Hey RepRappers.
I’ve been a bit out of touch with all the new tech that’s arrived since I built my first RepRap two years ago.
So my question to you is, what is the best controller board today?
Is RAMPS still a good candidate or has something way better come along since then?
It kind of depends on what you want. RAMPS is still IMO, the best choice for an expandable, DIY build. I, myself end up using Printrboards. That may change down the line, but they’re pretty convenient and $130 is a decent price. (You’re kind of hosed if you burn out a stepper driver)
They won’t be available for a couple of weeks still, but you might want to check http://smoothieware.org/ just to see what the future looks like 
@Arthur_Wolf well you can get a smoothieboard right now. What’s your thoughts on that?
Where ? The only place I know of is only taking pre-orders.
@Arthur_Wolf you’re right, my mistake.
Anyway I’m not building my next printer until around a month from now so I can wait. What makes smoothieboard better than others in your opinion?
Also, I’m not a huge fan of the way all these new boards stepper drivers soldered onto the board, making them nearly impossibly to replace if you mess it up.
The future is something like a udoo + ramps FD in my opinion. Android or Linux based host and the awesome ramps drivers plus arduino due. Only a matter of time before there are touch based tablets driving your printer.
@Kodie_Goodwin Having an android system doing the work of a microcontroller seems like way overkill to me. It might be where we are headed though. Cut out the host PC.
While all these futuristic host controllers are immensely interesting, it’s not really what I’m looking for right now. I’m just asking how I get the most bang for my buck in a controller board I can buy today (or within the next month or so, but I’m more interested in a proven design than something cool and experimental).
@Thomas_T_Sorensen Most apparent advantages of Smoothie are : you don’t need to use the arduino IDE to compile or configure it. You flash firmware updates simply by downloading them and dropping them on the SD card. Also the configuration is done very simply by editing a config file on the SD card. When you plug the board into your computer it provides both a Mass Storage USB interface, and a Serial interface. You don’t need to tweak potentiometers to control the current, it’s done digitally ( you simply set the value in the config file ). It also has more processing power allowing to do more things on more machines ( you can control lasers or CNC mills, as well as control delta printers more smoothly ). The firmware is designed to be extremely easy to extend for new uses, and that gets us a very active community and lots of contributions. Also has Ethernet, with an on-board web interface to control the machine, upload files etc …
I must forget a lot of things, lots of folks consider it way ahead of the rest, I tend to agree ( I started the project btw, so I’m a tad biased ).
About on-board drivers, it allows for much better heat dispertion ( Smoothie can go to 1.9A+, where Pololu will start making trouble at ~1.4A. )
The chip we use ( A4982 ) has very good protections, pretty much the only way to blow it up would be to disconnect the stepper while the machine is moving ( and even that is going to be bad only at high current settings ). There are Smoothie-compatible boards on the way that use the Pololu system, but that also means increased cost, and manual control of current, and that’s not in my taste.
We have a lot of Smoothieboard in the wild, and very few reported drivers blown. Once one has learnt not to disconnect their steppers when they are running, there should be no problem at all.
@Arthur_Wolf thanks for your detailed response! I’m very interested in how it performs on delta printers. You say it can control deltas more smoothly? What makes it better at controlling deltas than an arduino with RAMPS?
What about firmware? I’ve been using Marlin so that’s what I’m familiar with. Do I have to learn to use a completely different firmware for the smoothieboard?
Also, I’m kind of surprised that controller boards are still this expensive. While printers have become dirt cheap these past years, I still need to pay more than €150 for a good controller board?
@Thomas_T_Sorensen For Deltas, it’s quite simple : processing power. 16Mhz/8bit versus 100Mhz/32bits. We have more precise step generation, better acceleration, longer look-ahead, higher possible speed, blocks-per-second instead of blocks-per-millimeter, optionally acceleration based on the tower movements instead of the head movements. I don’t have a delta personally, but people say they notice a clear amelioration.
About firmware, it’s essentially compatible, so you can use the same host software ( Pronterface, Repetier, whatever it is you like ), it uses the same G-Codes. The only different thing is the configuration, while it uses the same paradygms ( you shouldn’t be lost at all if you know Marlin ), it’s simpler to configure. See for example : https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/blob/edge/ConfigSamples/Smoothieboard/config
@Arthur_Wolf It all sounds really good. You might’ve convinced me. Except for one thing - when can I buy it?
@Thomas_T_Sorensen In about two weeks at uberclock ( US ) and robotseed ( EU/Rest of the world ).
We still have the kickstarter rewards ( https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/logxen/smoothieboard-the-future-of-cnc-motion-control ) to ship, once that’s done they’ll be publicly available.
Personally, i think the RAMPS is still a valid choice, even if it has its flaws (polyfuses…). Today’s common driver boards really don’t fundamentally differ in terms of how they work, it’s all a matter of details, especially when it comes to the heater drivers.
The RAMPS is unspectacular on all aspects - it’s proven, it’s dirt cheap (15$ + 18$ Mega, thanks to Aliexpress) and has all the features you need, even when you’re adding a second extruder. Add a Raspberry Pi with Octoprint and you’re all set.
Now, tomorrow’s common driver boards will likely be based on the Arduino Due platform, like today’s RepRapPro Duet, which comes with a built-in web server and offers Kraken-compatible expansion options. Though it’ll probably be another year until that catches on and prices start to drop.
Makerbot already jumping on the advanced printer host train. ChoooChoo!
Sure has a lot of nice features. But after sacrificing several drivers to the blue smoke gods, I get a little nervous seeing those drivers fixed on the board. I’m currently working on a ramps board with external TB6600 drivers. Otherwise, it looks great.
@Rien_Stouten The Toshiba drivers are well known for going in flames quite easily. I personally prefer safe drivers that are hard to replace. The only people that I have seen burning drivers were those that “play” with their printers, make many, move electronics around. Those that just build their printer and use it have a very low chance of burning drivers. For the first ones, I think it’s really just a matter of learning not to disconnect steppers while the machine is running, which should be fairly simple to grasp.
So, you are calling me a player?
But you are probably right. I’m designing my own mistakes, so I do tend to do a lot of trial and error. We will see if the TB6600 will come out as error, but I pray they don’t. For the record, I’ve had drivers giving up just because I moved an axis, and the ramps board was not even under power. Other times insufficient cooling did the trick.I was getting sick and tired of fiddling with the tiny pollolu’s, which are a little underpowered for my build anyway, so hense the move to bigger drivers.