Hello there! As my zonestar i3 is pretty loud I'm thinking about throwing out

3D Printing
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1

Hello there!

As my zonestar i3 is pretty loud I’m thinking about throwing out the melzi that came with it in favor of something that supports the TMC2100 stepper drivers. The Sanguinololu and RAMPS came to mind but upon further research also the RADDS, the Replicape rev.B and the AZSMZ. All three of the latter use a 32bit chip either on the board itselft or on an Arduino due or Beaglebone Black.
I know that faster processors are a necessity with delta printers and/or printers with high resolution displays but I also read that carthesian printers “can also benefit from extra processing power” especially with the Marlin fw that uses it to “plan ahead it’s moves”. I did not find more specific explanations.

Is it worth to invest in one of the more powerful options or are the 8-bit options sufficient?
How does Marlin improve things by “planning ahead”
What about the boards that (can) use Smoothieware or Repetier? Do these firmwares benefit of the extra processing power in any way?
Are there other TMC2100-compatible boards I missed?
Any recommendations or personal experiences with the hw you’d like to share?

Thank you for reading this far :slight_smile:
Chris

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Forgot to mention the RUMBA on my list.

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You could try the new TI 888x coming out with self adjusting current. Not sure if they already are commercially available but think so…

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Didn’t find anything with google. Can you provide a link?

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Try starting from here:
http://www.ti.com/product/drv8880

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The silent drivers are not good if you need any torque. I would go for a printrboard or maybe a Rambo

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@Michael_Memeteau They look promising! I’ll look into it

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@Griffin_Paquette As much torque as the DRV8825 deliver, I wouldn’t go back to them because they were really noisy, and worse than that, were also “delivering” plenty of vibrations (harmonics?). Now the TMC 2100 have more than enough torque for 3D printing (especially for the QuadRap where x and Y have two steppers each). I’m curious if the 888x will be able to deliver, but the concept is very interesting, since they should only ramp up the current when required and would be otherwise quite silent (and keep cool). Look for the demo video they have, promising indeed…