Electronics for roll-your-own printer
Hi All.
I'm looking for a solution for controlling a 3D printer and extruder. From what I've seen, there are two schools of thought. One solution is to have say a 4 axis stepper controller run externally by a PC which feeds the controller G-Code. The other solution appears to be having an on-board microprocessor, like Arduino, and basically plugging a USB memory device into it with the model on it and hitting a "print" button.
For my machine I'd be OK with the PC controlling a 4 axis driver board and I'm aware of the plug-ins for Mach 3 that provide for extruder control.
As far as the other solution goes, with the on-board micro, I find it very appealing if it's not going to cost a bomb. What is the current hotness in this side of things?
RAMPS or Azteeg 3D printer control
I have built an Ordbot Hadron
The RAMPS1.4 electronics package on an arduino does it all
drives axes motors, extruder motor, Extruder heater, bed heater
see
http://reprap.org/wiki/RAMPS_1.4
The Azteeg X3 printer controller does much the same
see
http://reprap.org/wiki/Azteeg_X3
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Benonymous
Hi All.
I'm looking for a solution for controlling a 3D printer and extruder. From what I've seen, there are two schools of thought. One solution is to have say a 4 axis stepper controller run externally by a PC which feeds the controller G-Code. The other solution appears to be having an on-board microprocessor, like Arduino, and basically plugging a USB memory device into it with the model on it and hitting a "print" button.
For my machine I'd be OK with the PC controlling a 4 axis driver board and I'm aware of the plug-ins for Mach 3 that provide for extruder control.
As far as the other solution goes, with the on-board micro, I find it very appealing if it's not going to cost a bomb. What is the current hotness in this side of things?
