Alternative Electronics
The standard, well-tested RepRap electronics are described at circuit board construction.
Many people have come up with ideas for improving on those electronics. We list and compare and contrast some of those ideas here.
Feel free to download the current version of the RepRap electronics on SourceForge and make improvements, rather than starting from scratch.
One of the more fascinating ideas is to use the RepRap itself to help manufacture the next generation of electronics. We talk more about that idea on the Automated Circuitry Making page.
electronics that have been built
- Mendel Buyers Guide and PartsSupplies list a few places to buy a complete kit of electronics
- circuit board construction -- the standard RepRap electronics, currently Mendel
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using the standard Stepper Motor Driver 2.3 boards, instead used some other stepper motor driver boards? Yes -- a crude test of the Pololu Electronics seems to indicate they would work fine ...
- BuildingTheCommonElectronicsForAllTheControlBoards -- the earlier standard boards for Darwin
- Laser Cutter control electronics are very different from motor drivers and extruder controllers.
ideas that are still theoretical
Various pie-in-the-sky ideas ...
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using the standard Stepper Motor Driver 2.3 boards, instead used some other stepper motor driver boards? perhaps the open-source OpenStepper boards ( from http://openservo.com/ ) or the open-source Linistepper ( from http://www.romanblack.com/lini.htm )?
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using stepper motors, instead used slower, smaller, cheaper hobby R/C servo motors? (perhaps driven by the servo motor driver board plus magnetic encoder board combination from http://openservo.com/ )?
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using stepper motors, uses faster, bigger, more expensive DC motors?
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using stepper motors, uses faster, bigger, more expensive AC motors?
- Is it possible to build a RepRap that, instead of using stepper motors, uses nitinol shape-memory wire?
testing
- Does it work at all ? Testing RepRap Electronics
- How do I use the RepRap Stepper Tester ?
- How do I use the OpenCircuits Stepper Tester ?
- Does it shut off properly when it overheats or slams into an end-stop?
- What is the cost compared to the standard RepRap electronics?
- Does it print things faster than the standard RepRap electronics?
- Does it print things more accurately than the standard RepRap electronics?
... ElectronicsReleaseProcess ...
