Next Zenxy build ideas

Well, I am stumped. Gonna have to just learn and live with it…which shouldnt be hard cause it looks GREAT! I just cant get the LEDs to draw more than an amp. I know that proper LED supplies are generally constant current, while I am only feeding constant 12V, but the gulf shouldnt be this big.

I am using the wLED limited to cap at it 1500ma anyway. I am pulling the Vin from the controller through the fan connector to power the entire LED setup. Per the documentation, the fan and barrel jack on Bart’s board are good for 3A max. I put my ammeter on the supply and tested white LEDs, “full” brightness (the fullest I can achieve), and ran a sample gcode. Never pulled more than 1.5A so I should be good.

Gonna do a little more wire management then I can show the final product!

Again, thanks to this whole community for inspiration and advice!

Not for addressable LEDs. The little circuit in the strip does the constant current driving for you.

You might ask in the wled forum. They are pretty nice there too.

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Trying to put in some time wrapping up the Zen release, after all these months. I keep getting stuck waiting for more Repeat parts, so I have been messing with the last of my ZenXY stuff and finally working on the instructions.

I hooked up the table cordless to a very small power tool battery, 20V 26Wh, with a couple buck converters (probably only need one for the LEDS, the board can easily handle 20V) At that rate the table itself can run for about 8 hours. While moving medium speed, it consumes 12V 0.14A. Haven’t load tested the LED’s yet, they are so variable any number is going to be a wild guess. But 271 of them can use a ton of power at full brightness all white…but in reality I use a 5V 3A PS and am plenty fine.



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Having fun.

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Super clean with no wires.

And that fisheye effect in Sandify …NICE!!!

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3.5 years later…

So my beta build broke last weekend. I put something too heavy on it, and it popped the sandbox out of the ikeaboard. I thought “For sure this time I’ll do a complete rebuild!”

Nope. Epoxy, clamps, and the beta is still chugging along.

I still have some janky hacks (80’s era cell phone prints, lol) for end stops, because these parts didn’t have the new optical stops yet. Still running on a RAMPS stack with the DRV8825s

And it still works great.

I’ve built some of the release version, but the parts I’ve printed to replace this one are still in a filament box on the bottom shelf, because it works.

Still, I do have problems with the janky hack end stops that I should really fix, but this being the first one keeps it in a special place, and it’s still super cool.

I have a release one running GRBL-ESP32 at a friend’s place, and one running FluidNC, which are quieter, and don’t have the same problems. Better for other people who can’t troubleshoot as easy as I can.

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