Assembling the Mixer
RAMPS boards
Assemble the RAMPS board. There are numerous instructions on the internet. Youtube works the best but you should be able to find an appropriate howto.
You may or may not need to recompile a version of Marlin. (RAMPs OS) It depends on which display is integrated into your RAMPS board. There may also be an issue with the end-stops. As of 8/3/24 this is an unknow as far as what is required. In general as long as the RAMPS board doesn't auto-cut off due to the end-stop state, and the display displays, then you should be good to go.
Pumps
How you mount the pumps is up to you. We mounted ours horizontally but I would like mount then vertically for space reasons. It also allowed us to place the electronics above all the liquids. We used zip-ties but wood screws would work better. There are no real forces on the stepping motors so zip ties seemed easy enough. Just drill 2 holes to loop the ziptie through..
Each pump is attached to the appropriate axis on the 3d printer board. A 3d-printer has 3 axis, one for X Y Z. After mounting the pumps I went ahead and labeled the axis and ingredient going to pump. Then determine where you want to keep the input buckets during the mixing stage. Cut the tubes to reach the bottom of the bucket to the input on the pump. Push the hose onto the pump. If facing the pump, the motor will rotate clockwise. So if the inlet/outlet are on the bottom, the motor will rotate in a clockwise direction.
Mixing Container
. We used 2 similar but different sized plastic bottles. With the larger outer one mounted by wood screws. This one provides support for the actual mixing container. (Without the need for puncturing.) container.
Now you will need to mount the mixing container to a rigid backing that can also support the mini-lathe motor which provides the stirring action during the mixing phase. The bottom of the plastic bottles should be cut off so that a funnel is created. The larger (outer) funnel will contain the inner funnel and support it. Without this approach, the inner funnel would need a complicated mounting system or be punctured with wood screws to attach to the backing. Having the larger funnel-bottle support the mixing container is easiest as it can be attached with whatever and doesn't need to not leak. It may not look nice but that was never the design goal.
Drill out the stopper and insert the tubing into it. Make it so that the tubing does not protrude past the top of the stopper. (This would create an area that won't drain) Push the stopper into the neck of the mixing
Above the funnel and utilizing the same backing for mounting, you will need to attach the lathe motor.
Lathe motor
You will need to assemble the lathe motor with the chuck and bracket. It should have a L shaped mounting bracket included but the lathe motor was never meant to be vertical. It was meant to have the wood stock have a constant pressure pushing into the motor. This would keep the bronze sleeve from ever slipping off and having the chuck detach from the motor.
First - make sure to attach the bracket to the motor. Otherwise you will not be able to access the screws to mount the motor onto the bracket. We would suggest loctite during this stage to help ensure it won't separate. We also froze the motor to shrink the shaft (unlikely to have mattered). Find an anvil like surface which you will rest the motor on. Heat up the bronze sleeve and remove the motor from the freezer. Apply loctite to the axle. Then apply the torch to the bronze sleeve. Once the bronze is significantly heated - take the motors' axle and lightly tap it into the bronze sleeze. It is the most intuitive to hold the motor with your fingers and then lightly tapping the axel that sticks out the motor. If you need to tap harder - I would suggest holding the sleeve with pliars and resting the axle on the anvil-like surface.
The bronze sleeve should slide on fairly easy. (This was never researched on how it was recommended. We just received the motor. )
Apply Loctite to the sleeve and lightly tap the chuck on. This should have all the parts from the lathe kit assembled and read to mount onto the wood back.
Now you will need to mount the lathe motor to the backing. The centering doesn't seem necessary, in fact it might be better to not having the motor axel centered in the mixing funnel. Having it offset might increase the turbulence and thus be beneficial. For the sake of consistency we have tried to keep the motor's axle aligned with the center of the funnel. The L bracket should be used for this but you will need to find a shim to mount between the backing and the L bracket. I had access to a planer so was able to plane down a piece of 2x4 into the appropriate height. This part actually needs to be somewhat well supported compared to the pump motors. I do not feel zipties would be appropriate. We used wood screws and attached the shim to the backing.
You will need to create a block of wood to have the lathe motor coaxial with the mixing container. This serves as a shim between the motor bracket and the wood with the mixing container mounted. This thickness of the wood/shim depends on what you used as your mix container. This aspect could be a bit problematic if you don't have access to a planer but it doesn't need to be anywhere near perfect. The main aspect is that the stirrer does not rub against the walls of the container. You also want to have the stirrer low enough to thoroughly stir the solution.
When placing the L bracket, insert the paddle you are going to use into the chuck and adjust the height so that the paddle is barely clearing the bottle-funnel. The closer it is to the bottom of the bottle - the less likely there are lower areas in the mixing container that are not being properly stirred.
Once this is done go back to your tubing. Attach the tubing to the pumps and cut it to a length where it stick a few inches into the mixing container. It just needs to be deep enough to not fall outside of the mixing container. (And leak the input solution all over)
Run the xyztest.gcode to see which way your pumps pump. Then push the input tubings to the appropriate spot. The gcode expects a certain direction. (can you change the power?)
