Looking to upgrade my 3d printers performance with a Due, maybe?

Hello
I recently finished building my first 3d printer! Although I am happy with how it turned out I am already looking into some options to upgrade from the 8 Bit Arduino Mega. When I built this machine I wasn't familiar with any options other than the Mega and the Rasberry Pi. I went with the Mega because I already have a couple Uno's and I am familiar with them most of all. My set up consists of the common Mega, Ramps1.4, a mix of Drv8825 and a4988's, two Nema 17's of the 59 0z/in variety, and one of the larger 84oz/in Nema 17's on my X axis. I am doing 1/32 microstepping on all but my z axis. A member of the forum suggested I switch my Z axis to 1/8 to give me a bump in printing performance. I have done what I can to limit the pauses and freezing but I am looking to upgrade soon. I was wondering what I can get that is a reasonable price that will work with my current set up. I was looking at the Arduino Due, I felt like that was the best option, especially if it will be a direct swap in upgrade. But, I was told it requires some type of mods for it to work. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact it provides 3.3v instead of the 5v that I guess is needed? But, that is all I know so far.

If anyone has any insight on the topic it would be greatly appreciated. If, the modification needed isn't complex I have no problem with that. I would like to stick with the Arduino IDE, but any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

The problems you've described in your earlier threads are not common. A Cartesian printer usually works smooth with arduino/Ramps. Even with 5 steppers @ 1/32 stepping.
You might have a weak 5V regulator on the arduino and replacing it with a Duet surely helps. But not the way you expect.

Just to be clear, this forum is for people who are using or interested in the Duet series of 3D printer electronics. The Duets do not use Arduinos, they have the processor, stepper drivers, heater control parts and everything else integrated on a single board. The original Duet was loosely based on the Arduino Due, but the latest version (the Duet WiFi) uses a more powerful processor that is not used by any Arduino.

I understand you have solved your original problem by switching from Pronterface to Repetier Host.

If you upgrade to Duet or Duet WiFi electronics, the main benefits will be:

- Easier configuration, because you don't need to rebuild and re-upload the firmware to make changes
- Web interface, so you can control your printer from any PC, tablet or smartphone, and upload gcode files for printing through the web interface
- Software control of the stepper motor current
- Option to add a colour touch screen, which includes an on-screen keyboard for direct entry of gcodes
- Smoother motion, especially if you choose the Duet WiFi with its 256x microstepping drivers.

You will need to decide whether these benefits are worth the additional cost for you.

HTH David

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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].