Controller board advice

Controller board advice

I have a 3D printer with custom electronics based on Mach3 CNC, but I've been experiencing layer shifts and crashes on the client on PC, so I decided to move to a 32 bit dedicated 3D printing controller board.

My electronics work on 24V so a compatible board would be perfect.
I already have good external motor driver so I don't need them onboard.
Also GPIO would be useful for expandability, like some start/stop external buttons.

Could someone suggest me a very good controller board to substitute mine?

SKR 1.4 is perfect, 32-bits, runs on 24v, has the ability to control everything you need. It's cheap and versatile. Don't forget to also get either an LCD panel with SD slot or a TFT screen with SD slot. I would recommend the LCD over the TFT touchscreen because the touchscreen is a real hassle to setup.

I'm not sure about the GPIO but there are many pins leftover that you can of course either use as intended or change in the firmware according to their use.

With LCD and SD slot you will get true standalone printing. Oh, and the WiFi board they sell that works with the TFT screen works really well for controlling the machine over the air, but you can forget about uploading files via WiFi as that is useless (slow, buggy, etc).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2020 06:06AM by Ohmarinus.

---

http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

SKR 1.4 also has high speed USB device and can use SD card on controller (and soon on lcd) as a drive on the computer for uploading gcode files at USB 2 speeds

Thanks guys for the quick answers

I tried a very cheap SKR clone some time ago (i think it was a 1.3 clone bought from Amazon) and I did only one test with it: every 1-2 layers occurred a few millimeters shift in random directions. So I went back to my older board that is the one I'm still using. Could be happend due to the poor manufacturing quality?
Another problem with it was that I couldn't connect my 12V input from inductive endstops (I think the max voltage is 5V).

The board that I'm using is a Mach3 ethernet controller designed for CNCs, I had to write all the scripts for M-codes by myself, but I managed to get it working.
The machine itself is very similar to a CNC router, but with a higher Z axis. Big dimensions so I wanted to use professional grade stepper drivers, meaning that it's very unlikely for the steppers to skip steps.

I've been experiencing layer shifts (always in X direction, that is the axis with more stress,) but I'm pretty sure it's not a mechanical issue: I'm using linear rails and ballscrews on each axis. It happens more often to long and complicated prints and when it happens the shift is very big (2-4 cm).
Some days ago I tried a simple print (similar to a vertical extruded profile): first two tries it shifted at about Z = 1 cm, next two tries I printed the same model but reducing its heigh and the first shift occurred at an higher Z (about 4 cm). So I'm thinking that my board messes up with too long gcodes. Could be?

I also think it's due to electronics because Mach3 and my board caused me already lot of problems (e.g. PC client crashes), so I wanted to move to a 3D printed oriented board.
Do you think it's a good idea?

What kind of motors are you using? I would like to suggest to take a look at the TMC2209 motor drivers which, from the top of my head can supply a whopping 2.5A peak. I honestly feel Mach3 components are a bit outdated and bulky. I only know them from older CNC machines but have never used them so I'm prejudiced/biased without having real life experience with them.

I have both SKR 1.3 and 1.4 and so far have had no issues with it. They are already Chinese products so I don't think you got a clone, unless someone is cloning Chinese designs, which would be weird. Which one did you buy exactly? For your inductive probes you could create either a voltage divider or an opto coupler. If you run the inductive probes at 24v I suggest using an opto coupler. With 12v a good voltage divider will do, and is simpler to make.

Just a sidenote: It depends on if the probes are NPN/PNP and NO/NC how well this will work.

---

http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

I’m using NEMA 23 (4.2Arms 3Nm), now being powered by drivers that can deliver up to 4 A.

I tried this version of SKR 1.3:
[www.amazon.it]
PoPrint SKR V1.3 32-bit CPU

I’d like to go with something very good, even spending a little more.

Quote
PlasmaOne
I’m using NEMA 23 (4.2Arms 3Nm), now being powered by drivers that can deliver up to 4 A.

I tried this version of SKR 1.3:
[www.amazon.it]
PoPrint SKR V1.3 32-bit CPU

I’d like to go with something very good, even spending a little more.

If you're willing to spend some, maybe a Duet3D would be suitable. I believe I've read that they can run Nema23 motors.
This is way above my level of knowledge and I hope that someone with actual practical experience can help you further from here. Good luck with the project!

---

http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/