Having had horrible experiences attempting to build a Kossel Delta 3D printer, with various issues cropping up along the way, I’m seriously considering getting it out of the closet and giving it another go.
I had been using an Arduino Mega/Ramps 1.4 combo with A4988 stepper drivers and Marlin firmware, had very limited and short lived success in just getting the thing to move on command. I upgraded to DRV8825 stepper motor drivers and found that no matter what current I adjusted the pots to, they overheated to the point of glistening solder joints on the pins. I have tried different Mega boards, different Ramps boards, thinking something must have been wrong between one or the other. All checks with a multimeter returned values well within suggested parameters for incoming voltage from the power supply, outgoing power to the heat bed and hot end, but the motors whined and stuttered, and many times only one or two axis would work leaving a third out, or all axis moving at a fraction of the speed indicated in the firmware.
I had to take a break after many, many long nights of trying various combinations in the firmware and with the hardware, documenting all of my actions with each change to just get it operating at any level. One step forward was always two steps back.
Now - I am seriously considering just forgetting all about the Mega/Ramps combo and getting a Smoothieboard 4x, which I hope will solve many of the problems I had in the past.
Has anyone upgraded their Delta controller board from Mega/Ramps to a more sophisticated version and had success with getting it operational?
It’s not uncommon. You can look at the Re-Arm from Panucatt if you want to stick with the Ramps, but honestly their customer support has been pretty poor lately.
@raykholo has his Cohesion3D Mini at $89 with which you could use the drivers you already have. Or could even upgrade to some silent Trinamics! If you only want 4 drivers, his mini is a great choice. Also very active community.
@Roy_Cortes at Panucatt is involved with so many projects that occasionally he is very hard to reach. He runs alot of stuff himself and deals with some pretty high profile clients.
Panucatt boards are fantastic and the smoothieware and 3D printing community at large is always willing to help. The ReArm is a great board as well as the rest of Panucatt’s boards.
@raykholo runs a great company to and is always more than happy to assist you with his Cohesion boards. Plus, he’s alot easier to get a hold of.
I fully support both of these companies so whichever you go with will be a great choice. Smoothieware is by far the superior firmware IMO.
@Roy_Cortes at Panucatt is involved with so many projects that occasionally he is very hard to reach. He runs alot of stuff himself and deals with some pretty high profile clients.
Panucatt boards are fantastic and the smoothieware and 3D printing community at large is always willing to help. The ReArm is a great board as well as the rest of Panucatt’s boards.
@raykholo runs a great company to and is always more than happy to assist you with his Cohesion boards. Plus, he’s alot easier to get a hold of.
I fully support both of these companies so whichever you go with will be a great choice. Smoothieware is by far the superior firmware IMO.
I have converted my Chinese Kossel clone over to a BeagleBone + Replicape (thing-printer) several months back. I love the silent micro-stepping and the fact the system becomes fully integrated network 3D printer.
Cool! I’m building my vslot kossel mini right now. We’ve got a nice case design for the Cohesion3D Mini + Raspberry Pi, and I too would recommend some awesome drivers like the TMC2208. Let me know if you need any help.
Thank you everyone for your feedback, this is all very useful!
Among the many advantages of a Smoothieboard over a Mega/Ramps combo, at least the advantage that was most persuasive to me, was that the stepper drivers are already integrated into the board and I wouldn’t have to hassle with a handfull of possibly broken or flawed stepper drivers - since I was unable to locate the exact issue with my previous attempt between hardware and firmware, I was hoping for a solution that could provide a fewer number of variables to go wrong. I have purchased dozens of stepper motor drivers and tried them one by one, tuned them like a violin, and after many unsuccessful attempts at getting everything moving properly, I am more attracted to a controller that does everything I need it to, containing the least number of add-on parts since the previous attempts turned out so poorly.
@Dave_Posey I never thought of using a Beaglebone, but I did wonder if there were any Raspberry Pi based boards or kits outside of Octoprint. How is it working out?
@Michael_Anton1 I have been very happy with the solution. The TMC2100 stepper drivers are very quiet and drive my AnyCubic Delta beautifully, even in stealth chop mode.
The configuration is easy, and there are several active delta developers in the SLACK group, so support is there if you need it.
I’ve got a Touchscreen on order, which will make this a fully network integrated standalone 3D printer. You can slice and print right on the BeagleBone from the LCD interface. Obviously, a multi GHz desktop processor is faster, but the 1GHz BeagleBone does just fine too.
