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  1. #1

    Question Best Cheap Control Board for Dual X, Dual E, and Dual Z And Config Help

    Hi there,I have a Hictop Duale 3 3d printer and the board on it died completely. The hardware is all completely intact but the control board is damaged beyond repair. I would love to get the printer working but I don't know hardly anything about configuring Marlin and I don't know what board to buy. I have searched the internet trying to find something, but I feel like I have hit a dead end. I would also not like to spend a fortune on a board (

  2. #2
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    can't you just get another board from hictop ?

    Isn't there any identifying info on the board itself ?

  3. #3
    I should mention that when we first got the printer from Hictop we did contact them about the problems we were having (we did narrow the problem down to the board and not the hardware though). The people at Hictop, after a long debacle going back and forth, finally just gave us our money back and left us with the broken printer.
    The only thing identifying the board was a print that said "Tenlog". I did research Tenlog and I found that they are separate brand. Both Hictop and Tenlog had boards similar to the one my printer had (identical to each other), only the connections were different (VGA) and there were not enough connections i.e. XXXZZY and no EE.(https://www.tenlog3d.com/tenlog-mult...nting_p13.html) this board costs $135. The board configuration that I need would have to be XXYZZEE. I could be misinterpreting the board, but there is no schematic or pinout. Also, on Hictop's website they used to have that same board but they don't show it anymore.

  4. #4
    Staff Engineer Roberts_Clif's Avatar
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    Hello;

    I have much experience with Hictop, having 2 Hictop 3DP11/12's

    The Hictop web site is here though i do not see your printer's name listed.
    I found many Hictop controllers on E-Bay and Purchased them for spares, as have had two die.
    Now if one dies I would convert to this controller
    or
    An Arduino mega 2560 with a Ramps 1.6 controller as a replacement.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    Hmm. well you've got a couple of options.

    1) buy an expensive board that can be easily configured with extra stepper drivers like the duet3d - at the end of the day the printer was free, so all you'd have invested would be the cost of the board - and even a pricey board = a cheap printer.

    2) look for a cheap second hand model of the same printer that has problems with ANYTHING except the board. That way you not only get the board but a whole bunch of spare parts as well :-)

    3) what cliff said :-)

  6. #6
    Staff Engineer Roberts_Clif's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by curious aardvark View Post

    3) what cliff said :-)
    I go with what can be afforded my budget, If had the money would for with what curious aardvark said.

  7. #7
    I think that I would probably go with Cliff's idea, but how would you make the board have another x and z motor? It looks to me like that one only has spots for XYZEE.

  8. #8
    Staff Engineer Roberts_Clif's Avatar
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    Both my 3D Printers run with a dual Z in parallel now for 3 years with no problems.
    Do not like the ideal of twice the current though, if I designed the circuit would had wired them in series.

    I have been thinking about my MPCNC it used X & E0 for X and Y & E1 for Y to drive stepper motors.
    I want to change this and leave the E0 & E1 for Other purposes.

    I have two ideals

    1st - Can I wire two Stepper Motor modules to the same pins leaving the 4 pins connections to each Stepper motor separate.
    This way I would have a separate Stepper motor module for each stepper motor and reversing JP3 connections would reverse the stepper direction.


    a4988-stepper-motor-driver-equivalent-circuit_orig-2.jpg
    Attached is a a4988 Driver module If connections were made to both drivers exactly the same on JP4.
    Could I wire the two JP3 connections too two separate Stepper motors & even be able to reverse the connections to reverse the direction of turn, or will this overload the Arduino Mega 2560.

    2nd - Wire the Stepper motors is series or parallel with a single stepper motor Driver module.

    Not trying to steal your post, was hopping I could solve both with this simple post.
    Last edited by Roberts_Clif; 05-13-2020 at 07:54 PM.

  9. #9
    I was able to salvage the stepper drivers from the original board. There are seven of them and they are little black ones. The heat sinks are glued on so I can't tell what kind they are. And Cliff, I don't think you are taking over my post, rather I really appreciate your input!

  10. #10
    Super Moderator curious aardvark's Avatar
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    just bear in mind the reason that most boards use one driver for 2 z-axis motors, is simply that the z-axis motors don't do much. and what they do do is usually done in very small and slow steps. So at no point is a z-axis motor drawing anywhere near as much power as the x/y and extruder motors do.

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