Hi guys,
I am new to this board and started to read up on various information. I’m busy on everything for my own primo which is pretty done on the mechanical side. Most is mounted waiting for the pulleys I order which hopefully will arrive tomorrow. So, taken from this I am very happy what I achieved so far.
But now I am getting a bit lost. I read up on the mainboards, firmware and issues about the boards. And as far as I can see there is a lot information about the SKR Pro boards. The Rambo seem to be high out of price. And SKR Pro Ver 1.2 or similar seem to be out of stock anyway. I find SKR Octopus, Mini and some Ver 1.1. But I really don’t know what is a good choice for that and at the same time not going overboard on price.
Hello welcome, in my experience the RAMPS board + 8825 controllers + arduino 2560 + LCD128*64 has worked very well for me, it allowed me to start without spending too much.
Making the necessary changes and installing the firmware was very easy, and all my doubts were solved by reading posts in this forum.
Also if I change the board (which I am going to do) I will be able to give new life to those components.
If you want to stay with the 32-bit options I recommend SKR PRO 1.2, in the documentation you can find the pre-configured firmware and it seems to be quite tested.
We keep some configured firmwares at MarlinBuilder releases.
Ryan sells the skr pro v1.2 and the Rambo. So he personally tests those firmwares in some configurations before we release new versions.
A lot of the other combinations have someone in the forums that has tested them, and some are combinations that don’t have any tests (but they should work).
The skr Turbo and SKR (nothing) v1.3 have some of our firmwares. The octopus, and combinations of other drivers don’t have preconfigured firmware.
If you want to just run the CNC, then having a preconfigured and compiled firmware saves you some time.
Hey Claus, I am from Germany as well and I finally bought this board: ESTLCAM Steuerkarte mit Arduino Mega und Handsteuerung - ArduinoClub. It does require external drivers though (which have a lot more power than the small ones most people here use) that cost a few more €. Also, you do not have the possibility for endstops since you can only control 4 motors.
The absolute upside is that you can do everything in Estlcam. Create the toolpaths, save the program and cut it. No exporting, no other programs, it just works. I have been working with it for roughly two years now (or 1.5?).
Thanks guys! I agree, the pre-configured boards would be nice. I have seen, BigtreeTech still seems to sell the SKR Pro 1.2 Boards. I might will give this a chance. The ESTCLAM on Arduino is looking very interesting, they have in my eyes a very solid concept for separation of motor control and board. I think this is the same that Martin does with the RAMPS and 8825.
Philipp: What is the benefit of the “Handsteuerung” - probably translated to “manual control” - of this? And how do you supply the files for milling?
Handsteuerung means you can connect controls via joystick and keys directly to the board. I haven’t done that yet but might some day. Ich sehe gerade, dass die inzwischen auch eine eigene anbieten. ESTLCAM AC-CNC2022-Handsteuerung - ArduinoClub
You load a dxf in estlcam, create the toolpaths, save it first or directly hit run. Then it does the milling. It’s as easy as that. There are a lot of tutorials where you can see how it works.
And finally some pictures about the current state. Maybe a bit boring after so many builds which have been done since this machine was build - anyway - I am happy how it went out. Need still to replace some nuts, as I was not aware I will need self locking nylon ones to adjust the trucks. But this will be a minor for me to replace.
Oh - ok - understood. Well I bought the Ender Printer for low price as a used one and the blue was coming with the machine It was working very good, so I decided to buy a second role and for the remaining parts a black as an opposite color. I will keep “Das Filament” in mind when I am buying my next filament.
I decided to go with an SKR Pro 1.2 TMC2209 and a simple LCD 12864. Think for a first step the easy way
Printed some case for it and want to get everything up and running. I hope it is working. Will send some pictures when it’s working.
Uh - by the way: The SKR 1.2 Pro is currently not as easy to find in Germany. But you find some on Ebay. I decided to buy the board only on Ebay and drivers and LCD from Amazon. Came out at about 117,- Euro which I think was a good price all together.
Yo Kevin and Claus, how’s it going? Don’t go AWOL on us.
I am in the process of sourcing stuff for my lowrider and I am going with the new Open CNC Shield. I want to use Estlcam and also the dual endstops, so there is only that solution.
- anyway - I am happy how it went out. Need still to replace some nuts, as I was not aware I will need self locking nylon ones to adjust the trucks. But this will be a minor for me to replace.
It was working very good, so I decided to buy a second role and for the remaining parts a black as an opposite color. I will keep “Das Filament” in mind when I am buying my next filament.