Preview and first run of the new Archim 32 bit controller board from Ultimachine. I don’t know when the release is planned. I’ve got it running. This vid is the first run, no filament though I have printed with it and it’s fully operational for a single extruder setup.
I’m thinking maybe another video of it printing full tilt, That’s the thing with 32 bit. aren’t they supposed to be faster with complex printing? Don’t forget I’m still pretty new at this 3d printing thing. So don’t take any
offense.
The config settings are turned down for testing. The nominal print speed is 40 mm/s and the jerk and acceleration is less than half of what I have on 8 bit boards.
Having a 32 bit processor in and of itself doesn’t make it faster. There is more computational power that a delta type machine would benefit. For a Cartesian machine the primary benefit are the stepper drivers and MOSFETs though the Rambo family also has good parts.
At this point the hardware (all hardware, not just this one) is well ahead of where the firmware and to a lesser extent the interfaces are at this point. It’s my understanding that eventually Synthetos will have a version of G2 (32 bit TinyG) that will run on the board.
@Branden_Coates The Smoothie is more flushed out but it’s been around for a while. This is a non public beta that is still in development.
I got a 3 axis Smoothie for another application some time ago. I like the Smoothie platform better than Marlin. In terms of accessories, particularly displays the Smoothie is limited. The limiting factor with the Archim right now is the firmware but they’re working on it. The availability of the Smoothie in the US is pretty sporadic. I don’t know what’s up with Uberclock though Arthur at Robotseed overseas has them. Performance wise too soon to tell but I doubt the end user will notice a difference on a properly configured machine.
I’ve got the latest Replicape, a great package but the implementation curve is steep for novice users. Mechanically and functionally it’s happening but getting it to that point takes some doing. It’s nothing that a more comprehensive UX/UI and installer wouldn’t fix.
@Ryan_Carlyle I don’t see the long game for this or any other 32 bit controllers to be based on either Marlin or Repetier. This is a Due fork that is specific to this board and personally I don’t see that being a long term solution but I’m not the dev.
I think this particular board something like G2 is more appropriate. I was able to hack it and get it on the board but not operate it at this point. The toolchain for getting the .bin built and onto the silicon is pretty geek. Not something most first timers are going to be able to do.
@dstevens_lv I’m very curious to see G2 working properly in a 3d printer. Or regular TinyG for that matter. I’m sick of GRBL ports and refactors, it’s holding back speeds on complex models by roughly a factor of 3 right now. (Because the corner jerk and junction deviation concepts both essentially run the printer unaccelerated on highly-faceted arcs.) So I’m all for anything that breaks the mold a bit.
Short term, anything 32bit is a big upgrade on 8bit Atmegas, but medium/long term, the Cortex-M3 line really isn’t fast enough. I have no difficulty whatsoever bogging down Due/RADDS-Repetier with autoleveling and a GLCD on my delta. The Duet (which is also ATSAM3X8E like the Due) is at its limit with dc42-RepRapFirmware’s non-bresenham’s delta control. I also have no difficulty overloading a Smoothieboard’s LPC1769 on my other delta. As you’ve probably heard, both the Duet and Smoothieboard are moving to significantly faster processors in their up-coming revs.
Good hardware seriously outperforms today’s 32bit firmwares. That’s partially due to GRBL kludges and partially due to processor limits (either clock cycles or RAM). I’m curious how performance-optimized TinyG/G2 is and whether it’ll give significantly better performance than all the constant-acceleration firmwares out there.
Ryan you overload the Smoothieboard? Rats I was going to get a cloned version for my first build. I’m not going to have auto leveling or multi colour at this point. Maybe I’ll wait till the near end of building before buying a board, funny that, it was going to be my first purchase, lol
@Jeff_Dewe I was printing high polygon count model perimeters on a delta at >200mm/s, so that’s not necessarily a “normal usage case.” A Smoothieboard is a big upgrade on 8bit Marlin, without a doubt. I personally prefer Sailfish/Mightyboard for Cartesian bots (yes, even though it’s 8bit, it’s hella optimized) or either Repetier on Due/RADDS or RepRapFirmware on Duet for deltas. Not really worth getting into the obscure technical reasons though, pick the 32bit board that has the features you want and you’ll probably be happy.
If you go with one of the Smoothie clones, don’t buy the MKS SBASE unless you know for a fact that your chosen drivetrain/PSU combo is compatible with the built-in 8825 drivers. The 8825s tend to perform very poorly with low-inductance motors, particularly with 24v PSUs. So, basically, the kind of drivetrain you want if you plan on printing fast.
