29 Oct
2012
29 Oct
'12
5:08 p.m.
On 10/29/2012 04:17 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote:
The current standard is some variant of RAMPS - an
Arduino Mega plus a
shield with Pololu stepper controllers mounted on the top. There are
many ways to do it.
That'll work with my existing hardware?
As a professional, I have reviewed circuit layouts and
such, but they
were created by others who are more qualified to perform proper
thermal and power requirement calculations (or even just adequate
over-engineering). I've dabbled but it's all still stuff I've just
picked up. That said, I look at some of the electronics out there and
alternate between shaking my head and just shuddering in horror. They
do get better, but usually after something proves to really need
improvement. The stuff that mostly just works doesn't have much cause
to be changed.
My setup (you've seen it, fairly old electronics now) is like six
PCBs...it should be one. And it uses a DC servo controller as a stepper
controller chip. (but yes I understand why they did that...but it was a
poor design choice done to cover up for another poor design choice)
I am going to scrap the existing electronics and start that part
afresh. That is, unless I end up selling the whole thing as-is and
buying a more "turnkey" system. I'm not interested in hacking RepRaps
(except maybe to design grown-up electronics), I want 3D printing
capability as a tool. (wanna buy a laser-cut Mendel? ;))
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA