Ramps 1.4

The printer requires a processor, drivers, servos, a power supply, and end stops.  There are 2 kinds of boards, those that have these drivers integrated on the same PCB as the processor, and those that have them on daughter boards.  I decided to go with the Ramps 1.4 with separate servo drivers.  It is highly upgradeable, and if a servo driver ever fails, 14 bucks gets you back in the game with a new one.  If you choose an all in one board, it will be slightly cheaper, however if a servo driver fails, you throw away the whole board.  I also decided on the AVR ARDUINO MEGA2560 REV 3 board.  The Ramps 1.4 attaches directly to it which is why they call it a shield.  The reason for the Mega2560 is room to grow.  The reason for the Rev 3, is it works, and is the latest Arduino board, the other boards have been deprecated.  I love to solder, so I opted for the surface mounts to be per-soldered on the Ramps 1.4, but I want to solder everything else.  I actually have a nice Hakko soldering station with a needle tip, so I have done surface mount soldering in the past.  But with the size of this project, I already have enough to do.

I was confused on this little tid bit.  4 drivers for 5 servos.  The MendelMax 1.5 requires 2 Z axis servo's.  No splicing required, just plug them into the Ramps 1.4 board.  The Ramps 1.4 also has provisions for 2 print heads or a dual print head at the same time.

Don't install the diods until you read all the diod instructions.  D1 should only be installed if the 5A rail is powered by 12V.  Basically only solder the diode in the Ramps 1.4 board if your going to run it without a computer attached to the USB port.  If you have any issues look here.  Here are 2 excellent links that I used as a build guide.

The WIKI one is what I followed as a solder guide.
This one has links of pictures for wiring it after it's built

The Kit

Pre-Soldered

Some headers soldered in.