Controller Upgrade for UMO: Looking for Insight

[lars86 42]

Hey guys,

 

I am still rocking an original Ultimaker, heavily upgraded at this point. It is such a solid platform, mechanically, my only wants at this point could be served by a new controller / control board. 

 

Current build specs:

 

• Official heated bed
• Upgraded stepper motors, direct driven on X&Y, GT2 belts / pulleys
• Custom print head with E3D V6
• Custom extruder drive with geared stepper
• Reprapdiscount full graphic smart controller

 

 

Here is what I want:

 

• Quieter operation
• More integrated fan control options
• More accurate / smooth stepper motion
• Network connectivity
• More processor overhead. 8-bit is pretty lean once you start adding features.
• Touchscreen support would be nice

 

 

Some of these items I could get with incremental upgrades (stepper drivers, Octoprint / rPi, etc). But I think buy-once-cry-once on a new controller would put me in a better place.

 

Now that Marlin 2.0 is stable and supports 32-bit controllers, that is an option. I already have it running 2.0.3 at the moment and am familiar with Marlin. That said, some of the "nice" features in Marlin just don't work well for me yet, like [linear advance 1.5]. For K values that make the K-factor test print look perfect on my bowden setup (K=1.8), normal prints don't work at all. The linear advance extruder motions are incredibly chaotic. Even during print segments that effectively have a constant print head speed, L.A. is freaking out, apparently because of the direction change between straight line segments. Not so useful.

 

Since the 32-bit controller support is still pretty sparse, taking Marlin out as a requirement opens more options.

 

The Duet 2 Wifi looks like a good option. People generally seem to like it. The configuration looks very easy, and it appears to tick all my boxes. My only concerns so far, are whether the motion control will be a step forward from Marlin, ideally providing some functional extruder advance to improve bowden flow control. Also, it's a bit unclear whether it supports the Reprapdiscount Full Graphic Smart Controller. I'd prefer to get everything up and running with that existing controller, and I don't want a web-only interface. Some posts show that they had very little interest in developing firmware support, even though the connections are present. But, some more recent posts seem to show the controller working on a Maestro.

 

If anyone has some insights on this, I would definitely appreciate it!

Edited February 25, 2020 by lars86

[lars86 42]

 

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by lars86

[lars86 42]

I decided to pull the trigger on the Duet Maestro. Hoping for a winner.

[Curven 28]

I never tried it but it's spec's are wonderfull for a 3D printer!

Unfortunatlly a little to pricy for my actual budget so I went for an bigtreetech SKR 1.3. Didn't finish installing it yet...

But I am very interested in your work, I have to UMO without heated bed (also working on a DIY HB kit) so any information on UMO modding is interesting!

[larry007 0]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:19 AM, Curven said:

I never tried it but it's spec's are wonderfull for a 3D printer!

Unfortunatlly a little to pricy for my actual budget so I went for an bigtreetech SKR 1.3. Didn't finish installing it yet...

But I am very interested in your work, I have to UMO without heated bed (also working on a DIY HB kit) so any information on UMO modding is interesting!

So have I :D  I got my SKR1.3, together with a 1.75mm E3Dv6, but need to finish two 3.00mm first - it should transform the printer anew.  Will also look to get 2209 drivers to quiet the printer down, I can't wait.  Please let me know how you get on - I have never attempted such an upgrade, but have built an Anet, CNC and Ender, so have a fair idea.

[lars86 42]

Conversion is coming along well. 

 

I am taking my time and cleaning up a lot of wiring and other modifications while I am at it. 

 

Maestro is mostly configured and already driving all axes and heating my E3D V6. Just waiting for a PT100 daughter board to be able to sense bed temp directly and eliminate the additional bed kit board.

 

Being able to thermostatically control the hot end fan and the fan cooling the stepper drivers is so nice. The printer is dead silent at idle now.

 

 

[lars86 42]

Still a little tidying to do on my wiring, but she is a printer again!

 

I really like RepRapFirmware so far and the quick, easy configuration changes.

 

I have thermostatic fan control on my hot end fand and the mainboard cooling fan, so the printer sits silently at idle.

 

I have the BLTouch probe integrated now for mesh bed leveling. The probe works nicely on the glass bed, and helps account for blue tape for cold bed prints.

 

The Trinamic stepper drivers are amazing. Without all the R2D2 sounds, the printer make so much less noise pollution.

 

The web control is well sorted and easy to use. I haven't even bothered to hook up the old LCD "Smart" controller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RWoerz 0]

Great work. I'm currently building a Voron 2.4 300 but I want to keep my Ultimaker Original+ for backup and right now it's bone stock. It still works better than many of the newer printers I've looked at. I'd like to ask a few questions. Is there a write up on how to do the direct drive conversion and can you use the stock motors? What E3D V6 upgrade did you use, I'm a bit confused I've found so many on Thingiverse. Where you able to use the stock heater and temp probe? As I'll be running Kilpper on my new machine I'd like to upgrade the UO+ so it will also run Kilpper. Will I need any more drivers (motors, heated bed, fans, etc.) than the UO+ came with? I'm also moving to 1.75mm filament so I don't have to stock two different sizes.