Duet 3 WiFi

[FelixH]

Hi there,

I realize I come late to the discussion... It did not occur to me to buy any Duet 3, since all Duets 2 I own work very well and I have no issues other than my own ignorance. However, I was just browsing the specs out of curiosity and I've just realized that the Duet 3 does not have WiFi and that a Raspberry Pi is recommended...

I am very curious as what chain of event lead to this decision. For me, the fact that the Duet 2 has WiFi is one selling points, to be honest. I love my Marlin machines and the Octoprint, but I always found annoying having to deal with two devices. Reading the forums seems that everybody is ok with that and nobody has giving it a second thought.

I don't know, seeing that we live on a time where even the light bulbs have WiFi, it seems counter intuitive to go a step back.

Just curious what others think...

cheers!

[A Former User]

they haven't given a reason in the past
https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/13909/why-use-a-raspberry-pi-with-a-duet-3/34
https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/9822/duet-3-release-date/43

maybe the rationale is that at some point using the Raspberry Pi will be the prefered option due to plugins etc? as for the two devices, if they're attached to each other are they really two devices any more, I mean, if you didn't know it was two separate boards would it make a difference?

[dc42]

We demonstrated a prototype Duet 3 with both WiFi and Ethernet at TCT in September 2018. However, the current Duet 3 appeals mostly to larger and commercial machines for which WiFi is less appropriate, so we made the decision to leave WiFi off.

We have a new board in development, a sort of "Duet 3 Lite" with limited expansion (no CAN bus, but some additional stepper drivers can be added ), in both WiFi and Ethernet versions. We need to do more testing including CE compliance before we can put it into production, so it won't be available for a few months.

[A Former User]

@dc42 said in Duet 3 WiFi:

We have a new board in development, a sort of "Duet 3 Lite"

i was wondering if that was essentially the revamped Maestro, or will that show up as well at some point?

[dc42]

@bearer said in Duet 3 WiFi:

@dc42 said in Duet 3 WiFi:

We have a new board in development, a sort of "Duet 3 Lite"

i was wondering if that was essentially the revamped Maestro, or will that show up as well at some point?

Yes it is, but it's significantly more capable than the Maestro.

[FelixH]

@bearer you still need to buy the Raspberry Pi and a powerful enough PSU for it alone. That's roughly 45 or 50 Euros on top of the Duet 3. In contrast a ESP32 module such as the one in the Duet 2 boards, costs 1 to 1,5 Euros. I mean, with all my love, but while I can understand how 15 Euros boards come without WiFi, I just wondered why the Duet 3 didn't.

[nriviera]

Is there a plan for a cheaper option with a CAN bus? I think the biggest draw card for the Duet3 is then can bus with more people making tool changers of late but don't need to run large steppers.

[Dad003]

i got a duet 3 and in my case i had a spare internet rooter so the rooter sit on the machine with it own lan network wire connected so i can acces it using the wifi of the rooter

[oliof]

@FelixH you can power the Raspberry Pi from the Duet3, no extra PSU needed.

But you could also run the Duet3 in standalone mode and add an ethernet-wifi bridge like I do on the Duet 0.6 (GL.inet AR150M in my case because I had one lying around, but similar solutions can be had for about 20 bucks).

[FelixH]

my curiosity has been satisfied. I am aware of the alternatives, I was not looking for solutions. As I said, I personally find it a step back. That's all. On a German official reseller, you get the Duet 3 for about 250 Euros. For such a price, I was expecting a tiny WiFi module as in the Duet 2 WiFi. That's all there is to it. Personally I always aim for having as an uncluttered setup as I possibly can. Adding WiFi Bridges or Raspberries, only add to the clutter. I can understand that in an professional environment you don't want to rely on a WiFi signal, but for a home maker user...

[dc42]

@nriviera said in Duet 3 WiFi:

Is there a plan for a cheaper option with a CAN bus? I think the biggest draw card for the Duet3 is then can bus with more people making tool changers of late but don't need to run large steppers.

We are already planning a Duet 3 main board with outputs for external stepper drivers (probably between 6 and 8 ) instead of having six drivers on board. It is aimed at those building large machines using step-servo drives.

It's quite likely that we will in the future produce a smaller Duet 3 main board with CAN and about four TMC2209 or similar drivers, but we haven't firm plans for that variant yet.

[FelixH]

@dc42 said in Duet 3 WiFi:

@nriviera said in Duet 3 WiFi:

Is there a plan for a cheaper option with a CAN bus? I think the biggest draw card for the Duet3 is then can bus with more people making tool changers of late but don't need to run large steppers.

We are already planning a Duet 3 main board with outputs for external stepper drivers (probably between 6 and instead of having six drivers on board. It is aimed at those building large machines using step-servo drives.

Looks like an alternative to the Mach 3/4 environment, right?