How many tools?

Aurimas

@oliof pretty much all others use them. I use them with my custom setup too and it works great.

jay_s_uk

@Aurimas whats wrong with the XT30 2+2 connect thats been adopted widely by the hobbyist market? AFAIK USB connectors are limited to 5A. No good for high powered tools etc

Chriss

@Aurimas
No no USB is a horrible choice. The connectors are far to big and have my downsides for our usecase. And you need to use other wires anyway, the USB cables do not last long in chains.
Everything is better than this USB connectors.

Chriss

@jay_s_uk The XT30 2+x are nice, but that is the idea to get CAN out of the board than? A other connector? Solder pats?

Chriss

@T3P3Tony I akes a while ago for a toolboard with more than one stepper connector too. That would help a lot when you build things like Enraged Rabbit or if you want to power a gantry with a can board.

To be honest: I would love to see more smaller and specialized tool boards.
Why not having a toolbaord which is specialized for a chamber heater? Just some outputs for SSRs and some temp sensors plus a servo?
Why not a board with 2 or 4 stepper drivers and 4-6 I/Os for endstops? (For gantries in a corexy)

Or an toolboard just to control RGB Leds. And why not one like a daughter board which you can be stacked on the toolboard for the head?

And what is about a can multiplexer board? It would be nice to have more than 1 can bus in the system to make it more flexible. The stup setup is not ideal, you hit the 1m limit very easy.

I think that it is easy to come to more idea for boards which are dedicated to a very special usecase.

Cheers, Chriss

T3P3Tony

@Chriss said in How many tools?:

@jay_s_uk The XT30 2+x are nice, but that is the idea to get CAN out of the board than? A other connector? Solder pats?

The EXT30 2+2 are used as stubs normally.

Aurimas

@Chriss regardless how long they last - they are cheap, neat and super easy to replace.
Instead of running bunch of cables and having no quick disconnect option one cable is simpler.
Connectors big? Not sure where you got that

Chriss

@Aurimas When was the last time you replaced a USB-C connector on a pcb? I guess not once, you would not call it super easy to replace if you did it.

Have you ever compared a USB-C connector with a XT30 2x2? They are far bigger. And have you ever seen a plug where you can solder the wires in? Or crimp them? Many users use cables which are certified for drag chains, one of the USB cables I found are.

Do do you plan to consume 10A over a USB connector?
How to you build cables with custom length?

And almost every USB-C connector to solder on a PCB has a higher price tag than a XT30 2x2 connector. Every XT30 2x2 plug has a lower price than a USB-C cable. What are you talking about?

And how do you explain the weakness at the soldering point when you solder drag chain compatible wires at the cable coming out of the USB-Connector?

Cheers, Chriss

dwuk

For me 8 tools is probably the maximum that would be practical in terms of space/cost - so I'm quite happy with 4 tools on distribution boards that can be chained together, or a single new board with 8 connectors.

Ideally as you mentioned with something bigger than the existing 1.25mm FD connectors.

For the tool boards themselves, a smaller footprint would be nice.

Perhaps having the connectors vertical would save some space.

Plus at least one additional part cooling fan connector, and the option to add a second stepper driver would be perfect.

Aurimas

@Chriss well guess again - I have done fair few of them. no need to be patronising because some other people might have done a lot more than you.