So the last conversation I had about the Gigabot control board was that it couldnt handle multiple thermostors, therefor the heated bed didnt work. I was thinking it may be a good time to upgrade that board to help get the big guy up and running.
I am currently leaning toward a Duet 2 wifi (https://duet3d.com/DuetWifi) It has an octoprint style web interface, its a 32 bit board, great stepper drivers, it can handle up to 2 extruders (7 different extruders with an upgrade board) and alot of other features. They are about $170 before shipping for the board alone, Depending on which type of thermostors or Thermocouple we have we may need an add on. I dont think we have these but to be safe, Ill ask here to double check if the gigabot has PT100 sensors or Analog Type K Thermocouple amplifiers/signal boards?
There are clones out there for this, but I have had bad experiences with some of them and cant recommend it
With the wifi compatibility we do not need a screen to operate it at the machine, but if we decide to we are looking at the PanelDue screens which are up $105
What board is currently on the gigabot?
After being told it cant handle multiple thermostors (or something to that degree.) I didnt even look. (I believe I was told by Ryan, who was working with Bill on the Gigabot.) I believe that was one of the reason that work on the Gigabot stopped a while ago.
I think it’s worth confirming the capability or lack thereof of the hardware we currently have. Might it be possible to have the heated bed simply operated by a temperature controller (which we have) tand turned on/off manually with a switch (which we have) before/during a print? This would be similar to how on the big CNC we have to manually start the spindle before cutting since we do not have automatic spindle control set up.
I may also be completely missing the mark here… I don’t actually know what the use/purpose of the heated bed is for 3D printing, haha.
The CNC has had its settings updated for over a year, and spins up automatically now.
John2pt0
I really dont recommend having a temperature system controlled separately from the main board. Most 3d printing firmware has a thermal runway code, to allow the whole system to turn off if any of the heated elements fluctuate greatly, this is a safety feature that I feel is more of a necessity than not.
The temperature controllers we have can be configured to power off on overtemperature I believe. I can double check next time I am in.
John, to not hijack this thread, please see the one I am about to make. (CNC spindle behavior)
Kevin, I have no idea what temperature controllers we have nor how to set them up, but I mean if they will work feel free to set it up on the gigabot.
I think temperature control should be handled by the machine controller.
I would rather see something running Marlin, with a preference for the Einsy Rambo: https://ultimachine.com/products/einsy-rambo-1-1
I agree with temp control being controlled from the machine, but I definitely prefer the teprap firmware for the duet.
Since this was brought up in another thread Lets get back to this. Our current board is an older Arduino with what I am guessing is a RAMPS board. This board currently has some very odd and wonky firmware on there.
There are better options out there. I am personally a fan of the Duet 2 Wifi with a Panel DUO touchscreen. Upgrading to a 32bit board with be a heavy improvement and the reprap firmware is easy to get the hang of compared to marlin IMO. https://duet3d.com/DuetWifi