Control Board Suggestions and Advice

Hey,

I’m not an electronics guy… And I’m looking to source my electronics as cheaply as possible. But I search mini-Rambo on Amazon and then there are at least 3 or more different Arduino versions… Plus then I need steppers? My current printer has all in one board.

Is there a piece taking about which boards you could choose and what are the advantages and disadvantages associated with different boards and steppers.

As well what’s the difference between 8bit vs 32bit?

In the end some links to items for purchase and firmware version. Soldering is possible, but definately not preferred.

Thanks for any help.

The mini rambo has the stepper drivers and arduino built in. AFAIK, the cheapest legitimate one is in the v1 shop.

32bit is not needed. They are faster cpus, but the firmware won’t work any faster, so a faster processor doesn’t make much difference. It is maybe more future proof, but that would be a stretch.

They come flashed with the right firmware from v1. There shouldn’t be any soldering.

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I put my machine together about 2 months ago. Being a cheapskate at heart I did a bunch of price comparisons and basically came to the conclusion that the prices Ryan is charging in his storefront are really about the best prices I could find - especially if you just go for the whole package (as I recall it’s like $207 for just about everything except the conduit and the printed parts). In the end I didn’t end buying that package though - but only because I already had most of the necessary electronic bits lying around (mega2560, ramps, stepper drivers, endstops, etc). I ended up buying steppers, endstop wiring kits, e-stop switch and some other odds-n-ends from him - I maybe could have saved about $5 buying from other places, but would have had to wait a month for delivery…

His price for the printed parts is less than I would charge someone to print them, so I think they are a bargain also – but I did end up just printing mine (took well over a week - so if you value your time at all - consider purchasing them).

If you do go with piecing parts together - a hint for the nuts-and-bolts is to go to Tractor Supply if you have one near you, they seem to be one of the last places that sells hardware by the pound.

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That’s really helpful thanks.

Buy from Ryan and you will be assured of a better quality board and it will have the software installed on it already. If you are asking about the difference between 8 bit and 32 bit, I would guess you haven’t done much firmware flashing, which would be required if you sourced it yourself.

His wiring harness is worth the price, even if you can solder, unless you have all the correct terminators and connectors.

And buying from Ryan will also make supporting you easier since everyone would know what they are dealing with.

If you really want to break it down to saving every dollar, then you might find better prices, but there is a lot of study required and a lot of reviews needing to be read to ensure you have a quality product. It is possible.

The difference between the boards.

Price is one that reflects capabilities.
Ease of configuration and wiring is another. More options and fewer configuration details is one of the things I took into consideration.

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I am going to build the Primo using the RAMBo 1.4 Ryan is sold out. Ultimachine is sold out. Is it worth it to wait for Ryan or Ultimachine to restock. Is there a way to find out when Ryan will restock?

Thanks

Ryan gets them in and immediately sells out. He has an email sign up on the product page and he sometimes updates general stock news on the license page.

And sometimes he is out of the boards, but still has then in the kits.