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Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: February 28th, 2016, 12:58 pm
by Dim3nsioneer
Coming from the Ultimaker side I know little about other electronics for 3D printers. Maybe we can put together some kind of market overview?

My interest is:
- what affordable electronics for 3D printers do exist?
- what is included (stepper drivers etc.)?
- advantages / disadvantages of certain boards
- What firmware does support those boards?
- Can I just start with the board or do I have to be a tinkerer to use a certain board?
- etc.

In a first step it might be reasonable to concentrate on FFF printers...

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: February 28th, 2016, 1:06 pm
by Neotko
I know little but as far as I know.

Smoothieboard it's kinda nice. No pt100. Cheap screen posible and the price it's quite good. Also has a lot of support from users.

Replicape. Almost a full computer, linux, can have cura as slicer inside. Has net/internet connectivity. To have a screen to 'touch' it only supports a touchscreen called manga. The people that it's starting to use it are very happy. But the price with screen it's kinda expensive.

Smoothieboard loads marlin, so it's faster to start on. Also allows 1/32 steps I think.

Pt100 support only on alligator, but that board creators banished and they don't answer any mail. So who knows...

That all the little info I know.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: February 28th, 2016, 1:43 pm
by ivan.akapulko
Replicape looks awesome. Almost everything i want to see on it. Maybe some camera module will be good addition. But know nothing about his firmware, except it use python. Smoothie dont have sss, and becose of these i wait for his second version in future. Autodesk's open platform, if i member correct, developed for sla printers.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: February 28th, 2016, 2:48 pm
by Xeno
I'm a total electronics noob, and would really like to see DIY projects to add different electronics/steppers and so on,
and turn it onto a step by step plan, so even a noob like me can do it :)

That is something that made the R2Builders a great site, so everybody could join in without having any experience.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: February 29th, 2016, 4:52 am
by Amedee

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 5:22 am
by chopmeister
If you're looking for an 8 bit board I can vouch for megatronics 3.0 from reprapworld. Did a whole review/tutorial here.

As for the smoothieboard, I have one installed now. Configuring it is a breeze. Compared to Marlin it's like a hundred times better. Although, if you intend to use an LCD get the smoothie LCD connector board otherwise hooking it up is a nightmare. Also be aware that the smoothieboard is hardwired for 1/16 stepping and you can't change it. Well, not unless you're using external drivers, which are also a hassle to connect. But the board itself is awesome and works great.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 6:23 am
by Meduza
That Megatronics board looks quite nice, it is only sad that it does not have PT100 inputs, i use those everywhere nowadays...

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 6:35 am
by chopmeister
Meduza wrote:That Megatronics board looks quite nice, it is only sad that it does not have PT100 inputs, i use those everywhere nowadays...
Can't that be hacked with an external board or something? I've never used a PT100 so far... (The megatronics 3.0 was designed before those were popular anyway so it stands to reason it doesn't have and input for that.)

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 7:04 am
by Meduza
Yes it can, but that adds about 15€ per input and a external board you have to fit. Almost no control boards i know of except the Ultimainboard have native pt100 inputs so i am not blaming them for not having it, it would only be so nice to have :)

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 7:45 am
by Amedee
Thanks for the review.

I am still running my UMO with a 1.5.3 board, it runs perfectly well, but I don't dare connecting anything drawing power as it would kill it (or at least the Darlingtons). It is still in that state because I can't decide between a 1.5.7, a 2.x or anything else...
Ideally I would like to do an Heated Bed upgrade with UltiBoard 2.X so it would be the same as my UMO+ but that would not be a cheap upgrade.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 8:17 am
by Neotko
Amedee I might be able to sell you a cheaper one...

I have some parts of a umo+ bed (from ultimaker not china)
Bed (the part that gets the heat)
Alu base of the bed (the part where the bearings go)
I have a z with nut from a warranty exchange (unused)
The small board that comes with umo bed kit
The stepper chip from the umo bed kit
Copper grease unopen for the bed bolts

You would need the bed cable, springs, bed screws to level, linear bearings annd the power supply...

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 8:20 am
by Neotko
Now that I think it out loud I should save it all for a fourth printer XD this and the board it's the most expensive parts, and I have also a full umo+ laser cut wood from ultimaker...

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 8:25 am
by Neotko
Anyhow I can give you for free it's the little board of umo bed kit, stepper chip. Just mail cost.

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 8:31 am
by Amedee
Yes, the official HB Kit from Ultimaker is actually not a bad deal considering what you get. But I would be tempted to throw away the step-down voltage converter and go for a 24v board...
Easier would be an V2.x UltiBoard, but expensive. Asian ones are an option, but build quality is a lottery...

Re: Various electronics (mainboards) for 3D printers

Posted: March 10th, 2016, 8:47 am
by Neotko
Good think about aliexpress it's that if you actually test it and see if it works during the vote time, you can preassure the seller (and they are quite nice mostly) and they send you a replacement. It might fail in the future but they care a lot to avoid bad reviews. Specially the ones that sell more units. Also, there's one aliexpress seller that sells 2.1.4 (auto 5v fan on when hotend at 60C+).