I’ve got a mega2560 and several esp32’s floating around as well as some A4988’s so I think I can just piece something together with a Ramps1.4 board… that will run me about $10 (and if I use the esp32 maybe an SD card module and some 5v power supply circuit).
I also see this Fysetc E4 board that I think will run FluidNC for $28.
Any big advantages of one route vs the other? The difference will be about $18 right now but maybe I’ll need more hw one way or the other?
In picking the boards, you need to consider what firmware you want to run and how much potential work you want to put in getting it working. For example, if you use a Ramps 1.4 board and DRV8825 drivers, you could download an already compiled Marlin binary from V1 and move it to the board using XLoader, and not have to compile anything. That is the simplest choice. Using Ramps + A4988s will require you to set up a development environment and compile the firmware, but the process is well documented, and the change to A4988s is simple. For $15, you can get a display with an SD card slot for the Ramps 1.4 board.
If you go the ESP32 route, you are probably looking at GRBL firmware, which is not directly supported by V1, so expect more fiddling getting it working. There are only a few active users on this forum that run GRBL, but most GRBL-specific issues that come across the forum do get sorted out. There are occasional debates on the forum comparing GRBL and Marlin. GRBL’s roots are in the CNC world and Marlin’s in 3D printing, but they are pretty comparable at this point.
Edit to add: I did a quick scan of the Fysetc page before closing, and noted:
The factory firmware comes flashed with the custom fork of Marlin as well as the web interface. You can get it in our [github]
So, Marlin is a possibility on the Fysetc, but you’d have to hand merge in the changes necessary for the MPCNC to their fork of Marlin.
That makes a RAMPS stack your cheapest option by a long shot.
For the Esp32, I might suggest one of Bart Dring’s boards like his CNC 6 pack though looks like he’s taking some time off from shipping stuff. Still, I think that MPCNC is one of his supported configurations.
The directly supported boards are the easiest option though. The RAMBo, or the SKR Pro 1.2 are directly supported, and will give you the least hassle. Next to that, community supported boards like the RAMPS stack, or simular ones (I used an MKS Gen L v1.0 for my Primo on first build, using RAMPS firmware) but I’d check for firmware first. A few people have been burned by getting something not quite supported.
Currently I’m a little off the beaten track using a Duet 2 wifi for my Primo and LowRider, but I am comfortable with messing around with the firmware myself.
Regarding the Fysetc, it piqued my interest primarily because it was referenced on the FluidNC wiki. I assumed it would work and perhaps that’s a bad assumption.
Bart Dring’s boards are what got me started down the ESP32 path and I had my heart set on this but the board I wanted is no longer available and the 6pack seems like it’s more than what I need.
My other thought was to grab the board out of my Ender3 and get a new board for the printer… and it looks like that’s come up several times on this forum …but I haven’t seen any configs for it, so not really sure if there was any success with this.
I’m thinking the Ramps is the best course right now… and maybe I can upgrade in the future.
Once I get everything running I might try the fysetc board out (or some other FluidNC option). I don’t have a good feel for the compromise of running two steppers in series vs dedicated driver… is there some rule of thumb? like X% loss of torque/power?