Sorry if I struck a nerve. I consider the old and new Jackpot boards to be very well thought out, put together with quality parts, and very affordable. And I know that the v3 is well suited to the vast majority of projects that involve moving motors around.
In retrospect, I should have used the term “flexibility” instead of “room for expansion” in my original post. Both versions are highly expandable. For convenience, the only thing missing that I can think of is a 3.3v rail on the expansion slot to match the logic level of the GPIOs. Yes, it is not difficult to step down the 5, but since you asked. I wouldn’t expect that to be incorporated into the design because it is so niche. In the v1 I can cleanly tap into the 3.3v on the ESP and run it over to one of the pins on the expansion slot. I realize that in itself is fraught with peril because it is limited by the regulator on the ESP board and opens up the possibility for brown outs, but for certain applications it sure comes in handy.
I had a YGTBSM moment after I finished an expansion board for a prototype unit that has a JPv1, then went to order a few more Jackpots for production machines, and realized there were no more v1 boards available and my expansion board isn’t plug and play with v3. Fortunately, Ryan was able to set me up so all good now.
Where do I find a 300 foot USB cable?
And Jim - kudos for finding a positive spin on soldering memory to a laptop motherboard. You should run for congress. Seriously, all good points in your reply. I always find value in the insights you provide.
It’s not that. The post title and opening sentence might dissuade someone from buying a jackpot 3 versus a jackpot 1.
It is not until a few posts later we see that you want the JP1 for some extremely non-standard reasons.
So I think a lot of us had to come in and fill in some details. So hopefully someone might understand why, you in particular, are not a fan of the current iteration.
If you get in a jam, there are things the community can do to help out. I have multiple Jackpot V1 boards which I’m slowly replacing with V3. One is on my test bench, which is very lightly used.
I’m sure we could find some more boards to help you out if needed.
I gotta call you out on that one You mentioned pulling the ESP-32 and taking it to a bench. Either way, you’re walking 300 feet to the machine. Just on one case you’re carrying an ESP-32 back from the machine and in the other you’re bringing a laptop and a USB cable to the machine.
Ouch!
I’d make a TERRIBLE politician and an even worse congresscritter.
I watch with interest on your builds. I spend a lot of time off of the beaten path with my own machines, so I understand both sides of the discussion in this topic.
Yup. Same here. Ryan has a great product and obviously goes the extra mile to support it. And this is one of those rare tech forums where anyone, new or experienced, can post a question without being berated for … whatever. It’s a unique community.
Sorry about the political comment. Couldn’t resist.
Funny I have been thinking and distracted that I had a JP1 I bought 6 months for my LR4. But at times (I am joking, kind of) want to buy a JP3 jut to be more cool
Again kidding, but maybe not. And repurpose the JP1 into my neglected Primo I am still feeling sorry for. But after reading this maybe stay the course and then eventually get a JP3.
Part of it I miss building the machine. It really is a great part of the V1 journey.
I am so with you! When I look through the photos of my build I sigh. But I am now knee deep in trying to learn MillMage. Thinking about it at night I felt I had it mastered (struggling with using MM for control, not important, but hey it’s there)
Spent an hour and a half frustrated the next day. No ideas works!! Went back to square one.
Realized I skipped a minor step!!! I forgot to switch my WIFI first to FluidNC!! WOW! THAT was stupid! But then had some fun success but quit while I was ahead.
Ryan - I request that you add AI to Jackpot v4. Creating gcode is getting cumbersome. I’d like to be able to tell it to do whatever it feels like doing. For instance, today is March 14th (3.14). If JP4 were sentient, it would surely do something like this:
You mentioned pulling the ESP-32 and taking it to a bench. Either way, you’re walking 300 feet to the machine. Just on one case you’re carrying an ESP-32 back from the machine and in the other you’re bringing a laptop and a USB cable to the machine.
