On the other hand, I guess there isn't going to be much more work on firmware for these boards. I didn't come across the Gen 7 stuff until just now, and already I'm trying to decide whether to use that for the next machine or as a replacement for the current one. I guess that will depend on how quickly mechanical stuff comes together... Anyway, thanks for your response; I should be able to get aby mjm - General Mendel Topics
Thanks. That clears up some confusion, although I wish I could have figured it out sooner. Do you know if it would be possible to move some of the functionality onto the extruder controller? It seems like it could do speed control, ramping, and pulse generation itself. Then, the motherboard->extruder signals would be the feedrate aspect of the G codes, much less data than individual step pulsby mjm - General Mendel Topics
The following statements I determined by guessing and digging through firmware source code and external sites: -Despite it being a hack, the default extruder controller configuration is for stepper motors using the h-bridges, not external boards or DC motors. -Extruder stepper commands are sent only via I2C pins from motherboard to extruder, not the RS485 system. This is so an external stepperby mjm - General Mendel Topics