Looking for a low cost duet board

Hi,

I'm currently looking into 32 bit controllers for my new printer build and I thought about the duet but it's a bit pricey for me and I prefer to avoid the chinese smoothieboard clones.

So I thought about buying the duet v0.6, is it a reasonable choice even though it's an old version? Any drawbacks I should be aware of?

Another option is to buy a used duet board (0.6/8.5/wifi) but I didn't find any on ebay, is anyone here selling one of those?

Thanks!

The old (0.6) version works fine, and is fully supported by the software. But it doesn't have as many drives as the Duet Wifi, and the motion is not quite as smooth (it's good; the new one is exceptional). This is reflected in the prices, of course.

If you are interested in the 0.6 version, we have these available, ready to ship. Just let me know.

Sally

Sally Bowyer
RepRap Ltd

I went the same route and bought a 0.6 board from Think3dPrint3d (I believe it was 66 pounds...)
It is the one with the screwterminals instead of connector sockets. I wanted to make leads, but eventually I cut off all connectors because they were in a bad shape anyway.
I can tell from experience that the steppers are a whole lot quieter than they used to be. The board runs really well, and the Delta printer support of DC42 is exceptional. Especially when combined with FSR (or other probing system).
The only drawback I encountered is that there is only one managed fan connector available. You want to use that for layerfans, so the peekfan of the hotend must be connected directly to the PSU. 0.8.5 has two fan connectors, and Duet Wifi even three.
I am super happy with it, and I don't have a paneldue. My PC sits next to the printer so you really don't need it!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2017 07:15AM by DeltaCon.

I suspect that the Duet 0.6 boards from RepRap Ltd have Molex connectors, not screw terminals.

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Delta printer calibration calculator, mini IR Z probe, and colour touch screen control panel: [escher3d.com]

Large delta printer, and other 3D printer blog postings: [miscsolutions.wordpress.com]

Disclosure: I have a financial interest in sales of the Panel Due, Mini IR height sensor, and Duet WiFi/Duet Ethernet [www.duet3d.com].

[www.ebay.com]
I just sold this to a guy that thought it was a DuetWiFi and he wants to return it for a refund. I have been reluctant to take it back. If you are interested I will see what I can do.
I also have another 0.8.5 I'll sell for $89.00 inc shipping US

My main concern about the v0.6 is that the power connectors and MODFETs for the DC input / heated bed / extruder would be underrated (I keep seeing people using an external MOSFET / SSR for the heated bed due to similar problems in board clones from China), if that isn't an issue I guess I'll go with the Duet v0.6.

jeostefano, I sent you a PM regarding your board.

The board is meant to be used with an Ultimaker clone I'm building, would it have any advantage using a 32bit controller over the usual Ramps and Mega combo? I also consider using 0.9 steppers.

Thanks for the useful info everyone!

Quote
Mautner
My main concern about the v0.6 is that the power connectors and MODFETs for the DC input / heated bed / extruder would be underrated (I keep seeing people using an external MOSFET / SSR for the heated bed due to similar problems in board clones from China), if that isn't an issue I guess I'll go with the Duet v0.6

The mosfets on the 0.6 are no problem, they are more than adequately rated. One of the PCB traces in the heated bed circuit is rather narrow and may fuse if you go above about 13A bed current, but you can easily add a wire on the underside of the board between VIN+ and Bed Heater+ to avoid that. With that modification, you should be OK up to about 15A bed heater current - which is 40% more than RAMPS and similar boards can handle. The bed heater terminal block is smaller than on the later Duets, but AFAIR it's rated at 16A.

In a Cartesian printer, the main advantages provided by the Duet will be the web interface - which lets you control the printer and upload files to the SD card from a web browser - and easier configuration using a text file on the SD card (which you can edit in the web interface) including software control of motor current. Some people upgrading from 8-bit to Duet controllers on well-built Cartesian printers report an improvement in print quality too, but it would be unwise to rely on getting that.

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Delta printer calibration calculator, mini IR Z probe, and colour touch screen control panel: [escher3d.com]

Large delta printer, and other 3D printer blog postings: [miscsolutions.wordpress.com]

Disclosure: I have a financial interest in sales of the Panel Due, Mini IR height sensor, and Duet WiFi/Duet Ethernet [www.duet3d.com].

I don't think there's going to be a quality improvement unless your settings change, which would have given an improvement no matter what the board.

I was using a 0.6 until I sold it to a friend and got the DuetWiFi for myself. He's perfectly happy with it. I was using it with the heated bed from the E3D BigBox. Like dc42 said, there is a trace that can burn out if you put a powerful bed on it, but I just added a bit of wire to the underside and it was perfectly fine. Going by the numbers though, I didn't go past 11A, so it was just for peace of mind. At the end of the day, it's far better than melting terminals on a RAMPS board lol.

@joestefano - If I were you, I definitely would not take that board back from the idiot you sold it to. It's clearly marked in both the title and description, and it's his own fault for spending over $100 on something that he didn't even bother reading the description, much less the title for. He can very easily just resell it and get his money back. Of course I'm not you, just throwing in my ¢2 because I'm a very opinionated person about things like that.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2017 04:13PM by Masterjuggler.

I am still using a 0.6 duet in one of my mendels. Untill recently i was using two with only a tiny problem (my mistake) in a period of 20 months. The problem was one half-melted plastic at the negative socket of the bed heater. I replaced it and from then everything was running perfectly. Keep in mind that my bed heaters works in an enviroment of 5c-20c so to keep the bed at 105c for 4hours min is a hard job
The only downside of the board for me is the second extruder.

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RePrapPro Mendel 3
Duet 0.6 firmware 1.19
RePrapPro Mendel 3
Duet 0.8.5 firmware 1.19

Mautner. Where are you located? I've got a Duet 0.8.5 going spare in the UK after my delta was upgraded to the DuetWifi. PM me if you're interested.