Now that I can move 3 axis by L297/L298 I wonder which software I

3D Printing
,
1

Now that I can move 3 axis by L297/L298 I wonder which software I would need to flash on my Arduino to use it as a 3D printer.
I want to add a 4th stepepr for the extruder (as soon as my hotend arrives…) and controll heating for the bed and my nozzle by a 2-channel relayboard. For each axis (x/y/z) there are two end-switches which break the circuit when activated. And I need temperature-sensors for the Hotend and the bed to control the relays.
So I need to control:
direction x
step x
direction y
step y
direction z
step z
end x
end y
end z
enable heating nozzle
enable heating bed
temp-sensor nozzle
temp-sensor bed
Makes 8 pins output and 5 pins input.

Will this work with an Arduino Nano v3.0 or shall I better take an Arduino Uno?

2

Curious: Why are you trying to reinvent this software when there are open-source solutions that have solved this?
Also: Relays are a bad method for temperature control. The PWM switching required for stable control is way too high frequency.

3

I’m not going to reinvent it. I need suggestions which one to use :wink:
Just wanted to make clear what I’m going to connect :wink:
…and I just forgot: 2 pins for controlling the extruder-stepper, 1 pin to control a laserdiode :wink:

4

Take your choice:

Boards available now, most based on ATMega (Arduino Mega), mostly open source hardware designs:
RUMBA
Rambo
Ramps
Printrboard
(Many others…)

Firmware available now, mostly open source:
Teacup
Repetier
Marlin
Sprinter
(Many others…)

5

Errr…what do you mean?
I need software recommendations :wink:

//Edit: Oh, sorry…g+ didn’t show the whole post first :confused:

6

As I already have some arduinos and other Atmel MPUs here right now, I don’t wanna spend money on other hardware :slight_smile:
Thanks for your suggestions!

7

Okay, now I see where you’re coming from!

Do you have an Arduino Mega? The original RAMPS was a shield (Reprap Arduino Mega Polulu Shield), and I think is available still.

If you’re doing your own board (probably cost more than pre-fab one), you’ll need a fairly hefty processor to handle the math.

At any rate, those boards and firmwares are open source, so they could at least be a starting point for your own design.

8

I have some Arduino Nano and one Arduino Uno right here in front of me. But today I didn’t have time to read about all those softwares…because I was playing with an HD44780 display and a stepper motor :wink:

As I already have built my own stepper drivers (based on L297 and L298) I only need the machinecodeinterpreter.
Once I’ve been playing around with grbl, which was quite nice for getting involved to g-code. But as it doesn’t support a 4th axis (which the extruder is anyway…w virtual 4th axis…at least for the software :wink: I need to check those established tools.

9

The reason you need an Arduino mega is that you need access to more pins than a nano or uno provide. You can get a cheap Chinese mega for less than $20 on eBay if you look hard enough. If you use the smaller boards, I don’t think you have enough discretes without muxing