New TFT control panel for 3D printers

I am working on a design for a control panel for 3D printers based around a touch screen. Here is a photo of the prototype:



As well as the TFT display, the unit will include a rotary encoder with pushbutton and a piezo buzzer. It will talk gcode to the printer through a serial interface (a genuine one, not serial over USB ). I am currently using a 3.2 inch 400x240 touch screen ($22 from Itead), however the board should also work with other screens with the same 40-pin interface, such as 4.3 inch 480x272 and 5 inch 800x480 (see [imall.iteadstudio.com]). The processor is a ATSAM3S1B or ATSAM3S2B, so plenty of power and room for firmware expansion.

My initial target for this is Duet electronics, which uses 3.3V signals. However, I imagine that electronics based on the Arduino Mega may have a spare serial port too. So if there is enough interest, I could include a 3.3V regulator and level shifters on the board, so that it can be used with 5V electronics without needing additional interface circuitry.

I intend to have an initial batch of about 50 manufactured, and my target selling price for the board without the display is GBP40 + shipping + VAT (if applicable). It's not intended to compete with low cost devices like the Panelolu, but it provides more functionality.

If you are interested, please add a comment to this thread [forums.reprap.org] and make it clear in your comment if you would need a 5V version. The firmware is open source, but the PCB layout will not be open until after I have sold the initial batch of boards.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2014 10:22AM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I am more interested in this with the larger screen and coded for the DUE. The mega can barely run the 4 line LCD and a delta bot. The due has much much more HP and to be quite frank, they are down right cheap at this point, some are working at a ramps equivalent for the DUE, which this thing should plug right into. It would be very nice to have a full 32bit cpu and a larger 5inch screen on my printer.

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Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough, but the unit I have designed has its own 32 bit processor on board to drive the display. So there should be no reason why an Arduino Mega based printer couldn't drive it. It would be necessary to modify the printer firmware to respond to gcodes received via the second serial port, and send the status response message needed by the display board.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Hi DC42,

How is the development going with the TFT screen? Can i buy one?

Hi cooldutchies, you can follow the progress and see some pics in this thread: [forums.reprap.org]

Prototype PCBs are on order so I expect to have 3 prototypes in about 2 weeks from now. Production boards should be on sale in January.

I've designed the board to be 5V tolerant, so it should be usable with Arduino Mega based electronics, if someone adds the necessary support to Marlin.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I now have prototype PCBs for the TFT 3D printer control panel. I have them working with the 3.2" widescreen and also with the 4.3" display shown in these pictures:



Unlike most other LCD control panels for 3D printers, this one does not require the main processor of the 3D printer to drive the display. Instead, it has an on-board 32-bit processor, which talks to the main 3D printer control board via a serial link. Currently, it is supported by my fork of RepRapFirmware, which will also support Delta printers in January. Other firmware would need a little extra gcode support added to be compatible with it. It uses 3.3V signal levels on the serial link, however it is 5V tolerant and should be able to drive a 5V Arduino serial input with the addition of no more than a pullup resistor.

Drop me a PM if you are interested in ordering a board, or follow this thread [forums.reprap.org] for updates. The draft fitting instructions are at [miscsolutions.wordpress.com] (photos to be added soon), and the on-board firmware source code is at [github.com].

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I like the idea, but I was wondering if it might be better to combine it with a RPi and Octoprint or something similar.

Production of this board has now started and I expect to have completed boards available from January 21. You can buy just the board + connectors from me, or complete kits including TFT display panel and cable from Think3DPrint3D. The fitting instructions are at [miscsolutions.wordpress.com] and the firmware source and binaries are at [github.com]. For more details and how to order, see this thread Ormerod forum: [forums.reprap.org].

Here is a photo of the PanelDue connected to my Duet-powered Mini Kossel.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Update: The kit is available for pre-order, please see this post:

[forums.reprap.org]

Hi! have you seen the 4DLCD project?


It´s based on the same design, i.e. a 32bit cpu to control the display and serial connection to ramps, controlled by a mo
dified marlin.

Quote
Yellobello
Hi! have you seen the 4DLCD project?

No, I wasn't aware of that one.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I have received the first batch of boards and I expect to start shipping them on Monday.

Fitting instructions: [miscsolutions.wordpress.com]
Open source firmware: [github.com]
More details and how to get one: [forums.reprap.org]

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Will it be possible to use the PanelDue with other control boards?? I am attempting to retrofit an industrial type printer with reprap electronics, which brings additional challenges beyond getting a reprap style machine to work. I had previously selected and purchased a Duet + Duex4 board, but am having second thoughts on trying to implement it because it looks like it will require more electronics/ firmware knowledge than I currently posses, and it looks like the Smoothieboard may be easier for me to get it to do what I want it to do with my limited knowledge....... Except it isn't set up for use with PanelDue. That being said, one of the driving factors in buying the Duet went something like this in my simple mind........

I need a control board > Must have dual extruder support and a processor that has some capacity for doing cool things in the future > WOW!!! that's an awesome touch screen interface!!!! (PanelDue)... Must have it > On paper Duet looks like it meets my needs > Buy Duet board....

Where I sit now is that I love the PanelDue (which I haven't purchased yet), but the Smoothieboard seems much more suited/ easier to implement to the task I have at hand

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2015 04:11PM by I-CNC.

Hi I-CNC,

It's true that the Smoothieboard offers the convenience of being able to drive 2 extruders from just the main board; but if you have already purchased the Duet+DueX4 already, why not use those? Why do you say it will require more electronics and firmware knowledge? The Duet firmware is very easy to use, you don't need to be able to build it yourself because everything you need to configure can be set using gcodes in the config.g file on the SD card. You can download ready-built binaries from my repo at [github.com].

I recently released new PanelDue firmware that supports Pause/Resume, user-definable macros, and print time estimation. See [forums.reprap.org].

The PanelDue can in principle be used with any other control board that has a spare serial port. The firmware for that control board would need to be changed to process commands received on that serial port, and to send the responses to that port. The special gcodes needed to support the PanelDue are:

M20 S2
M105 S2
M105 S3
M36

The other gcodes sent by PanelDue are all standard ones that most printer firmware should support already.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2015 05:35PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Thanks DC42! I will start another thread when I get a chance so this one can stay on topic, you seem incredibly helpful with the knowledge to match, so maybe you might have some insight as to what it would take to get the Duet to work for me, I just know that if I have to figure it out on my own that it's a bit beyond my current capabilities. I will reply here with a link to the new thread when I get it typed up!

I started a new thread with my dilemma in the reprappers section, Titled Stratasys Dimension Retrofit. I'm sorry I 'm new here and haven't figured out how to post a link to it yet!

Quote
I-CNC
I started a new thread with my dilemma in the reprappers section, Titled Stratasys Dimension Retrofit. I'm sorry I 'm new here and haven't figured out how to post a link to it yet!

Here you go

Stratasys Dimension Retrofit

ps to do it your self just copy the link you want and then click the world symbol at the top of the posting box and fill in the boxes first is the link second is what shows in place of the link in your message.

HTH

Doug

Forgive my ignorance but would it be possible adapting the Panelou to a board that only has J3 and LCD connections (at least one of these is SPI)?

Ive seen chips that convert between UART and SPI, so maybe is possible?

I can't see can easy way of doing that, other than using an SPI uart. What board is it? Perhaps there are some unused UART pins on the microcontroller.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].