smart controller or LCD and separate SD card reader?

Hello everyone, I'm currently working on a design for my own 3d printer.

I want to include an LCD and SD card reader for autonomous printing.

Here is my problem: I am designing a custom build acrylic enclosure and I want the LCD in on spot below the viewing window, but I want the SD card reader coming out of that same front wall, not out the side.

The 2004 and Full Graphic LCD controllers both have an SD card reader that come out the side, but both have 2 cables. Is one of the cables for the LCD and the other for the SD card? can I leave one unplugged and run the second cable to an arduino SD card reader instead? Or are they both needed for LCD and encoder operation?

I am planning on using a Rumba or Megatronics 2.0 board. I know the megatronics board has an SD card reader built in but the position of the board will make that one non-usable as well.

Im trying to build a professional looking case so I want a nice clean slot opening on the front that is easy to access.

If I am not able to separate the 2 cables on one of the smart controllers, does anyone have any suggestions on an LCD with encoder and a breakout option for the SD card?

Thanks a bunch!

Pantera

Some suggestions:

1. You can get SD card extension cables on eBay. With one of those, you could relocate the SD card socket.

2. If you use a modern 32 bit printer control board with fast file upload and download via Ethernet, then you never need to remove the SD card in normal use. So the SD card slot doesn't need to be easily accessible, it can be on the back or side of the printer instead.

Both my printers use Duet electronics (32 bit, native USB and Ethernet ports, file upload via web interface or FTP, digital control of stepper motor current etc.) and PanelDue touch screen controllers.

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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].

Hello DC42,

Thanks for the reply, I honestly didn't know that SD card cables like this existed. I'll take a look into it a bit futher, but there are a few on ebay that look very promising.

As for the duet boards, I like the idea of 32 bit and ARM since I can probably do a lot more with it, but I can't seem to find any solid documentation anywhere. The idea of a touch screen would be great but i dont like that the drivers are soldered to the board instead of the drop in pololu style as I want to have the option to upgrade to DRV8825 if needed later.

I also love the idea of ethernet onboard, it would eliminate the need to install a raspberry pi later for network controller.

If you could provide any good links with solid documentation on the board, the pin outs and the touchscreen install, that would be great!

Thanks again!

Just as an FYI, the current Megatronics 2.0 GLCD piggyback adapter board does *not* have the ability to pass the SD card interface through to the external display. It seems like it is more than just a few pins missing to make this work, as the only people who got it working that I know of are in the German section of this site and they had to modify the Megatronics board to get the proper signals.

Whatever you wind up doing, keep the cables as short as possible. Several people's attempts to extend the OEM ribbon cables that come with the GLCD resulted in gibberish on the display from noise.....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2015 01:20PM by vreihen.

Hello Vreihen,

Thanks for the reply and yes, i saw the mods made on the german forums. Not interested in doing that myself lol.

I did find a microSD card to regular SD card extension cable so I could in fact use the micro SD card from the main board, avoiding the issues with the LCD mounted SD card issues.

I wish there were more vendors of the Megatronics 3.0 board as it has a separate external SD card pinout. sadly, when looking at all the PCB files, the BOM is missing 4 or 5 components form the listing when i asked a local PCB maker to make one for me. I don't know circuit board design so I had no idea what those 4 or 5 parts were... So they refused to make the board as they could not determine the parts unless I brought them a full BOM or a working model to show them.

Also, do you think it might be possible to insulate the ribon cables somehow to avoid the noise issue you mentioned? A coating or a sleeve of some sort? or is it just a low power issue?

Thanks!

Quote
panterateama
If you could provide any good links with solid documentation on the board, the pin outs and the touchscreen install, that would be great!

Duet board connections: [reprappro.com]

Duet board files, including schematic: [github.com]. Also see [blog.think3dprint3d.com] for an overview.

Touch screen install: [miscsolutions.wordpress.com]

You can find a lot more about the Duet on the Ormerod forum

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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 saw a post by someone that had some sort of shielded cables manufactured for additional length. My comment was only a caution to watch out for problems if you do need to extend the cables - both the GLCD and the SD card extender.

I just saw a neat feature last night on the Smoothie web site that I have never seen before. They have added SD card auto-mount with their external GLCD display. When you insert an SD card, it automatically opens up the list of files without needing to go through any other menus - just like Windows and other operating systems when you insert a CD or USB thumb drive. If you are doing a production run, the extra cost will certainly hurt the profit margin...but it is a feature that can reduce tech support burden and may even be a market-differentiator. I don't know if any of the other firmware/board options have a similar feature (although I suspect that RepRapFirmware on the Duet will have it by Friday if it doesn't already ), but it may be a feature that you might want to look for with your new design.....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2015 02:41PM by vreihen.

Thank you both for the replies.

The main reasons I am going with Rumba or Magatronics is the pre-existing firmware options and mods made by the community. I plan on using coreXY for the mechanics and Marlin has it all built in. Also, I want a PWM option for a laser engraving head that will go along with the printer. I have a bunch of other ideas I want to pack it all in and make a full 3d object manufacturing device for home use. Im going to look further into the duet and the smoothie but If I recall correctly, the smoothie had some limiting factors when I first started looking into PCBs to use.

Any and all suggestions on newer boards that would support coreXY design are certainly welcome and appreciated. I'm currently designing the whole thing in a 3d modeling app so changes can be made on the fly before we make the prototype but I have already designed it in such a way that just about any board can be mounted in it and also has the option for an embeded Raspberri Pi for network and/or camera with streaming option.

Thanks again!