Duet development news

Quote
dc42
The Duet 0.8.5 already has the larger bed heater terminal block. It has 2.5mm pitch screw terminals for the hot ends. The hot end wires in T3P3's kits fit these well enough, but in response to user feedback we are moving to larger hot end terminal blocks for the NG.

ah good! i did notice that they were selected to fit on the PCB all in a line, but finding a screwdriver that fits (and then breaks!) and having to crimp and trim the wires to fit them in.... all a pain in the ass.

dave can i possibly make a recommendation / suggestion - use the 144-pin variant of the ATSAM4 (if there is one in QFP... just looked one up... yes! ATSAM4E8, $7 in 1k volumes, has dual 10/100 ethernet and a bit more), use the extra pins to provide both min *and* max endstops. after getting a rumba v1.2g i was kinda surprised that there was only one set of endstop pins on the duet 0.8.5, but i worked it out and realised that all the spare pins had gone to the expansion port.

also... some of those spare pins could be used to select the micro-stepping mode via GPIO on the steppers.... yes this is a good thing - cutting tracks... blergh and yes i really do need to use 1/8th or 1/4 microstepping with the Flex3Drive - using 1/16th and 1A (way higher than is recommended) the motor is still struggling.

The only reason I can think for using both min and max endstops would be to detect an over-run (carriage crashed into endstop). It does not however require an extra input. The max and min switches can be wired in series (if normally closed contacts used) or parallel (if normally open contacts are used). The controller zeros the axis as normal relying on just one of the switches, and then after that will perform an "emergency stop" if it detects a switch operation, which could be either switch. It will however "know" which endstop has been triggered by the direction of travel immediately prior to the switch being sensed, though AFAICS that is not important anyway because an endstop being unexpectedly triggered means that the carriage is not in the position it was commanded to be in, the print is irrecoverable and so the firmware should abort the print and shut down the printer (with a suitable error message) if it happens rather than continuing and wasting filament.

Dave

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2016 07:20AM by dmould.

would it be possible to add some more probe points for bed levelling ? for now you can add a fifth point as i know. but it would be nicer if we can add some more.

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Delta Printer
Duet 0.8.5 firmware 1.19

You can add as many probe points you wish, with M557 or in bed.g macro

The number of parameters taken into account (S parameter in G30) shall be less than the probe points number.

RepRap_Firmware_macros#bed.g [reprap.org]

Quote
Gaou
would it be possible to add some more probe points for bed levelling ? for now you can add a fifth point as i know. but it would be nicer if we can add some more.

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Pierre

- Safety [reprap.org]
- Embedded help system for Duet and RepRap Firmware [forums.reprap.org]
- Enclosed delta printers Lily [rouzeau.net] and Lily Big [rouzeau.net]
- OpenScad delta printer simulator [github.com]
- 3D printing on my site [www.rouzeau.net]

Quote
Gaou
would it be possible to add some more probe points for bed levelling ? for now you can add a fifth point as i know. but it would be nicer if we can add some more.

Grid-based bed compensation is on the firmware wish list. However, it's better to ensure that the bed is flat and the gantry doesn't deflect significantly as the print head moves long it. On delta printers, bed compensation is not used, instead the bed.g file is used to control auto delta calibration, with up to 16 probe points.

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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].

David, For cartesian, did you average probe if you have more probing points than the required number of parameters, as done on Delta ?

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Pierre

- Safety [reprap.org]
- Embedded help system for Duet and RepRap Firmware [forums.reprap.org]
- Enclosed delta printers Lily [rouzeau.net] and Lily Big [rouzeau.net]
- OpenScad delta printer simulator [github.com]
- 3D printing on my site [www.rouzeau.net]

The delta calibration performs least-squares fitting of the calibration parameters to the probe data. There is no equivalent in the code for Cartesian bed compensation.

To do grid-based bed levelling, long moves have to be segmented so that each segment can have different corrections applied. Segmenting moves causes complications for the pause/resume code and the planned power fail/resume functionality, which is why I haven't finished implementing it yet. The demand for grid-based bed compensation is low, because people who are prepared to buy a Duet to control their printer are usually also prepared to invest in a flat bed.

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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].

Not sure if you've covered this elsewhere, but what kind of max step rate do you expect out of the new board?

Quote
Koko76
Not sure if you've covered this elsewhere, but what kind of max step rate do you expect out of the new board?

We have yet to measure it, and it needs some new firmware written to make use of architectural improvements we have made to allow faster stepping. We are aware that some users want to use 64x or higher microstepping drivers without sacrficing travel speed, and we've taken steps to address that requirement.

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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].

Quote
dc42

Quote
Koko76
Not sure if you've covered this elsewhere, but what kind of max step rate do you expect out of the new board?

We have yet to measure it, and it needs some new firmware written to make use of architectural improvements we have made to allow faster stepping. We are aware that some users want to use 64x or higher microstepping drivers without sacrficing travel speed, and we've taken steps to address that requirement.

Super. I'm going to be using some 250x drivers, and although they will have selectable microstepping I'd like to push it as high as is reasonably possible.

Hello,

I do not know the status of the project of the new Duet card but would not it be interesting to have two SD card reader? One for both firmware and another to store GCODE files. We could have multiple SD cards for storage of files GCODE to classify and identify.

Just an idea :-)

I did not want to add another SD card slot onto the board - it is getting tight already. There is a SPI channel broken out which could be used for another SD card, for example on the PanelDue. This would require firmware support though

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DuetWifi.: advanced 3d printing electronics

One possible feature I have considered is to allow the files in /sys to be copied into flash memory and read from there. That would allow you to boot up the Duet without the SD card present.

The main problem with supporting a second SD card reader on the SPI bus is that file upload to that SD card over the web interface would be much slower, because of the speed limitation of the SPI bus. The file upload speed achieved by competing 3D printer electronics that connect the SD card via SPI is a fraction of what we now achieve on the Duet. It's even possible that the speed at which data can be read from the SD card during printing might limit the print speed, when executing a lot of very short printing moves such as S3D generates sometimes.

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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].

David, sorry for irksome question
But is there any news about the release date of DuetNG ?

As we are getting close to making some pre-production Duet NG board available, and there are many minor improvements compared to the Duet 0.8.5 as well as some major ones, we've decided to publish some of the specifications early - although of course we are saving the best till last! So here is the first installment. Today I am focussing on features already announced or implied, and some minor improvements that we haven't mentioned before:

Main processor

120MHz ARM Cortex M4 processor (ATSAM4E8E) with 512Kb flash and 128Kb RAM

Size

- Same size and mounting hole positions as the Duet 0.8.5

- There are no longer any Molex connectors, terminal blocks etc within 20mm of the edge of the board that carries the USB connector, SD card, LEDs etc. This means that if you mount the board between a pair of 20mm extrusions spaced 20mm apart as I do on my delta printer, none of the important connectors is fouled by the extrusions.

Heater control

- Extruder heater terminal blocks are 3.5mm pitch instead of 2.54mm, to accommodate larger wires.

- Higher current capability for the bed heater circuit. We are hoping to achieve 15A rating (to be confirmed).

- Automatic ADC gain calibration for the thermistor channels

- Thermocouple and PT100 temperature sensor support using daughter boards. Each daughter board supports two sensors, and two daughter boards can be stacked. This pic shows a thermocouple board stacked on top of a PT100 board.



Fans

- Connectors for three independently PWM-controllable and two always-on fans. The fan power supply can be switched between Vin and 5V.

That's all for now - more to come in a few days.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2016 12:36PM 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].

Any chance of having a set of unpopulated 2.54mm holes in addition to the 3.5mm screw terminal for both the extruder and bed? Running a 40w heater at 24v is only 1.7a. Even at 12v it is only 3.3a. No need for huge wires. Personally, I hate having to deal with screw terminals and avoid them if possible. If we are using a SSR for the bed, no need for huge connectors.

Quote
uvarovkv
David, sorry for irksome question winking smiley
But is there any news about the release date of DuetNG ?

If the prototypes work as well as we hope, then before the end of this month we expect to have pre-production boards (some of which will be offered for sale) and be accepting pre-orders for production boards. But we can't make any promises until we have finished testing the new prototypes, which we should have within the next few days.

Quote
ElmoC
Any chance of having a set of unpopulated 2.54mm holes in addition to the 3.5mm screw terminal for both the extruder and bed? Running a 40w heater at 24v is only 1.7a. Even at 12v it is only 3.3a. No need for huge wires. Personally, I hate having to deal with screw terminals and avoid them if possible. If we are using a SSR for the bed, no need for huge connectors.

I don't much like screw terminals either. However, we need to cater for a wide range of heater voltage and power, so more current than a 2-pin Molex connector can handle in the worst case. The board design has now been finalised, unless we hit a major problem.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2016 02:09PM 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].

Quote
dc42

Quote
uvarovkv
David, sorry for irksome question winking smiley
But is there any news about the release date of DuetNG ?

If the prototypes work as well as we hope, then before the end of this month we expect to have pre-production boards (some of which will be offered for sale) and be accepting pre-orders for production boards. But we can't make any promises until we have finshed testing the new prototypes, which we should have within the next few days.

Glad to hear it. Thanks David for the good news!

Interesting news!

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
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Time for another pic and another feature release. Today's new feature is...



WiFi !

We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter. This makes it easier to connect into most home and work networks, because no cable is required. The lack of a need for any communications cable makes it more practical to put the electronics at the top of the printer, which is an attractive option for deltas. The web server runs in a separate processor on the WiFi module, freeing up CPU time and a lot of memory space on the main processor.

So far I've been calling this the next-generation Duet and abbreviating it to Duet NG, however the official name of the board is:

Duet WiFi

(edit)We realise that this change won't suit everyone. However, we believe that the time has come to change from a wired to a wireless connection. Nearly every broadband-connected home has WiFi, but very few homes have wired Ethernet except at the router. Most businesses have both. If WiFi range from your router is a problem, it'e simple and inexpensive to add a range extender. If you are one of the minority with wired Ethernet but no WiFi, you can connect an inexpensive device such as the TP-Link WR710N to provide a WiFi access point - not just for the Duet WiFi but also for your smartphone, tablet etc. And of course a USB interface is still provided. The Duet WiFi supports WPA-2 encryption for network security, and we'll also be making changes to make the login password mechanism more secure.(/edit)

Some other features we are announcing today:

* Higher heated bed current. We're hoping to qualify the Duet WiFi to 15A, but we still have thermal tests to carry out before we can guarantee that.

* Connectors for a PanelOne 20x4 text display. Obviously I'd rather you bought a PanelDue, however we've decided to address the demand for low-cost displays too. It may be a while before the firmware support for PanelOne is completed because we have so many other cool features to add in firmware.

* Resilience against misuse. Duets are already quite resistant to misuse, but there are a few things they can't survive, for example a short from +12V or +24V to the ground side of a thermistor input. On the Duet WiFi we've added extra protection to many of the inputs. We're not guaranteeing that the board will survive abuse, but we've made it more likely that it will, or that the damage will be confined to one or two components that can be replaced relatively easily.

There is now a new web site for all things Duet, [www.duet3d.com]. There's already some information there, with more to come. Next week we'll publish the final installment of this trilogy on duet3d.com, not here - although I'll post a link to it here as well.

PS - some of you may be wondering whether the use of WiFi compromises the file upload speed. Judge for yourself:



Not quite 1Mbyte/sec, but close.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2016 11:28AM 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].

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

I'm sorry you feel that. Almost every home user has WiFi now, along with most businesses. Extending WiFi range is very simple, you just plug in a range extender. I did exactly that when I moved last February, because the router had to go temporarily in the garage where the phone socket is, and wouldn't reach my office with a good signal. A £20 range extender plugged into a socket in the kitchen solved the problem.The same device can also be used an an Ethernet-to-WiFi adapter (either way round).

OTOH having an Ethernet port instead limits most people to using the printer in the room with the router, because home users don't normally have Ethernet cabling - why should they, when everything these days uses WiFi?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2016 08:32AM 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].

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

ElmoC, you are wrong! Today the some 802.11n wifi-stick for your PC or laptop sometimes cheaper than a long lan-cable.

I think many will appreciate the news that the board has wifi out of the box!

Well done, David!

Using your same argument, a person without the cable handy can use a WiFi adapter to connect. This is even documented in the Duet information. While a person with WiFi and no cable can use the new one and the old one, a person with only a cable can not us it. You said your switched to the screw terminals on the hotend to cater to more users. Seems like you took a step backward with this change and have restricted it to certain ones.

Quote
dc42

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

I'm sorry you feel that. Almost every home user has WiFi now, along with most businesses. Extending WiFi range is very simple, you just plug in a range extender. I did exactly that when I moved last February, because the router had to go temporarily in the garage where the phone socket is, and wouldn't reach my office with a good signal. A £20 range extender plugged into a socket in the kitchen solved the problem.

OTOH having an Ethernet port instead limits most people to using the printer in the room with the router, because home users don't normally have Ethernet cabling - why should they, when everything these days uses WiFi?

What am I wrong about? So you can stick a WiFi dongle in your PC. That doesn't help if you don't have, or can't use, WiFi in the first place.

Quote
uvarovkv

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

ElmoC, you are wrong! Today the some 802.11n wifi-stick for your PC or laptop sometimes cheaper than a long lan-cable.

I think many will appreciate the news that the board has wifi out of the box!

Well done, David!

I can't figure out what problems to use cheap wifi dongle as access point?

Using WiFi dongle with your PC much simpler and cheaper than buying separate router for Duet board.
Let's see to a modern laptops, they also don't have any LAN ports. This is called progress!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2016 08:52AM by uvarovkv.

Quote
ElmoC
Using your same argument, a person without the cable handy can use a WiFi adapter to connect. This is even documented in the Duet information. While a person with WiFi and no cable can use the new one and the old one, a person with only a cable can not us it. You said your switched to the screw terminals on the hotend to cater to more users. Seems like you took a step backward with this change and have restricted it to certain ones.

Elmo, I think you are in a small minority having wired Ethernet and no WiFi signal where you want to use the printer. The same device (TP-Link WR710N) that we suggest to connect a Duet to a WiFi network can be used the other way round, to connect a Duet WiFi to your Ethernet network - not only that, it can connect your smartphone, tablet etc. to your network too.

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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].

Quote
ElmoC

Quote
dc42
We've replaced the Ethernet socket by a WiFi adapter.

Sorry to hear that. This has just made the board unusable for myself, and probably others. Not everyone has their printer in a location with a good WiFi signal, or even have WiFi.

Sadly I personally agree, despite having an excellent wifi point inside the garage used for printing I would always hard wire things like this.

I do however fully understand why a drive to go wifi in this wifi world and with more and more houses only having wifi it is the sensible decision

I was hopeful of being an early adopter and may well do so anyway

Quote

Sadly I personally agree, despite having an excellent wifi point inside the garage used for printing I would always hard wire things like this.

aussiephil, please can you explain why?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2016 11:27AM 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].

Nice! Can't wait to see these come out. I figure I'll have the new machine ready in just the right amount of time to get one of these in there. Still super curious to see what drivers you are using. I've got externals for X and Y anyway but I'm interested to see what I can expect for Z and the extruder.