Duet 2 Wifi on a Wanhao Duplicator 6?

[Danal]

24v is good.

Wiring will be pretty straight forward. That LCD will not work.

Configuration will be required. There is a learning curve, but ultimately Duet/RepRap's fully dynmic configuration is much quicker/easier/faster than compiled firmware like is on your printer now.

Were you contemplating Duet 2 Wifi? Duet 2 Ethernet? Duet3? Duet3 + Pi?

[PXP11]

Well Duet 2 wifi, because as far as I can tell Duet 3 would be completely overkill.
But why won't the lcd work, according to the documentation there is after all a connector on the board marked as such? What would be an alternative?
And how are the ground connections handled? Are they not routed via the board?

[Danal]

@PXP11 said in Duet 2 Wifi on a Wanhao Duplicator 6?:

Well Duet 2 wifi, because as far as I can tell Duet 3 would be completely overkill.

Sure, either way.

But why won't the lcd work, according to the documentation there is after all a connector on the board marked as such? What would be an alternative?

Silkscreen on board says CONN_LCD. As noted on the wiring diagram (extract below), the firmware no longer uses those pins for an LCD, they are Stepper Channel 10 & 11 for external stepper drivers.

Duet/Reprap firmware does not support small character or graphic LCDs. Instead, use the Web interface. You really don't need the LCD on the printer. The web interface works fine from a PC or Mac or phone or tablet.

If you REALLY want a local interface, a "PanelDue" is the option. But again, you really don't need it...

And how are the ground connections handled? Are they not routed via the board?

Not sure what you are asking. Wiring will be VERY similar to the board that is in your printer now. Some things are polarized, some things are not. Some of the same connectors may even fit; some may need to be changed. The Duet board comes with a well populated connector kit. You will need a crimper.

[DIY-O-Sphere]

@Danal said in Duet 2 Wifi on a Wanhao Duplicator 6?:

Duet/Reprap firmware does not support small character or graphic LCDs

That is not the full truth....
The firmware of the Maestro supports a LCD. And you can adept the menu to you own needs.
I never regreted to have chosen that board.
And for me DWC or a PanelDue is an overkill for just starting a print or tweaking a temperature.
On a mobile DWC is function unusable.

For shure a Duet 2 WIFI gives you much more options, but are they nessesary for a standard printer?

[Danal]

Good point on Maestro... but... he specifically stated Duet 2 WiFi.

And, we will politely disagree on DWC on mobile. I use it all the time.

[weed2all]

@DIY-O-Sphere i use all the time DWC on my phone...and it works as it works on a pc...

[weed2all]

@PXP11 you don't need an lcd...that is the beauty of duet...you can controll it from old smartphone, old tablet, old laptop...wherever you want...( I use an old laptop with windows 7 on it and all my 4 duets have static ip...and I set my google chrome browser to open those 4 ip when I open it..

[DIY-O-Sphere]

For shure it's possible , but for me it's a horror to wipe over all the buttons.

[PXP11]

@Danal said in Duet 2 Wifi on a Wanhao Duplicator 6?:

Duet/Reprap firmware does not support small character or graphic LCDs. Instead, use the Web interface. You really don't need the LCD on the printer. The web interface works fine from a PC or Mac or phone or tablet.

I asked because it would be practical to have an interface which gives you information on the printing process directly at the printer and not on a pc which is in another room. (Also the reason why I choose the Duet 2 wifi) But if I can just condemm an old phone to be the lcd screen replacement I'm very happy.

Now a workflow question, does it work this way:
Give the preheat command from the pc.
Slice the model.
Send the gcode to the printer.
-will the pc need to stay connected during printing or will it transfer the whole file and store it locally on the printer or am I better off using the sd card?
Start the printing process via the interface (phone).
Adjust values if need be.

[DIY-O-Sphere]

@PXP11
It works the way you are thinking about.
Normaly you will transfer the file over wifi to the sd card.
So after the upload you can turn of the pc.
Depending on the used slicer you will be able to upload directly out of the programm. Even the start of the print job can be done out of the slicer.

[PXP11]

@DIY-O-Sphere
Well I'm using Simplify3d. Hopefully it will be version 5.0 when I will have to deal with this. As of now there doesn't seem to be an easy option for uploading files.

[DIY-O-Sphere]

Maybe that could work for you.
https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/867/duet-wifi-s3d

[PXP11]

@DIY-O-Sphere
Yeah, saw that too, but like I said: "No easy option" But even if that doesn't work for me, it's still worth it to swap the boards .

[DIY-O-Sphere]

@PXP11
I am not familiar with the stock firmware of the duplicator.
But I do know marlin. Witch should be working pretty similar.

As I have a custom build printer I had to figure out so much settings.
And the necessary compiling was annoying....
Also the swapping of the SD-card....
With the Duet everything goes so easy.
It’s even possible to send Gcodes on the fly.
That is a smart way for tweaking....

For me it was worth to change to RRF/Duet.
But it depends on you own requirements....

Just too clarify:
Have you already purchased a Duet WIFI?
Maybe the Maestro would also be an option.

[PXP11]

@DIY-O-Sphere
Well I don't know either what the original firmware was based on. Swapped to Marlin pretty quickly. I'm also happily editing stuff in there. This goes well as long as someone else has done the same thing before me :-).

And no, I haven't made a purchasing decision yet. But the important thing for me is the wifi connectivity. I don't want to plug the ethernet cable into my laptop every time I want to use the printer. And I also don't have the option to connect it to a router directly.
Or is there another way? Am I missing something about the ethernet concept?

[Danal]

The printer itself could be WiFi or Ether without affecting the laptop.

All of mine are WiFi.

[Danal]

Workflow:

1. Slice
2. Send to printer
3. Print

Note I didn't say preheat. The slicer start code should do this. Of course you can do it if you wish.

Step (2) may or may not be built in to the slicer. If not, save a file, use Printer Web Interface to upload. Very quick/easy.

Step (3) may or may not be built into the slicer. If not, via Printer Web, select a file that is on the printer, and start print. Note this could be the one you just uploaded, or any file you've uploaded in the past (as long as you haven't deleted it from the printer)

Note "on the printer" in (3). Once you've started a print, the Web Browser that did that is no longer needed. Power of the PC or whatever.

[DIY-O-Sphere]

@PXP11
If you must have WiFI you can make a work around by setting up an access point near the printer.
Additional costs 20€
And it would provide the opportunity to use a LCD.

[droftarts]

@PXP11 If having an LCD display is important, get a Maestro (only 12864 LCDs are supported) and use an ethernet wifi router/dongle as a bridge between the Maestro and Wifi. If you can live without the LCD, get a Duet Wifi and any old/cheap wifi-capable phone/tablet, mount the phone/tablet on the printer, and run the Duet Web Control on that.

There is also PrintEye, that should run on any Duet, but requires some extra hardware. https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/12197/printeye-simple-information-panel-for-duet-boards

Ian

[PXP11]

I think, after reading all your helpful advice, I have made a decision. Duet 2 wifi it is and I'll take the old phone as a new screen. This way I know it will work .
Is there a non sketchy way to use the 5V from the board to permanently power the phone or is this a bad idea?