Tekkie Ramblings

Today I set about fixing the issue with my heated bed. Using a multimeter to test the thermistor that came pre-installed showed it was dead so I snipped it out and soldered in a replacement. In Pronterface I could see that it was connected, but it was reading -15C. The room is cool but not that cool. The new thermistor is "100K ohm NTC 3950 1% 1.8mm" and after a bit of googling I found it was a type 11. I edited my "configuration.h" file and set "#define TEMP_SENSOR_BED 11". After uploading Marlin; Pronterface was now reading a temperature of 16C. I was able to change the bed temperature from the LCD to 20C and watched as it warmed up. I checked it was warm (carefully with my hand) and then increased it to 60C.  So another job done. Next will be to fix the connector on the hotend thermistor and get that working: For now though, it's starting to look good:

Ok, so I finally think its time to test the LCD Screen; so I plugged it in and... Nothing happened! I did some reading online and on the  RepRap Wiki  I found a quote that reads: Some versions of this board have the notched connectors the wrong way around. If your controller only flickers and beeps, cut off the notches on the cables and insert them upside down. Ok; that doesn't sound good! The only way I could think of to prove if mine had this issue was to identify where the GND pin was located and cross reference that with the MKS Gen-1. So I got out my multimeter, set it to resistance, connected my black lead to the SDCARD slot on the back and found the GND pin... I cross referenced it with the MKS pin layout (GND Marked in yellow arrows) and found that my connector was fitted the wrong way around. I had to file/cut off the block at the back of the connector, but after that, the LCD screen powered up :) In Arduino IDE, I installed the U8glib and U8glib-HAL drivers and enabled th

Next on my list was to replace the temporary TNuts I used on the backplate because I had run out of Nuloc nuts: Simple little job, but looks much better:

I finally got around to fixing the Z-Axis alignment issue: After getting the frame sorted and the axis all mounted; I noticed that the Left Z-Axis didn't align As you can see, its out by quite a lot! So I ordered a replacement bracket and today I fitted it: That's much better! Its a shame it sticks out a bit, so maybe it is a piece I need to have custom made. It'll do for now.