Question: Does anyone know of a main board that supports 7 steppers?

[Bill Dempsey]

I'm thinking about replacing the electronics of my CubeX with something more configurable, and which doesn't check cartridge chips. I'm not an electronics guru, so I'd like some help figuring this out. The CubeX Trio has 1 x X stepper, 2 x Y steppers, and 1 Z stepper. In addition, each of the three print heads has an extrusion stepper. That's a total of 7 steppers, which seems to be unusual in the 3-D printer market.

Thus, the first problem I'm having is that I can't find a main board which supports 7 stepper motors. Does anyone know about something I could use for this?

[Robin Maras]

I'm not an electronics guru either so it sounds like a complicated task to me. Is it possible the that firmware and slicer software could be modified or replaced to give you the result you're after? I would have thought you would need to modify the software to run the new electronics anyway.

[Peter Gregory]

That would be an ambitious project.

If you want to undertake it, I would suggest Beagleboards & shields - checkout out mouser.com for products.

They have lots of CPU power & peripherals including stepper motor drivers, USB, WiFi....

It's still a huge undertaking, unless someone knows of a open source project for 3D printing that can drive the motors, thermal controls, feeders...

You would need the information for the Cubex boards & devices, or replace them and just use the chassis.

If you're looking for a project for several months to a year, this would do it.

[Bill Dempsey]

Yeah, I realized all of the smaller support boards would have to go in order for this to be feasible. I had planned to bypass all of it and run the wiring directly to the steppers from the main board. I also had planned to replace the flaky touch panel with something more standard. In order to minimize the fuss, I'm ideally looking for an existing main board that runs Marlin firmware or similar. Basically, like you said, I just planned to use the chassis and drive mechanisms. I like the precision of the mechanism (when it works right,) but the poor firmware, bad slicing software, and insane cartridges make the excellent mechanism almost useless. Replacing all of the electronics with open source stuff would turn this into a normal printer without those issues, particularly bypassing the cartridge fiasco.

-Bill

[Bill Dempsey]

I just wanted to add that the only reason I'm considering such a radical modification to the CubeX is the fact that I'm fed up with the cartridge problems to the point where it's either drastically change the printer or throw it on eBay. It's just not worth the trouble anymore. I find myself avoiding using it, which defeats the purpose of owning it. I'm fortunate that I own another printer that works. I feel really sorry for those of you who only have this printer.

I'm thinking about buying a delta type printer as a replacement to get the large build volume without the all the 3DSystems drama. Kossel Clear, Deltamaker, and Rostock Max are on my short list. They all use normal filament and appear to be easy to work on. If one of them had dual extruders (for PVA supports,) I would have already purchased it.

If the botObjects printer didn't use cartridges, I'd be considering that one. For some reason, I cringe when I see the word "cartridge" now. ;)

-Bill

[3D_Tech]

Bill, this is essentially a Bits form Bytes printer. If you find a broken or used one of these you can make a direct board swap.  Then you can use whatever filament you want.

I don't think any of the parts are being sold for the 3D touch any longer, but you could purchase one of these boards, all of these options add up to lots of $$.  

My philosophy on the proprietary cartridge crap is that I am getting quality ABS and PLA with vibrant colors that do not generally snap or string when I use them, and if they do I can send them back for a replacement. It doesn't make for a great deal, but now that I have a stable printer it does remove some of the quality control headaches I have with my other printers. 

[tshul...@gmail.com]

You can get good filament at 1/5th the price. Just keep it in a plastic container with a renewable desiccant that changes colors to let you know when it needs to be recharged. Don't believe anyone who tells you that you won't get good prints outside of Cubify filament. If anyone doesn't believe me, I can post print quality as good or better than you will ever get on a CubeX that I print with $35/kg filament on a sub $2000 printer and printed at 5x the speed of the CubeX (150 mm/s vs 25 mm/s).

[Maurice Tedder]

I have not tried any of these but I considering the Reprap (http://reprap.org/wiki/List_of_electronics) open source electronics solution if I can't fix my Cubex Trio motherboard.