Hello World! I am SumPod!

Continuing with the build and step by step testing of the SumPods electronics we have the LCD.  This is a generic 16x2 alphanumeric parallel display driven by an industry standard HD44780 compatible driver.  With a funky blue backlight and white text it certainly looks the business.

And it works!  It's nice when things work first time and as intended. :)

Updated SumPod RAMPS v1.3 Build

The SumPod RAMPS build varies very slightly from the standard RAMPS build, with the addition of the LCD connector.  In this post, I provide updated pictures of the RAMPS board, the ancillary stepper boards and the Arduino Mega.

Here are the pics, first up we have pictures of the two variants of the RAMPS board, one of which you will receive with your SumPod.  They are electrically identical:

Gold pads

Immersion silver pads

I prefer the second board type, with the silver pads, because it has a silver immersion finish; the overlay shows the resistor values and there is a fraction of a millimetre difference in component clearance (or my imagination) of the socket and pin headers at the top right of the board making assembly easier.  Other than that they are identical.