCD but I’m not making any promises, see page 4:

Also note here, again it is the non-graphic version, but in the picture, the red strip is opposite of pin1 on the mini rambo:

Things to change in the source:
A variable value that needs altering:
http://reprap.org/wiki/MiniRambo#REPRAP_DISCOUNT_FULL_GRAPHIC_SMART_CONTROLLER

A line to uncomment – see last comment as earlier ones pertain to earlier versions. Refers to a change in Configuration.h:

Current source code according to Lulzbot:
http://devel.lulzbot.com/Easy_TAZ_Mini/Euphorbia/software/firmware/marlin_mini_euphorbia/

You also have to install the u8glib library into the Arduino IDE via the normal process for installing libraries. That is located here:

There’s no archive file of the source files so you either need to download one by one, or you could use wget to grab them all, or some browser extension to do the same thing.

Can I just say – awesome! Mine is in the middle of a 13 hour print, well, not even to the middle yet and I would love to have a second printer.

Is the case you are using from an old Mini or is that custom work? It looks perfect.

FYI this guy is selling LCD displays and I am totally clueless if it will do you any good or not but here is the Link

http://forum.makergear.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2950

I am pretty sure the M2 is using the RAMBo board.

This thread makes me wonder why current minis are shipping (in December 2015) with mini rambo 1.1b boards when mini rambo 1.3 boards have been available since July 2015. A quick diff of the schematics shows that an adapter could be for displays to plug into, but I’m a little disappointed to have bought something in December 2015 and not have the advantages of hardware changes of mini rambo boards released July 2015.

While I have added a raspberry pi running octopi, I find myself having to go find a tablet or laptop just to move the head or change filament, and being able to add a $20 lcd controller instead of a $120 new mini rambo 1.3b + $20 lcd controller means add-on choices go from “yeah sure, why not” to “um, do I really need to spend $140 to save myself a couple roundtrips to a laptop or tablet or phone?” So, impulsive mods are unlikely with the out-of-date mini rambo as the mini is currently shipping.

Part backstock, consistancy across model revision, etc. Generally if they swap out something major, like a control board it would be a Mini II or something like that.

https://devel.lulzbot.com/mini/begonia/photos/lcd/DSC_0422-1024.html

The history is telling. The mystery holes on the top were for the display that never happened… but since it’s all open and public, the designs are still available.

Since you already have the octopi setup, you can add a screen.

Adafruit PiTFT - 320x240 2.8 TFT+Touchscreen for Raspberry Pi : ID 1601 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits is the screen you need.

Instructions are there. The octopi distribution comes with OctoPiPanel to control it, so you should be able to add it easily. I generally have my smartphone with me and use that. There’s also a computer in the room that’s on the network, so that’s another option. But if I wanted to be able to do things standalone, that’s what I would do.

I have the older board with the rare LCD connectors, and while i’m not sure i will ever put an LCD on mine it would be nice to have the option to do so. It appears that the new 1.3 Rambo-Mini boards have a new connector which is nice.

But i found this picture floating on the internet. Anyone know where i can get this little adapter (or alternatively the PCB source files to make my own)?

I created a Pull Request for helping to configure a Pi with OctoPi and TouchUI plugin to load on boot. It is slightly more expensive OctoPi setup using Raspberry Pi’s official LCD 7" touchscreen (~$60). Recommend a Pi 2 or later in this config. I am working on designing a mount that will attach to Mini to hold the Pi + display. You can still access OctoPi’s web interface over your home network.

Wow!
I really look forward to the enclosure for the RPI-2 and touch display!

I use the PI-2’s camera for viewing in Octoprint, so please allow for that if you can!

I very much look forward to setting that up!

I love the Octoprint setup, as you can view the print progress from anywhere, including the internet, but I also would like to have a local way to do things without needing another device.

Thanks,
Kent