Best 3D printer control board to upgrade to!

Hey guys,
I have a 3d printer and currently I'm using a generation 6 electronics board (http://reprap.org/wiki/Generation_6_Electronics) I was thinking to upgrade my board since I cant have a heated bed. I also was thinking about expanding my 3D printer by adding some more features to it (For example something like second nozzel or extera step motors) so I need something with extra inputs.
What is the best board that you guys can suggest me? (Less than $170)

several choices exist, Ramps seems to be the most common and forgiving design based on my experience. there are more powerful boards such as rambo, but not as many people can help you troubleshoot that one.

you can go here [reprap.org] and read up on electronics used for reprap. read or search the forums for support info on each board.

getting a board that is in the wiki is the best way to assure it is compatible with reprap 3d printers.

I can recommend RAMPS as well. RUMBA (http://www.reprapdiscount.com/electronics/54-rumba-basic-board.html) is also an excellent choice, and is fully compatible with current firmwares.

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the megatronics 2.0 is awesome and feature rich.

"I cant have a heated bed."
Not allowed because of the rules or laws where you live?

SevenSwitch
[reprap.org]
and a 12V heater pad
12V SILICONE RUBBER HEATER BED 200MM X 200MM (8"X8")
[store.qu-bd.com]

I run a arduino Mega with a RAMPS 1.4 which will give you heater control and control for 2nd extruder.

gen6 does not have the needed setup to support mulitple current drawing devices. heaters, beds, for example.

[reprap.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2013 11:06PM by jamesdanielv.

I'd recommend going with either RAMPS if you are trying to save money or RAMBO if you want an all in one solution with better heat dissipation on the steppers. I have the Rumba board and have been displeased with the lack of support because it is new and few people own them so there is nowhere to turn when issues crop up. I am actually swapping the Rumba out with a RAMBO this weekend on my printer. I have direct experience with RAMPS on an older Prusa Mendel I built and it was super solid but the only issue I had was I needed serious cooling on the steppers.

I have enormous respect for Maxbots over at Makers Tool Works because he goes with the solution that is the most reliable even if it costs more money. They started by shipping their mendel max 2.0s with RAMPS but switched to RAMBO because they found it more stable and easier to cool the steppers. I think that this is telling.

Good luck!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2013 02:13PM by Coherent.

I'm currently running the RAMPS 1.4 from reprapdiscount.com, and i have no complains about it. But a couple of days i did some research about the azteeg X3 3D printer controller. I really like the way it's build, not that fragile as the RAMPS and it has some decend connectors on it. So why you don't see them that often here on the Repraps? Price? Prefomance?

Johnnymoto Wrote:
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> So why
> you don't see them that often here on the Repraps?
> Price? Prefomance?

Availability mostly. They aren't readily available since they are being produced by only one company, and are most often out of stock.

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@Coherent: Are there real problems with the RUMBA? Cause to say that you are displeased by the lack of support, well, it's a little bit strong to say if you are worried that there might not be enough users to provide support. No offence, I'm asking because I am interested in the RUMBA, so I was wondering if you were having real issues with the board.

The RAMBo board is consistently at >=180$, so it falls out of bardiaesm's requirements already.

I have made good experiences with the RAMPS 1.4. The one thing that annoys me, though, is the connector layout. The wires are all over the place, which doesn't help with getting a good cooling airflow over the board at all. But other than that, it is one of the cheapest, complete and expandable solutions around.

I think it is fair to say that rumba is still in its early stages as a board because it has not been as tried and true as RAMPS or RAMBO for no other reason than it just came out. It is probably an overstatement to put it in the same category as other development boards like smoothieboard or kliment's board, however since the Arduino part is the same. I am not trying to go on a smear campaign but I bought it on the kickstarter in March and I still cannot get it to perform reliably even with posting many posts in the official support forums, through google searches, or in irc. This is my third printer that I've set up and I did not have as much trouble with RAMPS which is why I gave that recommendation. When I did have issues with RAMPS I could usually come in the forums or reprap irc for help since everyone owns it.

The issue could very well be board specific such as a bad soldering job or something. I was just trying to make the suggestion that RAMBO might be worth it even though it is $10 above his budget (ultimachine has it for $180). You are totally right about the RAMPS connector layout being bonkers so that is a very nice feature of rumba.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2013 07:28PM by Coherent.

Ah, I see. I didn't see these reliability issues when I searched for opinions on the RUMBA (well, apart from the issues also existing for other boards like flaky serial connection etc.)...

Looking at the RAMBo, I agree that it is indeed a very nice board and decently priced if one was to assemble the electronics from scratch. Well, more often than not, I have spent more than I initially wanted to when I saw something better, so maybe bardiaesm might also consider that...at least, RepRapDiscount also sells it with decent shipping rates for the rest of the world.

By the way, in this thread, it is pointed out that the motor output tracks on the Megatronics might not be suitable for higher currents. Don't know if they have fixed it already as they didn't reply. But RepRapWorld's Minitronics board might also be interesting (and cheap) if one was to add an external stepper board (they also sell that) and if one doesn't require SD and LCD support.

What about Melzi? I don't know where to buy it but Nophead sells those with his Mendel90 and I have heard some of good things about it. I thought that the idea with it is that it supposed to be a cheaper all in one solution.
[reprap.org]
(On a separate note, it supports bluetooth connection as an alternative to USB? That sounds totally awesome!)

Thanks for the info on megatronics, I never would have thought that issues like the tracks could be an issue on a board but it totally makes sense.

One could augment the tracks with some wires to fix the problem, but I would have preferred a solution that works out of the box. All in all, this isn't too dramatic, just keep it in mind as a caveat. I think the Sanguinololu suffers from a similar problem on the heated bed output.
The advantage this board has over all(?) others is that it natively supports Thermocouples. So if you want to use these, the Megatronics might be the most convenient solution.

The Melzi is one of the best solutions regarding output connector layout IMHO. Unfortunately, driving a second extruder isn't natively possible with this board, although it shouldn't be too difficult to make a slave/daughter board on perf- or stripboard. Bluetooth sounds awesome, but considering that the RepRap electronics are a little bit noisy, a little bit of luck and trial&error might be required to get it running reliably. You can get the Melzi from several EMaker-Shop sellers including RepRapPro.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2013 09:47AM by uGen.

Smoothieboard would be the best option but those are hard to get at the moment

Currently in the beginning stages of gathering information on building a printer and was looking into the Azteeg X3 (used on the Kossel) and the RAMbo (used on the Rostock MAX).

So much more to learn before I can make any real decisions but any feed back on what would be a wiser choice (for a newb) would be appreciated.

I'm off to read, read and then read some more...

ddseeker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Currently in the beginning stages of gathering
> information on building a printer and was looking
> into the Azteeg X3 (used on the Kossel) and the
> RAMbo (used on the Rostock MAX).
>
> So much more to learn before I can make any real
> decisions but any feed back on what would be a
> wiser choice (for a newb) would be appreciated.
>
> I'm off to read, read and then read some more...

Either is a good choice. The Azteeg X3 is a bit harder to get as it is usually out of stock. Another good choice is RAMPS.

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What does everyone think about the Azteeg X3?

Has anyone had a bad experience?

I was looking for a board that will allow future upgrades and came across this board.

PROS
It is available in the US
The 1.1 version now shipping will support Tri-extruders (actually 4 hotends) and 8 stepper motors
Will run on 12-24V
It is SPRINTER, MARLIN, REPETIER compatible
The stepper drivers for it will support up to 2.5 Amps and come with heatsinks

CONS
About $20 more, is the only one I have found so far.

This seems like the board new builds should be using based on the specs.

What am I missing?

Personally, I find upgrading to another 8-bit solution too limiting. The arm boards are where the future is. It's too late to get in on the Smoothieboard kickstarter, but I don't think regular production runs are far off. I suppose the firmware may not be as polished as Marlin et al. yet (haven't tried one myself), but I feel the 8-bit platforms lack future potential. Also my pet peeves are Pololu-style drivers (lack proper cooling) and RAMPS (cable management nightmare).

/Andreas

I'm gonna second the Smoothieboard. Over at their irc channel, I think they said they expect to start selling and shipping non-Kickstarter boards by first quarter next year, so it's a bit of a wait, but not terrible. I have a smoothie-on-a-breadboard and while the wiring is a mess because I made it myself, the actual firmware is very reliable, has lots of handy features, is growing constantly, and the dev team is extremely responsive to problems. Also, there's a rumor that a Smoothie-compatible Azteeg is in the works, but I have no idea what the progress on that is.

The smoothie board processor is an obvious upgrade 32 bit vs 8 bit and the ethernet option will be nice

but everywhere else the Azteeg beats it.

                     Azteeg             Smoothie
Motors                 8                    5
Steppers            2.5amp              2 amp
hotends                 4                  2
microstepping        1/32                1/16
thermocouple         optional            no
endstops               6                   6

Seems like if they went back the drawing board with smoothie and added:

Ti DRV8825 chip for higher power
Added 3 more motors
Added 2 more hotends

Then you would have the perfect Tri or Quad Extruder, all in one board.

I think multi-extruder will be the future, as E3d is about to release a Quad Extruder and I assume others will follow.

What is the cost supposed to be on the Smoothie board, does anyone know?

mattmc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The smoothie board processor is an obvious upgrade
> 32 bit vs 8 bit and the ethernet option will be
> nice
>
> but everywhere else the Azteeg beats it.
>
>

>                      Azteeg             Smoothie
> Motors                 8                    5
> Steppers            2.5amp              2 amp
> hotends                 4                  2
> microstepping        1/32                1/16
> thermocouple         optional            no
> endstops               6                   6
> 
>

That is an interesting comparison, but apples and oranges. The X3 does not have 8 stepper drivers, in fact the base board has none. It supports 5 onboard drivers, the same as Smoothieboard. If you count what could be supported externally, then all boards could support an unlimited number of steppers. So if you subtract optional support, the only area the X3 wins is that it supports DRV8825 modules, and microstepping.

Also, the price, X3 is $170 with DRV8825, Smoothieboard in the Kickstarter was $160-$185 for 5 axis depending on version. So I think the comparison is a lot closer than you make out.

> Seems like if they went back the drawing board
> with smoothie and added:
>
> Ti DRV8825 chip for higher power
> Added 3 more motors
> Added 2 more hotends

No harm in those, perhaps Panucatt will come up with something like that?

> Then you would have the perfect Tri or Quad
> Extruder, all in one board.
>
> I think multi-extruder will be the future, as E3d
> is about to release a Quad Extruder and I assume
> others will follow.

For that I would use my extruder expansion board, add 6 extruders to any board, 3.3V or 5V compatible

Anyone hear anything about the Azteeg X5 ?

@ the bottom of "OpenBeam visiting Maker Faire NYC" blog post [www.widgetserver.com]

Bobc -

Didn't know there was such a thing as an expansion board in the works.

I don't have an Azteeg yet, but other than the 8 bit processor, it has a much better upgrade path compared to ramps, although twice as much!

Smoothie looks cool, hopefully they have a way to expand the motors/hotends with a header or some other way.

Is there some advantage to on-board stepper drivers that I don't know about? If you damage a built-in one, haven't you ruined the whole board?

Someone needs to make a single board solution (32 bit) with a shield type system for optional upgrades, such ethernet, extra motors, hotends, thermistors, and capabilities to build new shields as needed.

Maybe that is where Smoothie is headed or maybe that is what the Azteeg X5 is? Found a picture, has a 32 bit processor, no other specs that I have found.

Octoprint seems to be a good remote monitoring solution, but it would be awesome if it were incorporated into the main controller. Raspberry Pi is a pretty cheap host though, so the extra cost may not be worth it.

Can't you try this: [reprap.org]

It seems to be made for this exact purpose