RepRap Motherboard

reprapmb-1

When the RepRap team found themselves pushing the limits of the Arduino, they started looking for alternatives. They found it in the ATMega644P. It has four times the memory and four times the RAM compared to the ATMega168 used in the standard Arduino. It also has 32 I/O pins. They ported the Arduino software to the microcontroller and started producing Sanguino boards. Now that the base design is nailed down, they’ve begun expanding it to their specific purpose. Pictured above is a prototype RepRap motherboard. While the Sanguino is barebones, this board has onboard connectors for all of the RepRap’s motors, so you can just plug it in. It is also designed to support the future Generation 3 electronics. Probably the most interesting feature is the SD card slot. The goal is to eventually have a board that can run the RepRap without a host computer if necessary; it will manufacture designs directly from the flash card.

Comments [10]

tagged: arduino, atmega, atmega644, ATmega644P, AVR, motherboard, motor controller, reprap

Reader Comments

it’s got IDC connectors for all the motor controllers, not the motors themselves. the motherboard doesn’t have any of the stepper driver electronics needed to actually drive a stepper, or the dc motor stuff for extruder, or the pwm stuff for the extruder heater.

Posted at 6:38 pm on Dec 24th, 2008 by bbot

@bbot

that’s what the ATMega644P is for. It has the pwm and can drive the steppers, though it might need higher current for the heater so probably a relay would be needed

Posted at 7:42 pm on Dec 24th, 2008 by rivetgeek

@rivetgeek

Actually bbot had it pretty darn close. The Sanguino/atmega644p board sends command signals to 3 stepper driver daughter boards, 1 dc motor driver board, and 1 pwm driver board, and monitors the opto endstops.

Posted at 9:39 pm on Dec 24th, 2008 by Corwin

Lida Dai Dai Hua Jiao Nang Seo Yarışması

Posted at 8:48 am on Dec 25th, 2008 by Lida Dai Dai Hua Jiao Nang Seo Yarışması

Does the article say ‘four times the memory and four times the RAM’? Isn’t that the same thing or am I missing somethinmg about microprocessors?

Posted at 9:33 am on Dec 25th, 2008 by Monsignor Funkibut

@funkibut:

Microcontrollers like the Atmel AVRs and Microchip PICs have separate ‘memory’ (flash/ROM etc…) and ‘ram’ (SRAM), so without checking I would say the statement is probably correct.

Posted at 10:29 am on Dec 25th, 2008 by jackbob

Hi, just joined the forum and I hope to get to know many of you.;)

Posted at 11:05 pm on Dec 26th, 2008 by Joigotahgrogs

To be honest, until the RepRap can produce microelectronics of its own, I’d prefer to see a version stripped down to simply being a dumb terminal for a PC, and having the absolute minimum of control/comms circuitry onboard. Let ubiquitous, upgradable PCs supply the brains, and let the RepRap contain an absolute minimum of parts that have to be sourced elsewhere.

Come to think of it, both bare-bones and high-end RepRap designs have their place, and either should be able to produce all of the former or significant parts of the latter. That way, no matter which version you have on your desk, you can churn out both the simpler and the faster variants, depending on what suppliers you have access to.

Posted at 6:37 pm on Dec 30th, 2008 by Steveo

looking to build a circuit board dilling machine for small short run jobs. 1 to 25 boards
my first atempt to CNC any project.got to start some where. The mechanical part is not a problem at this point (several manual machines in my shop).

Posted at 4:06 am on Jan 2nd, 2009 by Robert

Would this be suitable for a first-build CNC machine (to mark out circuit boards)?

Posted at 4:07 am on Mar 27th, 2009 by Embedded

RepRap Motherboard

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