R2C2 RepRap Electronics

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Revision as of 20:12, 2 January 2011 by Casainho (talk | contribs) (Added uSDCard configuration file: "config.txt". Added link/feeds to forum discussion.)
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HBox RepRap Electronics

Release status: unknown

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Description
Cutting edge electronics for RepRap
License
Author
Contributors
Based-on
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CAD Models
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HBox RepRap Electronics

This electronics and firmware are being developed by User:Casainho (HardwareBox company) and will be commercialized on Ebay (including the releasing of source files) to worldwide 1 January 2011. The electronics and firmware will be released as Open Source that work with / and are fully compatible with RepRap software and others alike.

Advantages of this electronics

  • Just one board to control your RepRap 3D printer (can also control any other 3D printer/laser/milling);
  • Plug and play - you will receive it completed assembled and tested;
  • Heated_Bed support;
  • Expansion header so you can add support for other functionalities like using a laser to engrave/cut paper, wood, ABS, PLA, etc;
  • Cutting edge technology - ARM microprocessor of 32bits running at 100MHz with DMA, which is about 50x more powerful than actual "official" RepRap electronics and others alike. RepRap "official" electronics uses AVR 8 bits running at 16MHz and without DMA. You will not get any more this problems because of slow AVR core 8bits used on RepRap and here. If you are looking for hight speed and high quality printing/laser/milling, you need a microprocessor really fast to be able to generate a big number of stepper motor impulses per second - this is our solution;
  • uSDCard that stores "config.txt" file with configurations like steps per mm and maximum feed rate of each axis. Now you can configure your 3D printer just by editing a txt file - no more need to build the firmware sources and program the microcontroller. This uSDCard works also as board internal memory and in future will store GCodes files, letting printer working standalone without the need to be connected all the time to a computer;
  • USB bootloader working as a USB Mass Storage device (works on Linux, Windows and MAC OS) - you will just need to copy/paste new firmwares to board as if is a USB pen flash;
  • We strong believe in OpenSource and community development and so we are trying to use much as possible OpenSource tools. All the firmware were developed with OpenSource tools: ARM GCC, ARM GDB, OpenOCD JTAG Programmer/Debugger and Eclipse.

Configuration

There is an uSDCard that stores "config.txt" file with configurations like steps per mm and maximum feed rate of each axis. Now you can configure your 3D printer just by editing a txt file - no more need to build the firmware sources and program the microcontroller. This uSDCard works also as board internal memory and in future will store GCodes files, letting printer working standalone without the need to be connected all the time to a computer.

My current configuration file "config.txt" for my RepRap Mendel:

STEPS_PER_MM_X = 80
STEPS_PER_MM_Y = 80
STEPS_PER_MM_Z = 6400
STEPS_PER_MM_E = 36
MAXIMUM_FEEDRATE_X = 1800
MAXIMUM_FEEDRATE_Y = 1800
MAXIMUM_FEEDRATE_Z = 60
MAXIMUM_FEEDRATE_E = 40000
SEARCH_FEEDRATE_X = 120
SEARCH_FEEDRATE_Y = 120
SEARCH_FEEDRATE_Z = 60
SEARCH_FEEDRATE_E = 1600

Hacking / Developing

The current firmware is C code and heavily based on FiveD_on_Arduino.

All firmware were developed with OpenSource tools. Screenshot of a debug session using ARM GDB, OpenOCD JTAG Programmer/Debugger and Eclipse (running on Linux Ubuntu on a small netbook @ 1024*600):

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Forum discussion

Electronic music for HBox RepRap electronics

Because this electronics need some good electronic, robotic and chip music - please listen, download and share (Creative Commons license), this album from Norwegian artist Binary pilot (I am being listening while developing this electronics). Music for you dance while your RepRap prints: <flickr>5194767568|left</flickr>