Blown up my Melzi ... time for new Electronics

Right ... due to application of stupidity (via the medium of a screwdriver) to wires ... I have blown up my Melzi board (temps read around 200 with or without the thermistors ...)

So, I am in the market for a new board. I have done a bit of looking around and found a couple of option but would like to know if I've missed anything.

My current preference leans to a Ramps 1.3/1.4 (the 1.3 kit I've found is quite cheap and supposedly quite easy to solder so thats most likely). As I can swap out all the stepper drivers (though I've yet to blow one ...) and more importantly the processor should that stupidity start to fly again. Additionally the listing suggests this can be used with a dual extrude setup, is this true/do-able?

Ive also looked at the Sanguinololu (1.3a again for the plugable kit) for its LCD capabilities but it seems to lack any options for future dual extrudes ...

Finally I've looked at Printrboard and Melzi (though i cannot find a source for this) but I am not keen on having the chip soldered on as I can clearly blow it up without trying.

So, have I missed a gem? or should I just get the ramps?

Thanks

Clem

I would suggest RAMPS and yes it supports dual extruders. But you did miss one called Azteeg X3.

Also you have most likely just killed one of the microcontroller pins and you could cut the trace for the thermistor to the micro and solder a jumper from the thermistor circuit to one of the extra pins on the board.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

Azteeg looks nice, I am reluctant to go with a soldered on chip again though. It doesnt seem to offer sufficient advantages over the ramps to get past that. Am i missing a killer feature? I see extra endstops (nice but no deal maker) and thats about it, its a nicer looking board (especially if I solder the RAMPS) and not much else over a standard RAMPS. Also a bunch of extra PWMs ... actually it turns out to be reasonably interesting. Now im torn. Given the ramps is significantly cheaper and likely to turn up in the near future (seeing as its not crossing the atlantic to me here in the UK) I think that wins ...

Is it likely to be a single pin given that both thermistor readings are broken? I was going on the advice in this thread which describes a similar situation (for a different mode of 12V application) on the same board.

If both are blown then you may have killed more than one pin. But if you can still connect and get readings and move the axis you have not blown the micro entirely.

The Azteeg is new and uses the same pin configuration as RAMPS so it works with all the firmwares that are configured for RAMPS. I know the creator has a boost converter to increase the voltage on the drivers that is not released yet and will give faster stepping. He also has new drivers developed that cool a little better than the Pololu ones but they will work with all Pololu based electronics out there including RAMPS when they are released. Other than that I do not know much about it.

---

FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver

Yeah I kind of hope to revive the Melzi someday but that requires the kind of tinkering I havent the patience for right now. Id rather spend my tinkering time getting good prints than recovering from that.

I think I'm gonna go ramps and keep an eye on the Azteeg project for a future printer. Its a cheaper mistake to make if mistake it be.

Cheers for the advice Sublime.

Hi

Just adding info on the Azteeg X3, it does accept pololu style drivers including the one I developed. unfortunately the drivers are only available as a bundle right now and produced in limited quantities. That would change tho in the coming days.

The boost power supply shield is experimental (but works aok) and again in limited quantities only. You can configure several add-ons for the X3 controller.

Thanks