by Nick Brawne » Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:24 pm
Help please, I am confused before I have even started. I understand what a controller does, but I don’t understand all the terminology, or advantages, disadvantages and differences of all the boards that are out there.
Arduino
Azteeg X3
ORDuino
Pololu
RAMPS
I am trying to build a printer of my own design (I do mechanical design for a living), but when it comes to the choice of controller board I am completely flummoxed, and everything I read does nothing to help in sorting out what does what, what the differences are, and what is the easiest (read most trouble free) to install, wire and get printing. Then there is pricing and availability.
What I would really like is a complete plug and play solution in which I don’t have to wade through a bunch of board options, order lots of add on daughter boards (shields?) and then have to select and install some custom firmware. I understand that I will need to tweak firmware, but the less I have to do the better.
My ideal board would support 3+2 steppers (3 axis+2 extruders) six end stops, 2 x hot end temperature control and build platform heater temperature control. It would also allow control of the machine without the need for an attached PC, while also allowing remote monitoring, ideally WiFi. It would be nice if there was a display that showed progress / build time / remaining time, error messages (no confussing codes to look up), and also allow me to start and stop jobs on the device. Does such a board exist, or can it be easily built out of parts that are out there. If so, what. I don’t want to get a board and bunch of add ons then have to try and de-bug the whole system.