Anyone tried to make a 3D Printer controller?

Ok, I’ll give it a try. Anyway, it seems that the schematic is finished, only thing missing is adding the Fuse holder and i think that i’ll replace the Buck converter for an ams1117, as the 3.3v arent used for anything more than external interfaces (Bluetooth module, Servos).

Coming back to the fuses, Im starting to doubt the Use of them. Yeah, its really good to have one if something fails and not that everything blows up, or that the MosFets will get damaged, but then looking at the available RepRap Boards, many of them are even missing Fuses, just a handfull of boards use resettable fuses and maybe 3-5 use car fuses or normal glass fuses. The Car Fuse idea was a big too much i guess, glass/ceramic fuses seem to be a better way. Comes out cheaper. Something like this, for example. Well, a thought. Would be great to hear some comments onto that lil’ thought Wish me luck with KiCad ^^

~Straw

Hi

strawberrymaker wrote:
Seems like the board you referred to is something custom from geetech for their printer.
couldnt find anything either.

OK. With the I2C stuff: should i Vetter usw the first I2C Port? Because i dont havent Seen a Function to select which I2C Port (of the many available) is used.
But I already rewirered it to the first one, so dont bother with that.

Gonna push the PDF in a few seconds.

A question about kicad: you add the component in the schematic first and when the schematic is finished you add the footprint to it, rifht?

~Straw

strawberrymaker wrote:Anyway, it seems that the schematic is finished, only thing missing is adding the Fuse holder…
Coming back to the fuses, Im starting to doubt the Use of them. … but then looking at the available RepRap Boards, many of them are even missing Fuses

strawberrymaker wrote:
A question about kicad: you add the component in the schematic first and when the schematic is finished you add the footprint to it, rifht?
~Straw

@bianchifan
OK, gonna add the car Fuse on the final board, you convinced me but for the development board, which is goal number one, a resettable Fuse should do the job.
But to complete a list of boards without fuse: melzi, (sanguluno or something), smoothiboard also dont has one (if i remember correctly). So we can do it better

But i was reffering to the available boards, not the share of the boards.

No suprise that the eagle files didnt looked nice. Already pushed a PDF of the schematic, maybe check that one out. I’ll try to get the schematic copied into kicad, but i need some time to get into it and source the libraries needed. Hope im finishing it this Weekend.

My personal deadline is still next Week. Hope im managing it

But i think even on the final Version, the 5V Buck converter is OP, would be better to find a 3.3V Buck, AS the 5V line isnt used except for some pinouts like UART or SPI

Gotta go back to work, back in 4H

~Straw

strawberrymaker wrote:But to complete a list of boards without fuse: melzi, (sanguluno or something), smoothiboard also dont has one (if i remember correctly).

Ok, 5V is gonna be dropped
To the Git Repo and the two trees: I initially started with the 3 Color, which seems kinda odd, as 3 Color setups are REALLY rare (maybe diamond hotend) and then split it into a 1 Extruder Board which im currently working on (to get development faster going), so that one is number 1 priority. I just pushed the 3 Extruder Schematic just for reference, that one isnt really important now ^^.

Yeah that C Board should be fine, but still, development on that board is currently on hold.

ATM im really not quite sure if making it into a “real” Ramps-style board is the way to go. Increased bulk, less complexity of the pcb, higher price, saving the board if the uC dies, struggle of adding the female headers and routing everything aroung it.

A thing im worried about is that there are more than one f103V board out there, which may make people”upset” that their wont fit on it. with ramps and ramps-fd, the pro is that it follows a board which cant be altered really, but the isnt a real guideline to f103v boards.

But well, for the dev-board a soldered one should be fine. guess adding or planning it later on shouldnt be hard.

Your buck converters: is the bigger one fixed voltage? looks also appealing

~Straw

strawberrymaker wrote:Your buck converters: is the bigger one fixed voltage? looks also appealing

Hi guys

Sorry but I I have to understand. You want to cut the 5v? But such voltage levels, you would work SPI? 5v or 3.3v ?
I wish I could manage a chip Max6675 for thermocouple K for the extruder. All my printers use thermocouples.They are easier to install and are much more reliable. Modules that use (Aliexpress) are fed to 5V.
The connector for End-Stop are all 5V tolerant? I think this is a good choice.

drk

sd card is a requirement or a wishful add-on?

on all the separate card modules i have, there is a 3v3 regulator on board and interface circuitry.
cheaper ones, resistors and a chip on the slightly more pricey ones.

now stm32 pins whilst i believe they are mostly 5v capable, i’m still not convinced you can run the card modules off just 3v3.

on the board i’m thinking to use, it has a card interface, i just have to find out where it’s mapped to … …

stephen

@bianchifan
If you talk to Chinese DEMO-BOARD I bought this ( 10 euro ) :

CZminiSTM32.jpg

CZminiSTM32.jpg (232.48 KiB) Viewed 879 times

@bianchifan @Drakelive and there begins the struggle about taking a dev-board and using it as an addon for the controller. there isnt really a norm about this, which would result in the end that user complain about “aaahh…my dev board wont work with this”. dont want to deal with that

@Drake I think i didnt thought about 5V tolerance on the endstops, guess i can swap around between the driver chips and the endstops, as they are currently on some ADC Pins, which arent 5V tolerant. Havent thought about thermocouples. Ok, 5V shouldnt be dropped. maybe adding a cheap ams1117 5V should do the job.

@zmemw16 SD Cards operate at 3.3V Voltage and Logic level. But my Idea was to take a SDramps module port instead, as SD Card slots are really bad to hand solder IMO.

But back again, i still dont think using a extra board for the Microcontroller is a good idea. Makes it just complicated and more expensive (for someone who doesnt has the right board lying around).

To KiCad: Is there any tool to highlight wires which are connected together, like the SHOW tool in eagle? and is there any way to move a part WITH its wires connected? Thanks. Will push the KiCad update when im finished with the motor drivers.

~Straw

SNAP – that’s the one.

be warned – make sure the 2.1mm plug you use is supplying 5v – mine was 12v. oops.
actually my dead one might be the non lcd version, i have at least 2 other variants; with / without lcd & with / without sd card.
there might be even more with empty smd pads for spi flash, eeprom etc.

anyway, i tend to buy more than one as well.
a long time ago in part of my work life, when doing design, build and production of mil-spec hardware, second and third level component sourcing was common, usually for 25yrs as standard. the prices reflected that as well.

[ apols for next, send me a pm if desired] as to board, where’s the card socket mapped? if it’s as spi, where’s the cs in particular? any info on the lcd – i think it’s on the fsmc. beyond that … …

stephen

Drakelive wrote:@bianchifan
If you talk to Chinese DEMO-BOARD

JUst found the docu from VCC-GND

.. but ULis not possible, it exeeds the limit

@bianchifan

well, here are other examples of minimum system development boards:
Here or here

I just mean, there isnt any “standard” for it as it is for the arduino. I see that the RAMPS was made as a modular board because many people already had Megas so there wouldnt be any additional cost, but looking at something like these stm32 boards, not really that many people have them (except for the folks in this forum maybe). And looking at this becomming something like a proper device usable for a consumer, this would just bring up more cost:

If this will support a “modular” mcu you will have to buy the board (which is already 10€) and the female header will also be maybe ~2€. Results in 12€ BOM cost for the MCU.

If it will be a soldered mcu, the vct6 costs just <2€ in a bulk of 10 or 3€ if you buy everything by yourself (btw im planning on selling kits anyway), caps cost maybe ~10 cents in total (if you round it up) and the crystal im planning to use (btw. a resonator, so i dont have to hassle about the right caps, although this is kinda small, can be swapped out for something else). costs like 30 cents per part. USB port also maybe 10 cents MAX aaand thats it. like 3,50€ (or even just 2€ if its in a bulk, just seeing the first price as a worst case scenario).

And thats a difference of more than 8€. Im trying to make this as affordable as possible. the ramps is doing to great because its affordable compared to other solutions. the board alone costs like 5€ from china, 10€ if you get it in a kit with the arduino. A Melzi board(you see that really often in chinese acrylic prusa i3’s) costs ~30€. Thats mostly the key. Keeping the total cost as low as possible, so it appeals to a bigger market.

And really whats the point of having a removable mcu? If you burn a mosfet, changing the mcu wont change anything.

And actually telling me to use a autorouter is 1. horrible and 2. didnt helped me with the struggle of getting used to kicad in the schematic editor at all. just sayin’.

@zmemw16 currently the goal is to get a board finished with one extruder to start porting the Marlin firmware and while that is happening, trying to get stuff going with LCD’s and stuff. I could maybe change the Microcontroller on the dev. version to the Vet6, which would bring in more pins and we could start working the pins out. The SDramps module uses, as any other SD Card SPI, so that will be used. I already labeled the SPI Pins on the schematic, but didnt worked the pinout out.

~Straw

Well, seems like the SD Card Socket has to go onboard. The SDRamps uses a High-Low Level shifter, that seems to require a low-high shifter so it can be used. But I will try it out anyway when mine is getting into the mail ^^

OK, stopping working on the schematic for a moment, have a new Idea which i’ll try to work out for me on paper, sharing it later in this post. Seems a nice way to make it the “ultimate” modular controller.

~Straw

EDIT:

Image

The Idea is to use individual modules for the axis, extruders and other things. Using something like dual row angled pinheaders they will be connected. Having one “mainboard” which houses the F103V uC (or even maybe F103Z), USB Connector, Power In, SD Card reader and all the pinout (For the Module and for everything else). Problems will rise with the headers max. current (male pinheader have ~2-3A, the female ones only ~1A), which may be ok for the stepper drivers(3Axis only pull max.6A), but something like a Heatbed would require something around 2×16 Pinheader, which is quite big for a module only holding a mosfet (maybe 8 parts in total). And the modules will also have screw holes, so they can be screwed down onto a holding plate.

This would be a something unique idea to solve the problem with making it modular, while still having something of a “norm” board and making it still cheaper (although not that cheap, have to look up the prices of the headers). and it would still be expandable. And those modules should pretty much fit in a bigger amount onto a single 10x10cm board, making the module’s pcbs pretty cheap. If this seems to be a good idea which is worthwhile checking out, i think starting a new thread wouldnt be a bad idea.

Maybe drop a thought about it

~Straw

strawberrymaker wrote:The Idea is to use individual modules for the axis, extruders and other things. Using something like dual row angled pinheaders they will be connected. Having one “mainboard” which houses the F103V uC (or even maybe F103Z), USB Connector, Power In, SD Card reader…