trial, ask & error

Thomss

At first, i am not a 3D printer person, i do work wit CNC routers an lathe's for me the important tasks are
the X, Y & Z axis, steps per cm velocity in mm per minute and acceleration.

As i be growing into the Duet-2, by "trial, ask & error", i find my self in expressions i have no clue what the are
and where or how to use them.
Reading is explaining a lot, but some main things i do not understand.
sometimes it is as 1 thing has two words, and the next moment in line as they are different things.

1, motor - Drive
2, printhead motor
3 tools
3 heater (why so many)
4, extruder moves
5, bang-bang mode
6, Thermostatic control

and there are more i assume

maybe someone can and will explain, how to see those in relation ..

nhof

A drive is what powers a motor. On the Duet Drive generally refers to the TMC chips on the board. Generally each drive is connected to (and powers) one motor, so sometimes these terms will be used interchangeably.
Printhead motor refers to the motor that pushes filament through the nozzle. (extruder motor)
a 'tool' is a group of different elements. Think about a normal 3D printer extruder, it will have a heater, fan, motor, etc. A tool will normally have a single heater and a single drive motor.
Extruder move just means when the extruder motor pushes filament through.
Bang-bang control for heaters is a very simple algorithm. It simply turns the power on when the temperature is below the set point, and off when it is above.
Thermostatic control simply means that the output will turn on depending on a temperature reading. For fans this means that you can tell a fan to turn on when a temperature sensor reaches a certain temp.

Thomss

@nhof Thank you for answering those, "for moste of us" standard things.
for me totally new, and without questioning a way to misunderstand.
so if i understand right, within "tool" (group) i can define a complete axis, like the stepper, and the mechanical end switches.

Does the Duet can handle soft-switches ??

As i look at my Duet-2, i think i have a device overdone for my purpose of use.
not negatively, i find a use for them. thinking of temperature reading of my router bits.

nhof

Hello,

The tool is basically for extruders. So in most cases it will only have heaters and motors to drive filament. It may be more helpful to think of 'tool' as a nozzle. One nozzle could have more than one heater and motor feeding material into it.

Normally an extruder would not have an end stop.

There are endstop inputs for T0 and T1, these can be used for things like probing or tool setting with the right hardware.

Not sure what you are referring to by soft switches. The duet does have soft end stops, so if you define the area of your machine it will not travel outside it.

dc42

@thomss said in trial, ask & error:

Does the Duet can handle soft-switches ??

Do you mean axis limits set in software? The Duet does support these, they are set by the M208 command.