Looks like TMC2130 part cost increased 50% lately, pretty much matches the price of TMC2660. Maybe it means new boards are coming....by newbob - Developers
I guess we should focus on SAME70-XPLD since it does have SDCARD connected to HSMCI and comes with SPI0 and SPI1.by newbob - Developers
Quotedc42 Quotenewbob Nice thing about supporting Due is that design can be universal enough to also support SAME70-XPLD board that is only $37 and many times faster. RepRapFirmware already runs on that board. And of course on the Due, but without the web interface because the Due doesn't make the Ethernet pins of the atsam3x8e processor available. Shouldn't it be possible to use SPI interfaceby newbob - Developers
Nice thing about supporting Due is that design can be universal enough to also support SAME70-XPLD board that is only $37 and many times faster.by newbob - Developers
Standalone modules that you mention are for larger stepper motors whereas most 3d printers steppers are within 1-2A range. This means that steppers can and will overheat since driver current cannot be adjusted adequately. Also they are 5V IO which would require level shifting. It still does make a sense to make a 'motherboard' with external mosfets, ADC and drivers. So far all components areby newbob - Developers
Thanks for making the video. Gyroid infill seems like a revolutionary feature.by newbob - General
That's a board to wire connector so I wonder about signal integrity. Can duex (duet's expansion card) communicate over SPI at 4MHz via ribbon cable?by newbob - Developers
Keyed connectors are more expensive and some stepper come with non keyed plugs. Non-keyed connector can take both, keyed and non-keyed so it's more universal.by newbob - General
QuoteJustAnotherOne @newbob I know the Juicyboard. (I don't claim that PCI-E plugs are my invention). From my experience gold is not too expensive. Then if you don't plug and unplug the connector then the HALS works. And if you have bad connections you can fix it with a bit of solder. The current requirements can be dealt with by using more than one pin for the high power connection. I don'tby newbob - Developers
Connectors matter little, IMHO, as long as they can carry enough current. I like 2.54 pin spacing since you can route traces in between if needed, which lowers number of PCB layers and therefore cost.by newbob - Developers
If you purchase online and have no easy way to return than go with 10mm since there's less chance you get faulty one.by newbob - General
I think that at speeds and distances required any connector would do. What really matters to a successful board is price and that's why wasted PCB is an issue for me ( I rather have the driver board mounted to the controller directly). EDIT: @JustAnotherOne: I just realized that I misread which PCIe socket you were talking about. I was writing about miniPCIe connectors - while you were writiby newbob - Developers
I like the plugin board driver idea though I don't think PCIe connectors would work well. On one hand PCIe connectors are nice since they don't require specific board thickness and they are cheap. On the other, boards with edge connector require gold finish which is much more expensive then HASL. Another negative, PCIe connectors require brackets to secure the driver board down which wastes coby newbob - Developers
'popolu'/stepstick drivers offer only rudimentary driver features and have poor heat dissipation and therefore limit performance. We need a new plug-in format or cheaper boards with integrated drivers. I like how klipper firmware can control (still in development) multiple controller boards on one printer. Such feature lowers cost of hardware - just produce and stock single 4 driver board raby newbob - Developers
Beware of false repraps.by newbob - General
Firmware is closed source. It's interesting that ST micro-controllers are not popular with open source community (though ST would like to STEVAL-3DP001V1).by newbob - Developers
What you say it's possible but magnitude of the issue varies greatly from firmware to firmware.by newbob - Developers
I have no idea what amount of pressure would be needed - that would not be my biggest concern. More troublesome would be assuring that exactly the same amount of pressure over time would move the needle. If amount of pressure or time varied from retraction to retraction, system would never 'know' if plastic have been extruded through the nozzle or used to move the plunger.by newbob - General
QuoteLoboCNC OK, here's another version of the anti-ooze valve that eliminates the complex extruder motor driven actuation and instead uses the differential extrude/retract pressure to operate the valve, as leadinglights suggested. It uses compressed air in a small chamber in the heater block to push the valve pin against the inside of the orifice during retraction, when the inner pressure filamby newbob - General
Just run some ADC tests and I'm getting .6 precision for 75-300 range and .4degC for 123-300degC I used 100k (4000 beta) thermistor in a voltage divider so voltage decreased with temperature. ESP32 has three* voltage ranges, 0.1 to VCC, 0.1 to 2.2 and 0.1 to 1.1V for my setup, 75degC was 2.2V so middle ADC range can be used and above 123degC (1.1V) most precise range. At highest resolution ADCby newbob - Developers
It depends on your printer's steps per mm (or inch) and speeds you want to print. Klipper doc says that 8bit AVR can do 100k steps when moving all three steppers. For example, assuming 20mm pulleys, 128micro steps* 200 (steps in one turn aka 1.8deg stepper) = 25600 steps per 20mm of travel. You probably want to travel at 40mm/s which is 2*25600= 51200steps/s for one stepper. Considering thatby newbob - Firmware - experimental, borrowed, and future
This idea reminds me of reading about attempts to embed wire in the filament. I think both cope with similar issue which is how to breach melting chamber and keep plastic from escaping through the breach. Here's video from 2010. When I was contemplating this myself I thought of diamond head type of nozzle with one of the filament holes replaced with a needle.by newbob - General
I think cartesian printer with 5' y and 1' x axis with, supported, linear rails is your best bet. Regarding CR10 - have you considered the mass of the printing bed and how you are going to move it?by newbob - Let's design something! (I've got an idea ...)
There's (was?) printer made in Australia with valve in the nozzle. From what I recall it was causing all sorts of issues. Found it: https://www.wiltronics.com.au/Robox-3Dprinting/nozzle-valve-system/ From their description though, it looks like needle valve is not used during retractions: QuoteWhen they want to pause printing, or switch nozzles, the current nozzle is plugged completely with aby newbob - General
It apprears that ESP32-WROOM-32U was just released. This version has u.fl antenna connector and no keep out zone so it does not have to 'hug' edges of the PCB like ESP32D does.by newbob - Developers
I would guess that this technique works well with larger fans - with high inertia - but would be inaccurate with small fans. EDIT: On the other hand small fans spin fast, therefore pulse time is shorter and if one limited sample time to one pulse it may work reasonably well.by newbob - Developers
How many layers do you think you'll need? When I tried to layout 2 layer board I quickly realized that TMC2130 package is designed for 4 layers minimum and high speed SPI signals complicate the layout further..by newbob - Developers
The thread you've referenced lists TI chip that U3 is using. At $6 a piece that does not seem too expensive. Dedicated sensor like that likely has better range and accuracy compared to uC capacitive touch feature.by newbob - Developers
ESP32 and probably most other new SoC have capacitive touch peripherals that measure capacitance. I also seen astable multivibrator examples that use capacitance to change oscillation frequency that can be sampled with uC:by newbob - Developers
RAMPS is hard to beat in terms of flexibility and it's natural to want to imitate a successful design. Until few days ago I also considered desiging a plugin driver board similar to RAMPS. However, after giving it some more thought I think individual plug in drivers are not the best way to go and even two driver modules are too limiting. Overall, I think boards with four driver ICs have theby newbob - Controllers