Where can I find some original Jackpot boards?

Software / Firmware Jackpot Board / FluidNC
1

Not a fan of the newer boards with everything incorporated and no room for expansion.

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2

Jackpot CNC Controller – V1 Engineering Inc currently sold out, but can sign up for notifications.

What expansion are you looking for, non TMC2209 drivers?

3

Expansion wise, they both have the same module port, the jp3 includes the rj11 already and configurable outputs.

If you want a JP1, I have one pm me and I will add it to the store.

4

Jackpot V1’s only advantage is the replaceable ESP-32, which is mainly only good for situations where you need an external antenna. For example putting the Jackpot into a metal enclosure.

Otherwise, Jackpot V3 is improved in pretty much every way, and both boards still have an expansion module slot. Jackpot V3 includes a built in RJ12 port to use a wired pendant or an Airedale IO expander, which greatly increases the amount of IO you can use.

I’m curious what type of expansion capability you think is worse on JP3?

5

I was just going to ask about changing out the ESP32 on my early Jackpot V1.2.1. any advantages?

6

There’s nothing advantageous about swapping to a different ESP-32. Newer versions of FluidNC can run on ESP-32C3 boards, which have more IO. That’s a different board all together. All of the ESP-32s that can go on the Jackpot V1 are functionally identical.

7

Thanks for the quick response

8

I’m a fan of well built and modular. I understand the obsession with driving down costs, but…

  1. I’ve had a few stepper drivers burn out on me. With the original board you can pop in a new TMC for $2.50. With the new board? Throw it out I guess.
  2. If you want to make some mods to the firmware or the ESP is acting up… With the original board you just power it off, pull the ESP, take it to your desk and do your thing. With the new you have to disconnect everything from the board and remove the board from your machine. I haven’t cooked an ESP yet, but if you do on the new board … throw it out I guess.
  3. If you want to drive some external, high current, stepper drivers. With the original you pop out a TMC and fashion a plug, connect it to the socket and your off. Now … not possible.
  4. Finally, this is minor and very niche, but it was what I was referring to with expansion… The original boards had four extra pins on the expansion socket with nothing connected to them. Really handy for jumping things to with wires under the board - like a 3.3v rail for example.

To me, this is the equivalent of when the laptop companies started soldering memory to the motherboards. They cost less, but they become a throw away item when they break.

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I can understand that, I like modular boards also. I’m curious what features you’d want in a modular/expandable board. A successor to Jackpot V1. For example- access to all the IO on an ESP-32C3.

True, the strategy with Jackpot V3 is to deliver a board with 6 drivers when the target application- LR4- only needs 5. Yes, you’re buying a technically unneeded driver, but also saving assembly costs due to less through hole component soldering. You get single-fault resiliance at a fairly low overall cost.

No, you just plug in a USB-C cable right at the device and flash it that way.
I do understand the utility of the removable ESP-32, we talked about this a bit in the Jackpot V3 development thread.

Not possible with Jackpot V3, but in this application I now use the Doberman controller. I hope to show a closed-loop external stepper setup on a machine using the Doberman this year, maybe at RMRRF.

Yes, niche- but noteworthy.

Bart did the same shrink of the expansion module on several of his boards, which we copied. It does represent a packaging improvement while still allowing for an expansion slot to be present.

I do see a place in the ecosystem for a highly modular, highly expandable board- but the focus for the Jackpot V3 is making a better than good enough controller affordable for a new V1 machine builder. I think it does fairly well in that.

I also believe there’s a place in the ecosystem for the Jackpot V1 or a successor.
I’ve taken a note to tag you in discussion if we ever play with a successor design.

Yes, some did this solely as a cost reduction method and designed obsolecence. But there are also potential memory bandwidth improvements with soldered memory. What Apple is doing with the M series CPU architecture is an example of massive performance and power usage improvements that are possible.

Hopefully generic system boards will coverge on something like CAMM2 where you could both upgrade memory in the future and also benefit from high system bandwidth.

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10

I like that I can use an 8MB ESP32 for more flash storage. Although, that does require building FluidNC yourself. You can also remove the OTA partition to get more space.

The most useful for me is that when I’m trying a new firmware version (like v4.0), I use a separate ESP32 for that. So, I can swap back and forth between a known working and testing version.

Those are both non-typical use cases but something I appreciate.

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It’s worth lobbying @vicious1 to keep a small number of Jackpot V1 around in the shop. It’s not the first time that we’ve had some variation of the discussion in this thread.

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Small batches are about 3x the cost. I think Bart has plenty of boards that fill the gap.

Keeping the feedback in mind if we make a new s3 based board.

To spell out the design philosophy a bit more. This is the best CNC, V1 CNC, board I can make for the money. I love for it to be used for more but Bart has lots of fantastic options for the wild uses. Designing for the 3 uses per 1,000 sold is not as interesting for me. I want this to be the best easiest most cost-effective for v1 CNC builders.

To address the above more specifically.

  • Once the boards are flashed from me, they are able to be flashed OTA.
  • Barring the 6-7 bad drivers in this last batch, popping a driver is extremely rare. Like 5-6 in 10 years, and we have a spare (or 4th axis).
  • I don’t see a need for more memory anymore, and I never maintained my own custom firmware to make use of it so it was wastefull.
  • bart has an inexpensive external driver board, why pay for the JP1’s included drivers if you are not going to use them.
  • soldered in expansion is not on the radar for me. There is lots of ways to expand the FluidNC boards these days.
  • Me needing to source the drivers and esp32’s separately, then unpackage and assemble, is a major cost in time that the jp3 does not have.

I am not trying to be rude, just trying to be very clear on why we did these things. RepRap, and a specifically designed CNC that is easily sourced all over the globe has razor thin margins. Most people do not buy anything from us. So when they do I want it to be the best for the products I support. The Jackpot line has become a major contributor to the income keeping this company moving. If I make a board that is too expensive people will move right on to something else. Heck you can still get a bunch of other 5 driver boards for under $30.

13

I don’t have an issue with Jackpot v1 going away. I just wanted to acknowledge that it has some strengths. I plan to get a Jackpot 3 when I build an LR4 later this year. I have workarounds for both of the things I mentioned.

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I have been downsizing the shop inventory to try to make sure anything I do carry is the best deal possible or something most cnc users will need. I am just not seeing the JP1 being worth sitting on $6k-$8k of inventory when we have the JP3, or Bart’s boards. In its place I rather carry a few other end mills.

After Stoli’s order I will have 2-3 JP1’s on hand to make sure they are not needed for any other reason then I will add them to the shop as well. After that it is full steam ahead with just the JP3.

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15

:+1:

I have no idea what orders you’re seeing and/or how much hassle tariffs are causing you, but… if significant number of Customers are buying JackPot separately from your CNC/Machine kits, then, have you considered selling bare Jackpot 1 boards? SMT assembled, BUT, customers need to bring their own drivers and ESP32s. You only pack the assembled PCB as received from the Fab.

I appreciate O.G. JackPot fans can always get a board fab’d via https://oshwlab.com/allted/4layer-desktop-rc1_copy

The two Bart 6 packs I saw have been out of stock since late 2024. Maybe I’m not looking at the right store?

I totally respect that this alternative bare O.G. JackPot option still may not make financial sense for you.

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16

A good overview of what the current shipping suite of boards that Bart has is at:

I’ve never figured out how exactly to have them make a board. Has anyone actually made one from that source?

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That is how I do it. When it is open in the editor there are three options,

image
image967×870 407 KB

18

If you’re super adventurous…

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I have a few of them, but they’re used as coasters.

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Jackpot boards v1 i have 4 haven’t bought any jp3 yet but i have a couple of 6 pack ( original) and 2 of the newer ones as spare . Bart latest borard also looks easy. I run jackpots on some projects o have around with small litter diode lasers burning prepaibted metal cards non stop. I remove yhe conbectors and store them in boxes when not in use. My other (non v1 cncs) runs the Bart boards cause i needed to use 3 wire sensors and rs485 for the spidle and external drivers

@Stoli if you need external drivers you should consider Barts 6x controller or the new version.