Which controller boards are guys using now days when building their 3D Printer, like the CoreXY etc. Are these boards still being supported and updated. It will be interesting to see if many have moved away from Ramps 1.4.
Smoothie based boards
Is the Smoothie Firmware more difficult than Marlin firmware. How does it compare with setting up etc.
I have been told that Simplify3D has issues with SmoothieBoard. Now that is really not good news. Don’t want to give up Simplify3D or go through bunch fixing for S3D to work.
Smoothie here as well. Azteeg just released a new v2 board that looked to be doing some great things. Allot of nice features coming to smoothie and a great community behind it.
Also setup is much easier as u only have a since config to edit in any text editor and then save restart and ur good.
I use with S3D and have no problems with my delta or Prusa.
I thought there were lots of issues with the smoothie? Nice to know they are getting ironed out as logically it’s the way to go.
There is one issue with S3D. But there is a solution for this, where you “repair” your g-code with a program.
Besides that Smoothieware is really easy to use. You never need to compile the firmware as you change everything from one ini file on the SD card.
Ok so you sold me on the Smoothie Board. I just correct the gCode before printing. Now need to find good price and see what courier fees are to South Africa. Its just crazy with exchange rate at 16 to 1. Year ago was 13 to 1. Thanks much appreciate it.
Have you considered the Duet? Like the Smoothieboard it is 32-bit with all the usual features such as software-controlled stepper motor currents and firmware configuration without recompiling the firmware. But it costs less than the Smoothieboard and has a fantastic web interface. It also has probably the best firmware for delta 3D printers there is, with fast (25 second) autocalibration of up to 7 factors, and segmentation-free delta kinematics. It’s available in Europe form Think3DPrint3D, and in the US form Filastruder.
PS - the Duet firmware (RepRapFirmware) has no issues with gcode from S3D either. Full disclosure: I maintain a fork of RepRapFirmware.
@Vaughan_Lundin take a look at http://ultibots.com I know They ship worldwide and are suppliers of the Azteeg x5 v2.
+Peter van der Walt any idea on the prices down there?
I love Smoothieboard’s configuration. It’s easy to set up new features in 4-8 configuration lines. However, Smoothieboard USB port can give you problems. I’ve had to reconnect it twice in a given eight hour build session. So you might need to run it through a terminal or the built in web server for maximum operational reliability.
The main issue with S3D is when you feed it ridiculously fine models, the slicer doesn’t reduce segments that are far too small to show up on the part, and thus overwhelm the processor.
I have a V2 on the way and I’ll do a short review of it this weekend. I was waiting forever for the V1 to get back in stock and was like oh, muwahahahaha I can get the V2!
Waiting for the duet board (and extension) to arrive, formerly ramps, then Rambo…
+1 for RepRapFirmware on Duet or Due+RADDS. For Cartesian and CoreXY bots, Sailfish on a Mightyboard is still very competitive for performance and features.
I’ve had no major problems with the $26 Ramps+LCD + $15 12v power supply epacket from ali/ebay with Marlin- (I heat the bed using 120v mains and SSR) it’s fine for everything I do- i think it’s the best solution for a 3D printer controller < $50. Maybe I will upgrade when the 32-but boards are mass produced for similar prices.
+Peter van der Walt
I’m looking forward to the 32-bit boards, and I think they are on their way - I see that they are about $60 on ebay/ali (no LCD though). I was optimistic for Duet- but reprappro kind of ran out of steam I think. Now Atmel is being bought by Microchip so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens there. I should explain that, currently, for me 3D printing is just a tool to make spare broken parts for things around the house, and mostly to build robots- so all I care about it a low cost solution that works for basic things. I’m not overly finicky about 3D printed objects. I’m interested though in hearing about why people think the Smoothieboard is much better- clearly people are galvanized in favor of the Smoothieboard. Definitely networking would be a nice edition. Smoothieboard uses an NXP CPU- which are about $10 each, I can see maybe a lower cost AllWinner board in the horizon.
+Peter van der Walt Am I correct did you say you import boards.
+Peter van der Walt Thanks for the dismissal. I’ve reliably used the same cable with hard drives and three other kinds of 3D printer controllers, including 250000 repeatably on a RAMBo. The smoothie Dev team acknowledge that the NXP chip’s USB port isn’t very good, there’s no reason to pretend it isn’t a problem even if you’re never experienced it.