STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Pippy — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 07:06:21 -0500

I thought I was sure, but no, you're right Dust :)

I've yet to flash the STM32F4 with the compiled code but it does at least compile now without error.

I'm wondering if the Arduino IDE etc has any memory leaks, because after building Marlin say 5 or 6 times it starts giving out compiling errors (lack of memory) left right and center without me ever changing any Marlin config/code at all. My laptop has 4GB of memory plus fixed 4GB paging file size .. this really ought to be plenty.

I am using the Arduino 1.9.0 IDE though and not 1.8.x release version, Windows 7 pro 64bit, Intel i5.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Dust — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 04:34:42 -0500

@pippy

are you sure about that

set the port to -1 and try again. This activates USB virtual comm on other stm32 devices.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Pippy — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 03:16:07 -0500

A nice little STM32F4 board.

I've compiled Marlin 2 for my STM32F4DISCOVERY board OK (wasn't entirely easy), but Marlin is somewhat limited for the STM32F4's at the moment. A major problem I have is the serial comms port that is used in Marlin - you can ONLY currently set the config to use serial port 1 (USART 1) and nothing else, which means the STM32F4DIS board cannot be used without physical mods (USART 1 pin is used on the USB port).

I'm trying to get my head around the Marlin source code layout etc at the moment in order to start adding a lot more support for STM32F4's, but it takes time to learn another persons programming style etc. It looks kind of quite messy at the moment to me, but maybe that's because it's currently going through quite a change in order to move on up into the 32-bit ARM world.

STM32F4's are lovely little CPU's, really nice for this kind of app, fast, built-in FPU etc.

I want to add USB virtual comm port (CDC) option into Marlin to use the built-in USB port the STM32F4 .. amongst other features.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

ruyvieira — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 21:06:09 -0500

Just out of curiosity, what does it take to compile Marlin 2.0 for STM32F407VET6/STM32F103VET ? There are some chinese development boards out there that would work so well in a cpu/motherboard configuration. This one, for example, is nice because the seller on Taobao provided the Altium design file for it. There are some higher quality boards as well

[attachment 109840 Capturar.PNG]

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

glabifrons — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 20:31:15 -0500

Agreed, I wouldn't consider it to be a next-gen board by any means, but as an upgrade for an existing setup where a RAMPS is already in place, it seems like it'd be great.
The main reason I posted the reference to the board is that it met some requirements suggested by jeroen79, who said "i would prefer an all mbed firmware, but don't think there is one atm". That, and the CPU fit the thread title. :)

Interesting that the Malyan board is supported (I actually have a Monoprice Mini, same machine). Unfortunately, that's not at all expandable. I remember seeing that someone had reverse-engineered its LCD communications, but haven't seen anything about it since (that was close to a year ago, I think). Frankly, I've wondered if it is a (non-compliant) modified Marlin under the hood, it's at least Marlin "flavor" for G-code (slicer setting).

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

ruyvieira — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:30:43 -0500

It would be pretty bad if the next gen 3d printer controllers used the same form factor as Arduino Mega + Ramps. It would be so much better if they employed a solution like Tiertime's boards, where there's a base board and a CPU with just the microcontroller. If I'm not mistaken they also use a STM32 mcu.
I designed a board for the STM32 bluepill boards, but it's for running GRBL. I see that there's a version of Marlin 2.0 which runs on Malyan Mini's controller (same chip), so that kind of makes me want to design a 3d printer motherboard for something like the bluepill or the maple mini.

[attachment 108020 maxresdefault5.jpg]

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Dust — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 06:32:03 -0500

Interesting little board....

first thing I notice is the vin pin is not connected, so this board would not get any power from the standard ramps

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

glabifrons — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 02:35:03 -0500

I stumbled over this one recently and am wondering why I haven't seen it paired with a RAMPS board... an Arduino Mega pin-compatible (5V tolerant) board with an STM32F4, mbed (even includes Ethernet and a microSD slot).
Not M7, but M4. Still double the clock speed of a Due though.

[wiki.seeedstudio.com]
[www.seeedstudio.com]

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

jeroen79 — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 07:04:26 -0400

yeah marlin 2 supports some stm boards, but not the good M7's, a marlin port to full mbed would be nice, then pretty much all arm M board would be supported in one go, and there would be universal network support etc

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Dust — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 04:32:41 -0400

@bob8080

you might want to look into marlin 2.0

already supports both STM32F1/F4

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

bob8080 — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 00:32:30 -0400

I think the real work needs to be done on porting all features on one either of these processors. If software is ok, hardware boards will follow quick. It's not hard to make a RAMPS like board that you stick a cpu board on.
Best thing that can be done now is porting the firmware on cheapest/fastest cpu boards.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

cjsatuforc — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 15:17:09 -0400

Is there any development of this board? I am interested in helping either fund the project to help get the lower costs or if they have already been made just purchasing a couple for my own personal use. If any updates are available can someone please contact me|? Thank you - Chris

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Rossos — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 07:52:31 -0400

Heya! Very interesting!

Just wanted to add another board to your arsenal.
Found this F407 the other day.

STM32F407VGT6 ARM Cortex-M4 32bit MCU Core Development Board STM32F4 Discovery
£7.27 - [www.ebay.co.uk]?

Listing says it's 1MB, unlike the VET6 version which is 512KB.

Quote
eBayListing
Memories
– Up to 1 Mbyte of Flash memory
– Up to 192+4 Kbytes of SRAM including 64-Kbyte of CCM (core coupled memory) data RAM

Checks out with STM website.
[www.st.com]

I got this board for a DIY flight controller board project for my quadcopter. I'll play with it at some point and let you know for sure.
For now just wanted to subscribe to the thread so I get email updates!

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

jeroen79 — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 14:06:12 -0400

Na fancy stuff can be done in browser using javascript, been printing via webinterfave for ages with smoothie, works fine.

don't like extra devices if not needed, just more stuff that can go wrong.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

JustAnotherOne — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 13:59:23 -0400

Quote
jeroen79
I dunno, i rather have a litte more cpu power, would be nice to run webserver etc natively on the device

You then better not compare the performance of that web server with Octoprint running on a raspberry pi. A lot of code is needed to make a web server work especially if you want dynamic pages. And downloading a big Gcode file will take longer than if you send it to a raspberry pi.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

jeroen79 — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 12:49:44 -0400

I dunno, i rather have a litte more cpu power, would be nice to run webserver etc natively on the device, and the price isn't an issue,and the boad is only 25$, so why not.

No i didn't mean arduino compatible, just the pin headers are compatible, i would like to avoid arduino stuff in firmware to be honest, i would prefer an all mbed firmware, but don't think there is one atm.

I did also look at Marlin 2.0 yesterday, but it doesn't have STM32F7 support atm, and knowing nothing about marlin i have no idea how to properly add it.(i did try adding the board using that platform io thingy, but it gave all kinde of errors)

And the STM Firmware was just a one time port of an old version i think, don't think its even in development.
[github.com]

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

+Mikie — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 12:22:11 -0400

I think M7 is overkill. No FDM printer can move that fast to actually take advantage of M7's speed. Unless you intend to get some encoders and get into closed-loop servo control.

I'm not sure about Nucleo headers being "Arduino compatible", you would still have to edit pin definitions files in firmware, so... I actually got a "Discovery" board because processor is in a bigger package=more pins (100) than on Nucleo boards (64 I think).

I'm under impression that 3 or so different firmwares work ok on STM32, including Marlin 2.0. And STM themselves have made a 3D printer evaluation board with F407 (M4) processor and everything needed on it for a complete printer. About $120. They include a version of Marlin 2.0 for it.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

jeroen79 — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 00:47:45 -0400

I was also planning to use a stm as my new rep rap controller, but i want to use a Nucleo-F767ZI its a M7.

For starters i was going to pop a cnc shield on top of it, since it has arduino compatible headers.

My idea was actually to build a mbed based software, but haven't really got around to it.

Dou you guys have a working firmware atm?

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

JustAnotherOne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:52:09 -0400

Quote
Dust
vertical steppers like [reprap.org] ?

as you can see it been done... I've never even heard of anyone actually having one

also due version [reprap.org]

Yes that looks like the PCI-Express solution that I was thinking about. They even have a Trinamic Stepper module and SPI + Step/Dir signals.

Would be really interesting to hear of people that have actually used this.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Dust — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 07:52:28 -0400

vertical steppers like [reprap.org] ?

as you can see it been done... I've never even heard of anyone actually having one

also due version [reprap.org]

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

JustAnotherOne — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 06:56:20 -0400

Quote
+Mikie
What problem with connector and mechanical stability are you talking about?

I think mounting the stepper modules vertically instead of horizontal would be a good thing. It would help with cooling, it would easily allow for bigger (higher) modules and it would not waste board space on the main board.

If the connector for the stepper motor was located on the module, then the user will probably plug/unplug the driver with the module connected to the baseboard. Therefore the module needs mechanical stability.

On the connector side there are only two solutions I have seen:
1.) standard pin headers. So basically the same as pololu or the bigfoots. One variation is to use 2 row ones, put them on the side of the pcb and solder them to top and bottom.

2.) the small PCI Express connector. It is small has many connections and due to its wide usage is is very cheap. (The pins are not very wide, but for high power demands more than one pin can be used as there are so many) Also the module would not need a connector just exposed pads and the correct board shape. The Juicy board used them: [www.crowdsupply.com]

With both solutions I'm not convinced that the mechanical stability would allow for handling the stepper motor cables without causing issues.

One solution would be to print a case fo the electronics that helps with cooling and provides the mechanical stability. Not sure if that would be the best solution,...

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

+Mikie — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 20:22:23 -0400

Yeah, I saw that after I posted. Panucatt isn't really forthcoming with the details, and what little is there needs digging. I was under the impression they introduced Bigfoot format to improve cooling, and it does "solve" that. Well, "improve" is a better word. These small drivers need to be cooled from below, through the substrate, and Bigfoot being bigger provides more copper surface on the board, so that's a plus. Having motor connection pins doubled in the top row also improves things, maybe not for a 3D printer running 1A, but for a CNC mill or something with 3A every little bit helps. But on the rest (standardized footprint for all drivers, SPI included) - they failed. Or maybe didn't care about it, whatever.

What problem with connector and mechanical stability are you talking about?

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

JustAnotherOne — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 13:15:47 -0400

This bigfoot: bigfoot details does not have SPI. This format also wastes a lot of board space below the module. I don't see a real benefit in that format.

It might make sense to put the stepper motor connector on the stepper driver pcb. This way these four signals do not need to be routed to the base board.

For me the main problem is still the connector and a mechanically stable solution.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

+Mikie — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 08:39:39 -0400

Victor_pv,

have you gotten anywhere further with your board? I've bought myself a STM32F407 discovery board today, planning to build a RAMPS-like board for it. Seeing how you clearly know more than me, plus you already have a real board... Is there any other news, a schematic perhaps? What STM board did you plan to plug into it? Looking at the 3 sets of pin headers, Discovery boards don't fit in it. On the subject of SPI to stepper drivers, Penucatt has already made different format stepsticks wich they call "Bigfoot", and their AZTEEG boards have pin headers for both old and new stepper driver formats. Something to consider, I'd say.

Anyway, I'd like to help to get somewhere with this instead of unnecessarily duplicating effort. Can't help with programming but I can assist with design of the board, ideas, opinions, etc.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

awake — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 22:35:58 -0400

I forgot to add my wish list! You have already just about exactly described what I would love to see, but I'll add a couple of thoughts:

I would love to see the endstop inputs set up with diodes and available 12v as well as 5v power - so that they could be used for regular mechanical endstops (NC to ground), or for an inductive probe, or whatever else - along with pull up resistors (enabled in the MCU? or added to the board?) to the 3.3v needed by the MCU. The diode would block the high voltage from the MCU pins, so they would instead see the pull-up to 3.3v, but when the endstop connects to ground, the diode would allow the endstop / probe to pull the pin down to read low. This is one of the major things that would be so easy to do on the main board, but so much more aggravating to do as an add-on to something like the existing RAMPS 1.4.

I would love to see at least a couple of additional low current pwm-controlled MOSFETs already on the board to accommodate additional fans. Is there a lower power version of the AO4818 that would put 2 MOSFETS on a single 8-SOIC chip? But if there were an easily accessible set of pins, ready for a small shield, that would be cheap and easy to add as needed.

I really like that you are proposing two different power channels, with a separate channel for the heated bed, but I would also like to see the rest of the board have the ability to run at 24 volts, including the steppers - with dc/dc conversion to get 12, 5, 3.3v as needed for other components. Again, flexibility - I like being able to choose between using one power source for everything by tying together the power channels, or separate power sources to maximize ability of heat bed.

I think you are already describing this, but not sure: it would be nice to have the interfaces both for existing low-end (and low cost) LCD + rotary encoder + SD card such as the RRD Full Graphics Smart Controller as well as options for higher end displays -- but again I would also be happy if some or even all of those options were implemented with various add-on shields as is currently done for RAMPS.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

awake — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 22:16:35 -0400

Victor_pv,

I like what you are doing with this design! I hope to see it continue and reach the level of success (measured by being cloned with general success like the RAMPS 1.4 board has been).

A thought about the issue with Pololu style carriers and SPI pins for smart drivers - I have thought about something similar to the design you describe in a Dec. 22 post:

Quote

This is more or less what I'm talking about if I added an extra row.
Current pololu:
| |
| |
| |

New possible design with row at bottom:
| |
| |
| |
------ <(spi pins)

But here would be the big difference: make the SPI pins at the end male pins rather than the female headers of the rest of the pololu socket. Why? Because there are already carriers with 4 SPI pins broken out on top, designed to plug via a short cable into 4 male pinis on the main board. Thus the proposed design would accommodate 3 alternatives - traditional pololu style (just leave the spi pins at the end empty); currently available modified pololu style (connect spi pins via cable to the pins at the end of each pololu socket); and a new-style pololu+ carrier that is longer than the standard, which has a female header to plug the spi pins in addition to the standard male pins to go into the pololu connections. (This would also have the advantage of making it no longer possible to plug a pololu+ in backwards!) With the proposed design on your board, someone could still use widely available drivers without having to depend on a short run of special boards ... but there would also be a potential of creating the market for the special pololu+ boards.

Personally, I like the idea of being able to plug in different MCU's. Yes, I know it raises the price a bit, and perhaps not entirely practical. But then again, I truly do not need a 3d printer, so I have already discarded practicality! What has made the RAMPS design so successful is the fact that it is so configurable. Think about how the Apple II succeeded against the many other early computers; what was the key difference? The ability to plug in cards, some of which actually turned the 6502-based Apple II into a Z80 based CP/M machine!! Think about the success of the IBM PC design - again, the ability to plug in cards, to extend its capabilities in ways the original designers never dreamed of. As someone who is attracted to building my own 3d printer, I *like* that kind of flexibility! And this is why I like the idea of Marlin 2.0 as well. For those who like an all-in-one solution that does not require tinkering, there are other good solutions available (Smoothie, Duet, etc.); for those of us who like to tinker ... something like your design, plus Marlin, would be perfect!

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

Tomcat NN — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 05:57:50 -0500

Hello Victor_pv.
Sorry for Google English.
Your project is very interesting. There are several questions.
1. Why did you start using the Marlin 2.0 firmware? It has a lot of restrictions for 8 bits. Why not use more advanced firmware RepRap- firmware, or Clipper? (they do not use the Brazenham algorithm) I believe that using Marlin is to step on the raker and return to Atmega.
2. What do you think about the Aprinter and Smoothieware firmware?
3. Use STM32F4 / F7 (F7 gives more features and better performance, especially compared to F1) Using F7 does not make the project much more expensive. (STM32F767VIT6 LQFP100, STM32F767ZIT6 LQFP144)
4. A very interesting board with 8 stepper driver Pololu connectors. (2X, 2Y, 2Z and 2 of the Extruder). It would be nice to be able to flexibly change the assignment of the axis-extruder drivers. (hardware and software) Support for TFT touch screen, + USB, LAN, Wifi on board.
5. How can I find out more about your project? (we are interested in switching and connection schemes for boards of 6 and 8 drivers, as well as tests of work and printing)
Thank you!

I am looking for an expensive, but functional 32bit card. (with 8 drivers it would be the most it !!!)
I considered the options on the boards - Selena PRO, BBB + Replicape, BBB + CAMPS, Cohesion3D Remix, STEVAL-3DP001, DUET WIFI (LAN). All these options are quite expensive. While the choice goes to Lerdge S. (By the ratio of price / functionality this board is still on the first place)

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

newbob — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 22:19:09 -0500

RAMPS is hard to beat in terms of flexibility and it's natural to want to imitate a successful design. Until few days ago I also considered desiging a plugin driver board similar to RAMPS. However, after giving it some more thought I think individual plug in drivers are not the best way to go and even two driver modules are too limiting.

Overall, I think boards with four driver ICs have the most optimal driver count. Four drivers is a minimum for 3d printer, one driver too many for CNC. Put two of such boards together and you can drive three motor z-axis and three color extruder. If you consider the cost of extra connectors, connector holes and labor of individual driver boards they probably add up to the cost of one driver IC (so you get one driver free on a quad board!). Another positive for multiple driver boards is better heat dissipation and power distribution (less crowding, one, quality power connector).

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

xebbmw — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 07:52:18 -0500

@victor_pv: I designed my shield with 5 steppers on a 10 x 10 cm board. Initially I planned to use it with Repetier firmware but is compatible of course with Marlin and RRF.

But lately I found this online silent TMC2130 and I thought I should include it in the design. Even better that is already supported by Marlin firmware.

Actually this was already discussed in this topic here.

Re: STM32F1/F4 3d Printer board for Marlin

victor_pv — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 13:53:53 -0500

Xebbmw, that seems like a good compromise.
Have you produced any driver board like that yet? if so, how did it all work?