RAMPs 1.4 Case - yes another one!

thingiverse

This RAMPs 1.4 case is designed specifically for CNC machines. It houses the Arduino Mega with RAMPs 1.4 board, stepper drivers, and LCD ribbon cables in addition to a thoughtfully positioned 40mm x 40mm x 10mm cooling fan. However, it does not house the LCD itself; you will need another case for that purpose. *Dimensions:* Height: 57mm Width: 118mm Depth: 115mm I am quite satisfied with this design, although the clips for the PCB were slightly too stiff and I made some adjustments in the design. Nonetheless, they may still require a bit of filing to accommodate the board properly. This case was created after becoming fed up with another design that attempted to house everything; the wires were hopelessly crammed in, making it difficult to access anything without causing damage, and cooling was poorly engineered, with vent grills so thin that they did not print correctly and were easily broken. **Design Objectives:** 1. Easy to open up - without unplugging anything except the fan. 2. Room to move - providing ample working space when needed. 3. Keep wiring reasonably neat. 4. Proper cooling of stepper drivers. 5. Protect and mount electronics securely. 6. Easy to remove - simply remove two screws for the lid and three screws for the base. The five holes at the back are designed to hold Cat 5 cables using a press fit, one for each stepper motor. Each Cat 5 cable contains eight wires: four for a stepper, two for an end stop switch, and two spare. I use it on my MPCNC with dual end stops on X and Y for auto squaring, thus requiring two steppers for X, two steppers for Y, and one for Z. This setup involves a lot of cables that can be difficult to fit into some cases. The 40mm fan is positioned at the heat sink level, with vents on the opposite side to force air from one side to the other through the heat sinks. **Challenges:** As mentioned earlier, the PCB clips on the base may be too stiff and a better design for these clips is still needed. I considered using springy, flexible clips but was unable to come up with an effective way to achieve this due to print orientation constraints. The F360 file timeline includes labels, although I did become somewhat forgetful when switching components during the design process, resulting in a complicated timeline.