New Arduino DUE in reprap?

Will the Arudino DUE be compatible with the Ramps shield?

[www.karlssonrobotics.com]

Has anyone tried it?
Are any printers using it?
Is the 3.3V limitation going to totally ruin the functionality of ramps?

Thanks!

Quote

Is the 3.3V limitation going to totally ruin the functionality of ramps?

Yes, partly and unfortunately. 3.3V are suffucient to drive the stepper drivers, but not the MOSFETs. Also I've not yet found a MOSFET which could act as a drop-in replacement.

Generation 7 Electronics is going the ARM route soon, so affordable ARM-based solutions will continue to be available: [forums.reprap.org]

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Sorry about pulling this thread out of the abyss of page >1, but wouldn't an adapter shield with level shifters that you can put between the arduino and the RAMPS work? A fast and affordable 32bit ARM solution sounds just too promising to pass up.

That's a good idea. An interface board for the shield, it would be possible I think.

For the inputs and outputs that have known and fixed functions, it is relatively easy to put in a level shifter. For bidirectional pins, and for pins which the firmware may set as input or output depending on the application it's more of a problem. There are lots of spare pins on the RAMPS which can be used for things like LCDs for example. There are bidirectional shifters which could be controlled by software, which provides more flexibility at the cost of IO pins.

There are several other small issues which probably could be resolved, but I think it would be difficult (perhaps impossible) to make a guaranteed drop in replacement on any setup. It might be good enough for most applications though.

Anyway, I have started to collect issues on the wiki page [reprap.org], with an intention to try to create some sort of adapter or new RAMPS board. At least, I now have a Due, which should help

Maybe use a MOSFET to control a MOSFET?

[www.sparkfun.com]



I know this is a bi-directional setup, but it should be able to modify it to a uni-directional one.

the BSS138 is small, but it's cheap ~ $0.20 @ mouser.

Or am I completely off base on this one?

---

- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

One issue that may be solvable by a skilled person is that Marlin uses inline assembler code and ATMega specific registers. If this software limitation gets resolved, the Arduino Due might work...

Instead of putting all the level shifters onto a single adapter board, one could also make application specific ones that one can plug in between the peripheral and the RAMPS board. This would keep compability relatively high, I guess.