Controller Board Upgrade Suggestions for a Dying RAMBo?
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:04 am
Hi,
I’ve got an older M2 (with the bare stainless frame), that has come into my possession, and I’m trying to get it back up and running.
My latest problem is a dying RAMBo board, that I need to replace. However, I’ve got dreams of doing several future upgrades, one of them being an IDEX implementation, that will require control of additional stepper motors. And it doesn’t make sense to buy a new board that doesn’t at least have that capability. On top of that, there are lots of updated drivers delivering much quieter and more accurate micro-stepping.
Obviously, MakerGear has figured our how to add a second stepper motor daughter board to a standard RAMBo board. And that would be the easiest implementation since it would already have machine specific firmware that would just require tweaking. However, I can’t find any information on how they’ve implemented that, and I don’t think the M3 is open source the way the M2 is.
So unless someone is able to fill me in on the M3 configuration, I’m looking at two different routes. Either the Duet WiFi with reprap firmware. Or testing the new marlin 2.0 software with something like the new Archim 2.0 board from ultimachine.
Anyone have any experience to offer any suggestions or thoughts on trying to use either one of those on an M2?
I’ve got an older M2 (with the bare stainless frame), that has come into my possession, and I’m trying to get it back up and running.
My latest problem is a dying RAMBo board, that I need to replace. However, I’ve got dreams of doing several future upgrades, one of them being an IDEX implementation, that will require control of additional stepper motors. And it doesn’t make sense to buy a new board that doesn’t at least have that capability. On top of that, there are lots of updated drivers delivering much quieter and more accurate micro-stepping.
Obviously, MakerGear has figured our how to add a second stepper motor daughter board to a standard RAMBo board. And that would be the easiest implementation since it would already have machine specific firmware that would just require tweaking. However, I can’t find any information on how they’ve implemented that, and I don’t think the M3 is open source the way the M2 is.
So unless someone is able to fill me in on the M3 configuration, I’m looking at two different routes. Either the Duet WiFi with reprap firmware. Or testing the new marlin 2.0 software with something like the new Archim 2.0 board from ultimachine.
Anyone have any experience to offer any suggestions or thoughts on trying to use either one of those on an M2?