Thanks for all the input and advice from everyone. I certainly know a lot more than I did 11 days ago.
it’s good to know that there is so much info and advice available.
I’ve ordered an SKR Pro v1.2 with a wifi board and touch screen with TMC2209 stepper drivers. This uses Marlin, I believe, and the firmware is available on this site.
Construction of the rest of the machine is nearly finished, just the table to finalise. I’m aiming for a slightly reduced size - 4’ x 2’, quarter sheet, but with 2 extra bits of tube and some longer belts, it can be expanded if needed.
I shall start a post in the build section in the near future so folks can see how it’s going.
Hi. I’m in a similar situation age wise to you. I built my lowrider 2 years ago and struggled with the Marlin firmware.
I found I needed a visual of what I was milling lasering etc so I started using GRBL.
I bought a protoneer CNC shield on an Arduino UNO.
I disregarded the on board drivers and set up 3 External 6600 drivers at 32 steps. One driver powers both Z axis steppers. One drives both Y axis steppers with the third driving the Z axis… It is accurate and quiet. The board controls my 40 watt laser as well as a relay for my router.
I control all of this using Lightburn for the laser…Easel for the 2d carving and Meshcam to create Code to run through Easel for the 3d stuff.
I’m delighted with ease of use and reliability