replace arduino and steppers

Hi,

I've build a prusa like model (itopie) and i'm happy with my results. I'm using good old arduino mega + ramps + chinese A4988 for the brain.

This working good until now but I've a lot of noise from motors even after tune the driver, and I thing I've a lot of vibration in X axis because of that.

The discussion I want to launch is what is the best solution to have some more quality in my electronics (microcontroller + drivers) with a lowest price. I've looking for smoothieboard but I think that is a bit overkiller for a prusa.

I've read about radds, arduino due StepStick etc....

Im in the same boat. I have a simple i3 and the noise is terrible but it prints fine.
Id love a Smoothieboard or Duet but the cost is a bit high for such a simple printer. Im swapping out my motors hoping to quiet it down but I doubt it will do much without going higher than x16 microsteps.

Quote
Floyd
Im in the same boat. I have a simple i3 and the noise is terrible but it prints fine.
Id love a Smoothieboard or Duet but the cost is a bit high for such a simple printer. Im swapping out my motors hoping to quiet it down but I doubt it will do much without going higher than x16 microsteps.[/quote

yahp I agree this kind of board its good for delta corexy for a prusa its a bit overkill, I just like to have at least a stepper drive with more quality to reduce noise or a cheap arm board.

If you consider reliability and ease of use to be desirable features of your printer, then a smoothieboard isn't overkill, no matter what type of printer you have. The current smoothieboard runs the motors at 16:1 ustepping the same as the Arduino/RAMPS. The real benefit comes from the ease of configuration and reliability of the motor drivers. If you need to change the config, all you do is edit a single text file and reboot the board. There is no hunting through multiple config files to find the variables you want to change, no monkeying around with flaky Arduino IDE, no compiling, and no trying to maintain that stuff in working condition on your computer. In the smoothieboard the motor drivers are soldered to the ground plane of the circuit board so they can deliver more current without overheating. Motor current is set exactly via the config file, not via a microscopic pot that breaks if you look at it the wrong way, and leaves you always wondering how much current is in the motor.

A smoothieboard, like quality mechanical parts in a printer, is an investment. You can reuse good stuff like the controller board and mechanical parts to make a different, better printer. The cheapo electronics and mechanical parts that come with a cheapo printer kit is an expense- i.e. you'll never be able/want to use that stuff to make a better printer. All you can do with it is make another cheesy printer.

---

Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Just how noisy are these printers you are writing about? By far the loudest thing on my Prusa i3 is the filament cooling fan and that can hardly be called intrusive...or are you printing at insane speeds?
Uno/RAMPS/cheapo motors...etc

[youtu.be]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2017 06:11PM by dart16.