ATX supplies are super useful for 3D printers!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ย. 2019
- Why have we stopped using ATX computer power supplies? I explain what the pros and cons are of going with an simple "industrial" power supply vs. a full ATX supply, including being able to shut it down through the firmware yet still getting a solid 5V supply for a Raspberry Pi!
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For a lot of us IT nerds that get in 3D printing, we often have spare ATX power supplies already laying around.
yes so it will be :D
@Billy West depends on them manufacturer. All of my bought printers use 24V, but my built ones have been made from spare PC power supplies. Still a 24V printer power supply from Banggood is pretty cheap
@@danamccarthy5514 Yeah cheap and loud.
I dont understand why and how is word "it" used in this context
@@dinodubroja7433 IT = information technology. system administrators, programmers, etc.
6:15 Need some random 3.3V and 5V loads to waste some Watts, you say? *FULL RGB 3D PRINTER*
Modern problems require modern solutions.jpg
Gamer RGB 3D-Printer invented!
Don’t challenge me.
Yes RBG gaming 3d printer
You forgot the biggest reason when deciding on which one to get. What you already have. I used an atx supply for my printer cause I had one an then it's free which most people really like.
usually you can get them for free from scrap pcs.
I've been watching your videos since the Printrbot days mate, when I first started getting into 3d Printing and needed something new to get into & a change in life choices. You have one of the most, no deffinitely thee most influential & invaluable teachers ever since then and helped me to turn my life around completely. I could never fully return the favor on a level that you have done for me, and you continue to teach me new things every time you make a new video. I hope to return the favor at least a little bit though and become a supporter of your channel soon, as all that I have learned from you is now helping me to finally make the career change I have dreamed of for a very long time. Thank you so very much Tom.
The industrial bricks support voltage adjustment. I am running my 12v one at 13.5V witch speeds up the heated bed by one minute.
Pretty much all atx power supplies have a pot for voltage adjustment inside, most will go to 13 or so volts.
RAMPS 1.4 and atmega board? I was thinking of doing the same, but I was a bit afraid it could damage my electronics (especially stepsticks and 12V-5V voltage converter).
I love when Tom posts this sort of "guide" content
Hey Tom, greetings!
When I've build my diy 3d printer last year I've used a Thermaltake 500W ATX power supply.
Got a spare PCI Express Adaptor Cable (6 Pin to PCI Express 8 Pin), cut one connector to connect the wires to the RAMPS and the other connector goes straight to the ATX power supply so I don't cut any wires on the power supply which is still under warranty ^_^
Oh and yes, I've attached the green wire of the ATX to the RAMPS, so I can turn the power supply on and off on demand. It works with the Emergency stop too.
The 5V purple wire wasn't really a success for me though. The RaspberryPi was constantly getting corrupted SD card, so I switched it to dedicated power supply (the one it came with).
The extra cables of the ATX are wrapped with a zip tie and hang on the side though.
My TEVO Tarantula is still running on ATX PSU from Thermaltake. It produces very safe power and I leave them at school.
Ages ago I made a IR TV receiver for a multimedia PC that not only send signal to serial on-board header but had uC to decode power button code to turn the machine on/off. Well, on battery, everything was great. Once powered by standby 5v (purple wire), you had to put the remote few cm from receiver otherwise it didn’t work. Reason? Too noisy power line! I had to put a low drop voltage regulator circuit between “purple” line and the receiver board. Maybe the same problem here.
One thing most people don't know is that the raspberry pie is made to run on 5.1 Volt, it will most likely run on 5v but if your power supplie drop a few millivolts lower it can cause unwanted restarts and sd card corruption
The thing with ATX PSUs is that it's easy to get everything up to 500W Gold for 10 Euros +shipping used in good qualities, from known manufacturers and sometimes even modular. Really would have liked to see that mentioned here
You can buy a breakout board that gives you a power button and all the power conectors.
20 Amper ready!?
I currently use a thermaltake 500 watt atx and a 24v power supply. I use the 5vsb to power the Raspberry Pi 3b. When I turn on the power supply in Octoprint the 12v from the atx powers a relay to turn on the 24v supply. The 24v supply is used for the stepper drivers and heaters while all the fans are run off of 12 volt. I am currently using a ramps 1.6 and mega for the main board and a ramps 1.4 and mega for fans and extra temperature sensors. Im using Klipper for the firmware to tie it all together.
I loved the couple of times you dubbed yourself! I can't tell you how many times I wanted to do that when I was editing my videos!
Great insights, the 5V standby voltage is very useful, but the large size of the ATX power supply and 12V only (vs 24V) would be a limitation for me
have been using atx psus and their 5v standby for years for an octopi, works great for me.
i use boost converters, but for the hotend and bed, i might try using one for the steppers.
thanks for all the tips
Working IT and building elaborate liquid cooling systems, i standardized to Seasonic power supplies about 15 years ago.
24 volts is the key factor for me. Having one power supply for the heated bed, controller board and steppers simplifies everything a great deal cable management wise, 12volts was the obvious choice in the early rep-rap days as they could grab the old ATX ones from desktop PC's but I think Prusa have demonstrated that 24v is the way forward for consumer machines.
I'm surprised a noise comparison did get a mention.
My old industrial PSU turned into a wicked musical instrument after a few years. :P It responds to different surge levels with high-pitch squeeks, loud clicks and howling sometimes.
Tom, great information. I have known about ATX supplies in conjunction with 3d printers for several years and have actually built a hat for a Raspberry Pi in combination with a Octoprint plugin that controls the printer, Pi, LEDS, fans, etc. I have had one running for the last several years without any issue. The ATXPiHat is a one stop shop solution for ATX supplies and interfacing with 3D Printers. It started out as a small single PCB that you de-soldered the connectors from and solder them to the PI, etc. What a mess. The newer solution is plug and play. It handles all of the output muxing of the wires to handle the voltage/amperage requirements, load on the 5v rail to handle power sagging, etc. I wish that there was a 24 volt ATX solution. ATX supplies are more stable, better manufactured, and the power is much cleaner. Computers really do not like crappy power. Thanks again for the great video.
I tried using the 5v standby for my Pi2 + PiCam + Arduino Mega + Ramps 1.4 + backlit large LCD & SD card controller setup, wasn't sufficient, the temperature values kept fluctuating and had some other odd behavior (it worked though, but I didn't like the jumping temp readings), I instead added a separate 5v supply. This is an Antec ATX PSU I used to use in a gaming PC.
I have customized a 3d printer for a Friend.
5vSTB to the RPI running Octoprint.
The PI is able to turn on the printer. By switching on the ATX PSU!
Great information. Saving this video on my list for that day my power supply dies.
A good guide about when and why to select the various types of power supplies. (everything has its place)
on the printer i build i used a 24v meanwell with a ssr to make the atx power off function work. first i was not convinced about the idea the printer developer had, but it´s wonderful. :)
I built my printer mostly out of bits I had lying about, so I went with a Maxpower 300W ATX. I run the electronics on the 5v line to prevent auto-shutdown during hot end heat-up. I don't have a heated bed, and at 12v my motors are more powerful than the wooden frame can handle so 24v isn't required. I also don't use the standby power as I run direct from my PC with Repetier.
I've got a spare ATX and have been wondering what to do with it and had considered this, along with running a second graphics cards, or just extra hard drives or something. Glad to see it is possible on a 3D printer! :)
Still on 12 volt PSUs on my 2 custom printers. One with a RADDS controller has ATX corsair 80 bronze semi modular PSU. I combined 3 ATX wires to one thicker for the bed. The other is with a Duet WiFi and has the 12V Prusa MK2 style PSU and thick wires with crimp connectors and ferrule connectors.
Tom, More of these technical videos....PLEASE!
Great info video! I've swapped the original power supply of my MK2.5S with an ATX. The man reason was to have a stable 5V for the Raspberry Pi with OctoPrint running. Also, for the printer and the Pi have the same gournd level, I think the USB connection between them is much more stable.
Im using ATX psu salvaged from some older gaming pc. Thanks for the info on marlin being able to turn my psu on and the standby line. But my raspi is very picky and screams undervoltage constantly, so i don't think hooking it up to the standby line will work
A really helpful guide! And you nailed the pronunciation spot on too. Nice work! :D
It's also worth mentioning the thing that was in view for the whole video: that fan. ATX power supplies include fans, which can be noisy, and which will circulate air in a place you may not want it circulated (because you are trying to maintain an average air temp around the bed, for example).
The 140mm fan of my ATX PSU (on my (homemade printer) is way more silent than the fan on my Ender 3 Pro meanwell PSU :)
It’s put underneath the printer so no unwanted airflow on the print
I used an old XBox power supply I had lying around when I built my 3d printer (with a mains heated bed).
Really nice job! I thought I knew power supplies, but you taught me a thing or two. Thank you.
Most recent ATX power supplies have a single 12V rail again, but it's good to know they exist, especially on cheaper or older designs that you might repurpose from an old computer.
I was considering a dual psu ATX computer case and just mounting my 3d printer mainboard, rpi, and lcd in the case with the rest of the computer components. Run the 3d printer components on one atx psu and the computer components on the other. A custom IO panel and board could be created on the back of the case for stepper motor and limit switch jst panel connectors and the aircraft connectors for the heaters. Or panel mount powerpole connectors for the heaters.
Just something I've been mocking up and mulling over. Lots of pros and cons.
I have two custom built printers and I use two 12v industrial PSUs and on the other I have one 24v and one 12v industrial. I'm also in the process of building a laser engraver with a 12v industrial as well.
How's that "best stepper for TMC2130+" coming along?
Used cheap industrial 24V unit + heated bed powered by mains via an SSR. I use simple step-down converters to generate 12V and 5V lines for fans, LEDs and to supply a Raspberry Pi for OctoPrint.
As you asked, I bought all industrial 5, 12, 24V SMPS to support my recently acquired BIGTREETECH SKR PRO V1.1 because this controller board allows for simultaneous use of both 12 & 24V supplies for Nema motors, Tcm2209 drivers and hot bed. I still have my 500W ATX PSU, but this will do for now as a bench PSU. I have a couple of digital V&I controllers for up to 50V or proportions of as shared between the two. Thank you for your great video contributions and no nonsense approach. FYI.
Tom, If I were you, I would change the title to specifically say "Power Supplies" which is more specific than "supplies'. It will help you number of views over time. Good video!!
Hi Tom
I would be very interested how your Mendel 90 upgrade turnd out.
I built a printer and added a raspberry pi zero w for running octoprint.
On one of the GPIO pins i've connected a 5V relais that switches my 24V power supply (for heated bed, hotend and steppers) on and off via Octoprint. (using octoprint plugin PSUcontrol)
Only a small power supply for the raspberry pi is hooked up which stays on (until switched off with a manual switch on the printer itself)
can you do a board comparison video with classic ramps 1.4 and some of the newer boards like duet3?
I use Meanwell LRS 24V 150W for my Duet Wifi with AC heated bed.
I feel that using ATX psu's is still totally viable, as am in the process of switching from the default LED style psu's on a couple of my 12v printers with some single large 12v rail ATX psu's that I still have in boxes as ready spares for well over a year but not needed them (corsair & seasonic = excellent reliability) I wouldn't do this with some of the older pre-haswell compatible class ATX psu's as those tend to need a load on the 5v rail to maintain stability, (I have an old but perfectly functioning Enermax Noisetaker 650w psu from about 2007 which behaves like this and it wasnt a cheap psu either).
If I had to use an older atx psu I would 1st check the label for how its power distribution is laid out, some very old ATX psu's tend to have most of the current dedicated to the 5v rail rather than the 12v, so after looking at the label if it had more juice on the 5v rail then I would reject it - thanks for posting
Great video as always!
I am so sorry to tell you that the link in the description is down =O
My very first printer back in 2014 was a fairly cheap (for the time!) Kit build and uses a ATX PSU with a couple of Resistors, it works fine and vecro keeps it from diving off the table (yup that happened, vibration from the printer made it walk since its not attached!) It still works fine, and I used the 5v to run a Pi with octoprint for quite a while. Ultimately though 24v and not having to deal with a rats nest of chopped up atx power leads has meant i've not really looked back. Nice Video Tom!
Server power supplies are often superior to both in most aspects. They can be a bit loud, but are often autoranging for mains power. Laptop power supplies can also be useful too. There are mods that 'float' ground to gang multiple power supplies together for 24 volts as well.
I've found ATX supplies have very thin cables which get too hot in some environments. I had to change the original wiring because some cables got burned.
Excellent tech tips, many thanks for sharing.
My printer is a very "adapted" RepRap and I'm using a "low profile" ATX supply, it is smaller than the default ones, I have opened it and changed the cables for thicker ones and left ony the ones I really use, it is performing well so far.
I added my prusa an ATX supply, and then changed industrial 12v for a 24v one. I use 24, only for heating bed with a solid relay.
Great video with high quality informations! Well done!
Hey Tom,
I built a voron v2.1 and used a meanwell 12v PSU. If I would build it again today I would go with the 24v version.
One thing about the multiple 12v rails, they as not always what they seem. I have a supply that lists 4 12v rails but they are all just linked together at the output on the power supply board.
I’ve been using some extremely cheap Mean Well brand PSU’s. They have been working fine. But the larger ones does have a fan.
I used 2 ATX power supplies for my first 3d printers but they seemed not very reliable, I had rare shutdowns while printing. Probably some voltage spike or other things happening, since there is lots of unregulated stuff going on. I then used switch mode power supplies for LEDs and never had any problem since.
Hey Tom, Is there any difference about EMI susceptibility? Have you ever expirienced that your printer is influenced if you for example turn on some high inductive tool (drill, dremel etc..)?
Hey Tom, thanks for the content. I had the power supply die on my Ender 3, so I bought the appropriate Meanwell power supply for that printer and hooked it up based on the pictures I took of the original wiring configuration. The printer will power up and get to full preheating temps, but then shuts down when I try to start a print. Any suggestions on what may be going on here? Thanks
i just use a server power supply, about the same size as the industrial units, pumps out 850 watts and is pretty quite
Thanks for an very informative video. For me currently I can't afford the cost of upgrading to 24V. Just last night I decided to try a ATX psu and we fortunately had a spare one in the house. I actually like the fact that it could essentially be controlled from the main board to switch on and off. So, I will make some plans around that in the near future but for now will keep thing simple.
On my DIY Hypercube 300 i run 2 industrial power supplys. A 24v run the 300x300 heated bed and a 12v run all the other stuff. First i build only with the 12v but the heated bed don´t achieve 100 C degrees needed to print ABS, so i buy the 24v power supply only for the heated bed and it works insanely well, it hits ABS temps in less than a minute. I know that is possible to run the ramps on 24v and maybe in the future i go for that conversion.
I'm custom building my CR-10 with Duet2 wifi and a super cheap used HP server PSU. Very happy with it. High efficiency, doesn't even get warm when printing with heat bed on. With a buck converter to convert 12vsb to 5v for Duet2 board and a PS_ON pin connected, I can keep the board always on while turning the main rail on / off with a single line of gcode and from GUI.
Also, in my experience, Delta makes some pretty damn good PS and fans that come stock on Prusa printers.
My Anet E10 power supply died (looks like a bulging cap on the 240watt supply) so I used a 480 watt ATX I had, after seeing this video today and it seems to be running better than before. The Y axis bed stepper sounds like it isn't struggling like before- has more zip to it. Printing now- up and running, fingers crossed :)
I use a cooler master 600W that I got for free (hard to beat that price) 😁
This is great information. It's too bad these psu prices aren't as low in 2022.The good news is that printer psus are the same price as atx psus right now so thats nice.
This is awesome to hear because I have a couple of extra PSU's laying around
I used a quality server ATX power supply I was able to get for free. Eventually I installed a mains wired silicone heat mat but it is quiet (fanless) and very stable. That said in my LED aquarium light I use a nice Meanwell industrial PSU which also works quite nicely so far for many years trouble free.
I've recently remade all the electronics of my Anet A8 upgrading it to TMC2130s and I've used an 875W computer PSU. I know that that is overkill however I didn't go out of my way to buy it, I found it in an old Aurora R2 which is a rebuilt computer and the manufacturer made the PSU slightly larger (not longer, larger) so that it couldn't fin in any standard case.
Basically, I had this PSU laying around that I couldn't use and the choice was pretty clear.
I used an ATX psu just because is the one that I had laying around, but the past month I switched my printer to 24v and I really miss the hability of switch it on/off remotely.
I would probably return to the 12v system just so I can use the ATX
Hi Tom, at first I thought you have a +12v and a -12V on your ATX, that means you do have 24V between them, which you do..........But even though you can get 24V it will be useless because the -12V rated for 0.5A max. So you could run ....... a 24v fan:):). Dang, at first I thought I was onto something. Oh well.
What do you think about using a ZU-550W-24V ? It is what ReliaBuild printers use.
Best 12V supply I ever used... was a used HP Server power supply that put out over 60 amps continuously .,,. $15 off Amazon.
link?
Is it possible to connect the 12V rails in series?
I believe most multi-rail power supplies are so because of the voltage drop on the ground return wire. If 12V dropped to 10V it should not be a big deal because of on-board VRMs, but if ground raised to 2V then all he'll would break loose because of the communication lines.
If this is the case, grounds being separate between trails, then only protection circuits could possibly shutdown the supply.
I haven't seen printers with DIN rail industrial SMPS. maybe review those too..
I switched the Ender 5 24V Supply to Meanwell UHP350-24. Using the TH3D Mainboard plus a fanless supply gives me a near 0 noise while printing ABS/ASA. I modified the printer alot further, using a multible PTC elements to heat a customized chamber, some LED strips inside, a thermometer, a self resetting bimetal fuse for overtemperature of the PTC elements, full metal hotend, direct drive titan extruder, immense cable lengthening to get the electronics out of the chamber ... :D
My ATX computer power supply has a 12v - and 12v+ when used this way it's 24v.
how many amps could it supply as 24 V ?
Meanwell UHP 350-24 it's an ultra efficient and fanless PSU. Small form factor, absolutely love it.
Hallo Tom,
Ich habe ein Industrienetzteil mit 24V und der Abschaltfunktion eines ATX Netzteils benutzt. Da in meinem Aufbau auch noch eine SPS und diverse PC Lüfter verwendet werden, benutze ich noch Ein zweites Industrienetzteil mit 5V und 12V.
Funktioniert sehr gut in Verbindung mit einem Duet 2.
Replaced my cheap industrial 12V PSU with an semi-passive non modular single rail 22A SFX one. It does a really good job and is much smaller compared to ATX. Just need a proper mount to hide all the cables.
I'm using a medium quality EVGA 500W ATX power supply, it worked for a while without any load on 5V but after a few months it started behaving a little weird (prints stopping in the middle with the ATX still on afterwards or sometimes stopping completely), I tried adding a 12V halogen light to the 5V line and now it works perfectly so even on good quality ATX think about it if you have any issue.
My 7-year-old Printrbot Plus v1 used an ATX power supply's 4-pin 12V Molex connector. It worked, but it was never a precision machine.
You can get aftermarket power supplies for 3d printers? Any make\model that people are drawn too?
Seeked out an ATX PS with a 5V standby that can handle over 3A to power a R PI and re-arm when it was off. I found the PS for a Dell Optiplex 3010 or 9010 has a 5Vsb at 4A. It is a small form factor 240W and goes for about $35 USD on Amazon. I have the 5V Standby powering a the RPi with its USB connected to and powering re-arm with ramps. the PS on turns on the ATX PS to provide the 12 V to the ramps for motors and hot end. I have the PWR OK signal from the ATX PS trigger a Solid State relay to turn on a 24V 480W PS for the heated bed. The ramps is connected to a MOSFET to control the 24V to the heated bed. I added the plugin to octoprint for power on the PS and power down the PS after some time. I just send a job to octoprint and the printer powers up and shutsdown after cool down.
What's that contraption with the big dragchains in the backgraound?
I added ATX to my printer, octoprint can turn the printer on from a totally off state as it runs off the standby 5v power rail. And after a print it waits to cool down and then totally turns the printer off :) awesome stuff.
Bought a Hewlett Packard DPS-750RB A server PSU for £17 on Ebay, its very small, and gives 65A @ 12V :) its got a 40mm fan that I suspect will be very loud if it ever gets loaded enough to need it, it powers my Hevo and has been perfect for the last 12 months and really there's so much head room that that cooling fan has never kicked in.
I bought a FSP300-60GHT 300W slim Power Supply second hand (around £8.00) on Ebay when I built my 3D printer. De soldered most wires from the PSU but kept a couple of +12V, ground and the +5V SB. The +12V has two rails which supply the bed, the motors and the hot end. The +5V SB to power the Arduino and Ramps board by connecting to 5V (VCC) on the Ramps.
This gives me the option to only start up the power supply when I need to control the motors, start heating and running the printer and shuts down into standby automatically when finished. I also used a boost converter on the +5V SB to keep the 12V hot end fan running after shut down until it cooled down to 40 degrees then shuts off.
Forgot to mention. D1 on the Ramps board needs removing to stop dual supplying the Arduino when running and an additional mosfet module connected to the servo headers for the hot end fan.
Any links to tutorials or documentation on using the atx shut off from the printer or through a raspberry pi octopi set up kind o thing? Would like to use ATX as a supply for a prusa mk3 and a raspi v4 B running octo print and a camera 🤔 any help would be appreciated 🙏
my first printer was shipped with an anemic LED power supply that exploded on first use. I replaced it with a FlexATX server power supply that is 80+ silver with a certification that it can run it's full capacity 24/7. Obviously more expensive, but the FlexATX form factor is very nice, it's 40mm thick and fairly narrow, so it can fit in the same places as those LED power supplies. Only downside is the small 40mm fan that is very loud at high power draws, but otherwise it's great, and I've added a manual switch on the 24pin connector so it's a super safe way to turn it on and off, with zero current running through the switch.
When I built my printer, I got a used noname ATX supply. It was dirt-cheap ~12$, it was something I know how to use, and it was recommended\described on Reprap wiki guides.
There was a problem with slow heatbed, and was thinking about 24v upgrade... but then I found out it was software problem: Sprinter to Marlin update fixed it for me, what as a surprise!
When i built my first 3d printer myself i went with ATX-powersupply since i had one extra that was available. Worked fine for years until i finally bought factory made metal framed 3d-printer to replace it.
What about using ATX's -12 and +12V poles? I use an old ATX for galvanising/etching small stuff, and sometimes I use that 24V possibility.
Is it a bad idea to use this feature for a printer?
Hello folks! I use atx psu with 3 rails at 12 volt, one for hot-end , one for bed and last one for Mainboard. 5 volt are for raspberry and for led band.
I've wouldn't entrust pretty expensive stepper drivers to some "boost converter". If it will give a less current just for a moment this can ruin the whole 3d print.
Can you use two industrial power supplies in parallel? My printer uses 12V 25A but I can't find any passive cooled industrial supplies. Would it be possible to use two weaker ones in parallel?
I've been through pretty much all the options;
12 V cheap PSU that came with the printer
12 V ATX (Noise)
12 V ATX with Boost Converter (TMC drivers)
24 V ATX in series (faster bed heating times)
24 V Meanwell (less cable clutter)
24 V ATX in series (that Meanwell is stupidly loud)
24 V ATX in series with a 12 V buck converter (lights would flicker when loading the 24 V rail)
Can you use a seperate 24v supply with mosfets with a standard anet a8 heatbed (to speed up the time)?
What about dual identical ATX supplies, tie the ground of one to the +12V of the other and you have 24V between +12V(b) and ground(a). Two separate +5VSB rails, and you can tie the green power on connectors together etc as well.
You can't do this because each PSU's output ground is tied to the PSU metal case, and to the mains ground. So if you tie the first PSU 12V output to the second PSU ground, you essentially short out the first PSU.
Prusa mk2.5ish clone, used a generic 30amp 12v. On my next project im gonna go with a 24v supply so i can get higher speeds and cooler motors