Duet3 6HC with additional external driver
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Hi,
I control a large format 3D printer with a Duet3 6HC board, which works great. However, I use a large pellet extruder that calls for an external driver. I have read several similar questions, and the answer was that a CAN-FD card should be used for that job. But then I checked the 6HC schematic and saw that the built-in drivers are driven from GPIO pins from the processor.
I would use some of the available I/O pins to control the STEP/DIR /ENABLE pins of an external stepper driver for my extruder. The Duet 3 Expansion 1XD board is the "standard" way of doing that with the Duet 3, but I wonder if there is any other way (other than soldering a few wires to the inputs of an unused TMC :-). My local supplier does not sell the expansion board, so I am looking for alternatives.
Thanks a lot,
misan
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@misan There is no facility to do that in the default firmware. while it may be possible to recompile the firmware you would have to see if there was a spare pin on the same port as the other step pins on the processor. I recommend getting a Duet 3 1XD, that's what we designed that for, if your local supplier does not stock them lease send me an email (info@duet3d.com) and we can either arrange for the supplier to get some in their next shipment or ship direct.
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@T3P3Tony I would have already bought a Duet 3 Expansion 1XD board if it were for me. Unfortunately, it is for a research project with EU funding. Life is too short to go through the pain they cause us to validate orders from suppliers abroad.
Before asking, I saw the question was answered on the forum, but I insisted in case there was some "not recommended" but workable solution. Once this is off the table, I will bump up the VIN voltage to 48V and use one of the 6HC built-in drivers for the pellet extruder.
As usual, thank you guys for a quick and informative answer.
