Help Understanding Firmware Settings?

Hi All, I've been an avid 3d printer for a couple years now and have made numerous mechanical modifications to my 2 solidoodles. That being said, I've finally taken on a complete build from the ground up and although I've had some success getting the printer moving (in only the literal sense) I can't seem to tweak it properly or setup the z probing feature.

After going through the Repetier configuration tool I've realize there are a million things that I think I need some clarity on that maybe you guys can help me with.

First let me start by saying that I'm using RAMPS 1.4 with RepRapDiscount Full Graphics Smart Controller.

The printer type I built is a Cartesian printer. The online tool asks about EEPROM usage and asks for a couple different options. What do I want to use and why?

Next is the dimensions. The x, y and z lengths are easy and I think I want the minimum positions at 0 meaning at it's minimal position? Why would I make this anything else but 0?

On the mechanics page it asks about backlash compensation as well as quad stepping.  Really, I don't fully understand anything on this page. My motors have a resolution of 80 steps per mm so that makes sense but I'm not sure what I want my speeds set at or how they come into play. How fast or slow should/can I make this? Also during testing the Z axis seems incredibly slow. It also doesn't seem to move the right distance when I send a move command. Ie, I say go 10 mm and it moves a tiny little bit. It doesn't seem right at all. My Z is a lead screw system using a 5/16-18 thread.

The endstops I think I have figured out. All my are set to Switch on GND, normally closed but what does the "always check endstops" option do for my and why/why not would I use it?

Most of the temperature stuff I understand however when it comes to the extruder settings I don't know what to select for the temperature sensor. The temp sensor for my hotend is from E3D but I don't know what make or model it is. The other sensor is salvaged from my solidoodle bed and don't know what it is either. Any thoughts on how to determine this?

I also plan to enable z probing and have (I think) properly setup my ramps board jumpers to enable the servo output and have connected my servo so I checked the option box for that. Next is the "Enable axis compensation", I don't know what this is or what it's for. Do I also need to enable servo support?  For the Z probe pin I plan to use the z-min and reuse my mechanical endstop switch that was also on the solidoodle but correct me if I'm wrong.

On the user interface page, I have it set to the RepRapDiscount Full Graphics Smart Controller. Most settings here make sense to me however I noticed the encoder seems backwards to me when testing. Is there a way to invert the direction?

And lastly case light pin. I have an LED strip I'd like to use but don't know where to connect this. Is one setting better than others on the RAMPS board?


I realize this is a lot and I'm willing to learn. I searched the web for most of these questions but I couldn't find anything that was clear enough for me to understand. Any and all help is appreciated!

Thanks in advance...

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