Delta printer, what electronics?

[Mjolinor]

I am just making a Kossel type printer and could do with some input as to the electronics.

I really could do with using Ethernet / Wifi to transfer files and there does not seem to be a lot of choice in that area in fact I seem to have a choice of one and that is LinuxCNC on a SBC. Are there any other choices out there.

If I choose to forget the Ethernet / Wifi what should I use.

[3dkarma]

If you consider using a Raspberry Pi with Octoprint as your Wifi/Ethernet access point, you open up the electronics possibilities to pretty much any of the standard electronics packages (RAMPS, Melzi, Megatronics, etc.). It's cost-effective and reasonably mature. I've been using it for about 6 months with considerable success (plus you can stream a video feed).

The only option I'm aware of that has on-board ethernet is the Duet from RepRapPro.

[Mjolinor]

So how does one get into the standard systems? There is no USB client on the Raspi and as far as I know there is no USB client on any of the printer modules available.

[3dkarma]

Not sure what you mean by "how does one get into the standard systems." The Pi acts as a front-end to your printer and allows you to transfer files to it using the OctoPrint web server running on the pi. You just connect a USB cable between the Pi and whatever electronics package is running your computer (RAMPS, Melzi, etc.).

Take a look at the OctoPrint web site. Chances are it will answer most of your questions.

[atoff]

I've read very good things about the Smoothiebard, there's a good amount of discussion on the seeme forums about it. It's pretty pricey, but appears to have ethernet connectivity, and will be more powerful than Ramps, Rambo, etc.

http://smoothieware.org/smoothieboard

[Mjolinor]

Not sure what you mean by "how does one get into the standard systems." The Pi acts as a front-end to your printer and allows you to transfer files to it using the OctoPrint web server running on the pi. You just connect a USB cable between the Pi and whatever electronics package is running your computer (RAMPS, Melzi, etc.).

Take a look at the OctoPrint web site. Chances are it will answer most of your questions.

I thought that the control systems on the printers only had host mode for the USB, ie their port was only for plugging things into like USB sticks or portable hard drives. I didn't know that they had client mode where they appeared to be a USB stick or portable storage.

So knowing that most of the control systems do have client mode the problem is easily solved as you say by running hte Pi as the host and the printer as the slave with Ethernet on the Pi for access.

[atoff]

I don't think you'll be happy with the performance printing through Octoprint with a Pi. The Pi is just severely underpowered, making it very slow, and will introduce quite a bit of artifacting and other problems. If you're going to go the Octoprint route, go with a Beaglebone Black, or one of the newer, more powerful Pi clones. I run Octoprint right now with a Pi, just to have video, and it's abysmal.

[Mjolinor]

I am thinking of using an Azteeg 3DP just because it's cheap. It's not like I need it to perform much as I have a Stratasys anyway, more an exercise in making a printer really. It would be good if the Raspi would run a real time kernel but as you say it is way underpowered for any serious work.

Any info on the Azteeg suitability would be helpful, I am really good at picking the wrong one when it comes to decisions like this.

[3dkarma]

I don't think you'll be happy with the performance printing through Octoprint with a Pi. The Pi is just severely underpowered, making it very slow, and will introduce quite a bit of artifacting and other problems. If you're going to go the Octoprint route, go with a Beaglebone Black, or one of the newer, more powerful Pi clones. I run Octoprint right now with a Pi, just to have video, and it's abysmal.

The performance of the Pi is more than adequate for what it needs to do. All it's doing is sending gcode to the printer electronics (RAMPS, etc.). It's not driving steppers or taking over the function of the printer's normal electronics package in any way. Source: been running one for months and have had no problems on prints lasting up to 6 hours.

What part do you find abysmal? The video isn't great in terms of frame rate or quality, but that's more down to the quality of the pi's camera than anything else.

[atoff]

The performance of the Pi is more than adequate for what it needs to do. All it's doing is sending gcode to the printer electronics (RAMPS, etc.). It's not driving steppers or taking over the function of the printer's normal electronics package in any way. Source: been running one for months and have had no problems on prints lasting up to 6 hours.

What part do you find abysmal? The video isn't great in terms of frame rate or quality, but that's more down to the quality of the pi's camera than anything else.

It's fine if you're printing from SD card, using it only to keep an eye on your prints, but printing from Octoprint using a Pi is, as I said, abysmal.

Watch it slow to a crawl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxarGNCVpMI

I'm not the only one with this issue. This is a common complaint. http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=5141