and the attached firmware (Taz 3 variant, you will need to adjust the zsteps for the 4 and the extruder stuff for the 5) It’s basically the makerstoolworks firmware bits that controll their blinky lights, merged into the TAZ firmware paramaters. There are extensive changes in most of the main files. That includes the main marlin code.h file, the temperature files, addition of the LED files, and changes to configuration and configuration advanced. Also pinout, etc. Please only use the attached firmware as a base to create your own from known good code. You can upload it as is, and it will work, but I’m not taking any responsability if your printer melts. That being said mine has been wokring fine for about a week now.
I’ll post some pictures of the attachment points and wiring harness once I retrieve them from the other camera. I’m also working on an under the Y axis lightbox part. Another advantage is that you can run standard LED lightbars off the same buck converter for a lighted bed if you choose. For now, i’m basically tappnig off the power feed from the 24v power supply to the heated bed Rambo connector. The bed still seems to get plenty of voltage and heats up just as fast. Alternativly you can tap into one of the unused power feeds from the power supply itself, though you will have to add additional pins into the electronics enclosure. Power goes to the buck converter, adjusted to output 5-12v depending on how hot you want to run the chip. It then goes to the Pro Micro board using the standard connection diagram. Pro Micro & Fio V3 Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn I’ll post pictures of what pins I have in use on mine later.
So, what to the status indicators indicate? What is the meaning of the lights? Are they simply for looks or do they serve a purpose?
As for lighted bed, you don’t need any buck converter. Just get 12v LED adhesive strips off ebay (5m roll is what I bought). Cut 2 strips (one for either side of the bed, and wire in series. Each strip will want 12v and if you cut them the same length and wire them in series, you can feed the pair 24v. Here you can see two strips of 12v LED lighting (ebay) in series running off the 24v PSU supply (inside RAMBO).
They indicate a couple things. They turn red during the bed heating phase when it goes past the preset “too warm to touch” phase, they turn green when it cools down enough to be touched. They do a color pulse when the machine reaches operable print temperature, they do a different color pulse when the machine is in operation, they flash blue when the machine is powering on, etc. You could tell it to do other color combinations based off other printer parameters (have it blink orange when the Z axis hits 50mm altitude, etc.) just by adding parameters to the firmware code
You kind of do need a buck converter if you want to run the LED controller to have the color changing blinky lights without it melting
The connections are: 24V + / - to buck converter, 12V +/- to LED strip, Green wire pin 15 on Pro micro to LED strip, Black wire on pin 16 to LED strip, then Blue wire to pin 3, Red wire to Pin 2, Black 1st Ground Green Second Ground over to the I2C Connection on the RAMBO board. Lights are then controlled via the I2C bus from the Rambo itself. In my particular configuration I also have a set of regular non controllable white LED strips running off the 12v feed directly with an on / off switch wired in for those lights.
For your project, yes, you would need the buck. Those boards would be none too happy with 24v FYI, there is 5v available on the Rambo. I still have yet to see where the power is speced though. Its used as Vcc on the Rambo as well as the 5v fan on the Hex hot end.
But just for adding lighting strips, no.
Just a suggestion on the project, perhaps have an indicator when the bed has cooled to the proper release point. Typically I print at 100c on the bed and wait until it cools to 60c to release the parts. Having a visual indicator easily seen from a distance would be nice
60c is actually about when the green “Safe to touch” light comes on for the bed. You can adjust that up or down pretty easily in the firmware. Most of that specific logic is in the main marlin.h file if I remember right. It might be in the temperature file.
Here’s the front half of the Lightbox. This goes under the Y axis arch betweeen the front feet. In all likelyhood this will probably change a little once I get the part on there and see how the wires fit. The back half will have the actual mount to the TAZ.
edit: turns out it’s 2mm too tall and 1mm to wide. I’ll fix it and re-upload tomorrow.
edit edit or I could just re-upload it tonight. Not printed yet, but it looks workable Lightbox.stl (109 KB)
nice start to a cool project with tons of potential… the community needs to develop a monitoring system for these printers, camera’s, remote shut off, remote status indication etc. How many times would I have liked to have that when I stepped out on a 30 hour print…I’d pay minimum 500$ for a full kit like that, just for the piece of mind.
The next piece I’ll be working on after I get this finished up, will be adding a filament width/ stoppage / feedrate sensor package on the gantry next to the feed spool. There are a bunch of existing open source pieces that I hope to be able to combine into one small package to provide some of that. There is also the existing Octoprint setup for adding the camera and remote monitoring / control and camera from a web interface. I’ve never played with Octoprint since my printer is right next to my workstation, but I may have to take a look at those as well.
Ok, thanks for taking this on. Like I said, pretty busy so don’t have too much time to tinker, ultimately if you or anyone can present something turnkey, then I’d pay for it…
Here are some project pictures of the completed unit. The Clear plastic piece in between the front cover and the lightbox was origionally going to be clear white plexiglass, but I couldn’t find any locally. So i used the lid of the HDX Paint bucket shown in the pictures below. Not bad for $0.79.
Here are the files themselves and the updated firmware. Now in Taz 4 vcariant:
All files are licensed as Open source - Attribution under the GNU/GPL V3 with the exception of the Lid segment containing the Lulzbot logo. That logo is used in that part with permission from Lulzbot, and I claim no rights to it whatsoever.
Also in case anyone wants to add lights to their TAZ, here are the lightbar, brackets and endcaps I use, Also under GNU/GPL V3 Open Source Attribution.
here’s a new version of the firmware. This time I started with the stock Taz 4 firmware and added in the LED control bits. There are changes to Several sections. Taz4_blinkyLights_2.0a.7z (1.03 MB)
I also want to work using TAZ5 for the some of mine 3D printed projects. I want to ask that from where i can get the full details of this and how to operate it? Also i want to know about its applications area because it is different from the others. What about the question posted here i mean it doesn’t have any kind of status indication so that you are going to add a LED for its status indication.
The difference between the Taz 4 and Taz 5 firmware is basically just the hot end thermistor and heater core changes in configuration.h In order to use this with a Taz 5 you would just need to make those adjustments. I will be adding a hexagon hotend to my Taz at some point, and will issue an updated firmware then. I just haven’t got to it yet. The rest of your question I’m not sure if I answered correctly.
FYI, there is 5v available on the Rambo. I still have yet to see where the power is speced though. Its used as Vcc on the Rambo as well as the 5v fan on the Hex hot end.
