Duet 3D in mind - Building ver.2 Pick and Place machine

Zdenko

Greetings all,

First apologies if the topic was opened in the wrong section .

I am in process of building ver.2 Pick and Place machine controlled with OpenPnP, ver.1 was controlled with two Smoothieboards located in the "distribution" box with all the electronics on the side of the machine but I want to make a change here.

Plans and requirements for the ver.2 are:

Two servo motors for the X and Y axis.
Two Nema17 motors for Z1 and Z2 which will control stepper motors for nozzles
Four hollow shaft Nema11 motors for nozzles
Two 24V outputs for Top and Bottom Ring Lights
Four 24V outputs for Vacuum Solenoid Valves (a few Watts each)
Four inputs for pressure sensors SMC ZSE30A-01-N-L (NPN), (I will probably need some small PCBA to connect this to Duet 3.)

Regarding the Duet hardware, my plan was to use:

One Duet 3 Mini 5+ or Duet 3 Main Board 6HC
Two pieces of Duet 3 Expansion Board 3HC - (dimensionally they fit the best on the Head)

The main board will be located in the "distribution" box with all the electronics on the side of the machine, and two Duet 3 Expansion Board 3HC will be located on the Head of the Machine.

The reason for this is that I want to limit the wiring length for all the connections that are going to the head of the machine.

Questions are:

Will all of this be possible with Duet?
Is there anyone who did this who can shine some light?
Will I hit a brick wall?

Thank you!

Best regards,

Zdenko,

o_lampe

@Zdenko
I guess you want to use the pressure sensors as endstops for the NEMA11 motors?
Just wondering if there's an easier way, like stall detection

Zdenko

@o_lampe Hello!

I left that part out, thank you for this.

End stops will be only needed on X, Y and Z1 and Z2 axis, they are not needed for Nema11 (nozzle steppers).

Pressure sensors (pressure switch) will be for each Nema11 hollow shaft motor to measure vacuum pressure so the system will know if the component was picked correctly.

Best regards,

Zdenko,

dc42

@Zdenko if you want to use servo motors for the X and Y axes, you will need two sets of step/dir outputs. To get these on Duet 3 electronics you will need one of the following:

A MB6XD board. This provides 6 sets of step/dir outputs and no stepper drivers. So you would need another board or boards to get the six stepper motor outputs (e.g. 1x 6HC or 2x 3HC or 1x Duet 3 Mini + Mini2+.
Two EXP1XD boards
You can get two sets of step/dir outputs from the stepper driver expansion connector on the Duet 3 Mini. You will probably need to level shift them to 5V to drive the servos. This could be done on a small daughter board.

So for the tool head I suggest either two 3HC boards, or one Duet 3 Mini board used in expansion mode with a Mini 2+ stepper expansion (because you need 6 stepper drivers). For the main board, either a 6XD or a Duet 3 Mini with a level converter for the two servos. The 6XD may be the best option if in future you want to use the blended motion control in OpenPnP that Mark has been experimenting with.

NPN output sensors can be connected directly to IO_IN pins on any of the boards.

Zdenko

@dc42 Hello, thank you for the fast feedback!

I will then go with:

1x Duet 3 Main Board 6XD - (to be prepared for motion blending)
2x Duet 3 Expansion Board 3HC - (will be mounted on a Head of the machine)

I do not expect I will have an issue with a hardware connection here, but regarding a Software part and Firmware, is there anything available that I can use as a "foundation" to start from?

As I am from Croatia, I see "DOLD Mechatronik" from Germany sells Duet 3 hardware, I am using them for some other projects as a "main" vendor and I would like to buy Duet hardware from them, but I see they do not have Duet 3 Main Board 6XD on the stock. (I will send them an e-mail)

The plan for a fully working machine is 3/2023. I am Currently In process of making new aluminum parts, drilling granite surface, etc. Quite a journey!

Best regards,

Zdenko,

dc42

@Zdenko said in Duet 3D in mind - Building ver.2 Pick and Place machine:

I do not expect I will have an issue with a hardware connection here, but regarding a Software part and Firmware, is there anything available that I can use as a "foundation" to start from?

You should be able to use our standard firmware binaries. You will need to create configuration and homing files on the SD card. Use our online configuration tool to generate a set to start from, https://configtool.reprapfirmware.org/Start.

Zdenko

Cheers,

Duet 3 Main Board 6XD finally arrived, and the seller mentioned that 2x Duet 3 Expansion Board 3HC will be available next year so I will need to wait a bit, feels good to be a part of the Duet family!

I started with updating FW to the latest stable revision and all went well, I managed to start with the OpenPnP setup and initial config file just to do a test on a desk to try to activate some outputs on 6XD, and it is working.

Now, regarding the 4pcs of NPN SMC Vacuum switches (ZSE30A-01-N-L), the initial plan is to connect them on two Expansion Boards 3HC that will be on the head to limit wiring, will this be possible or do I need to use 4 Opto Isolated inputs on 6XD?

I have read that all I/Os are 30V tolerant, but I am playing on a safe note so I don't accidentally make magic white smoke here.

This is ZSE30A-01-N-L Internal Circuit and wires, plan is to use 24V.

Optoisolated Inputs:

Rest of the IOs:

Thank you for your support,

Zdenko,

dc42

@Zdenko you can connect that NPN output sensor directly to the 6XD or 3HC in the same way as a NPN output inductive sensor. See https://docs.duet3d.com/en/User_manual/Connecting_hardware/Z_probe_connecting#npn-output-normally-open-inductive-or-capacitive-sensor.

Zdenko

@dc42 Hello, thank you for the fast replay!

So basically I can connect this NPN sensor to any of the :

6x Inputs/Outputs for endstop, filament monitor, Z-probe or hobby servo connection which are 30V-tolerant on 6XD or 3HC

That sounds good, only thing is to use one BAT43 or BAT85 or even 1N4148 on the Output line of the sensor with the cathode "pointing" towards the sensor, simple.

I will give it a try this weekend on 6XD and later I will transfer it to 3HC.

Thank you,

Have a nice day,

Zdenko,

dc42

@Zdenko said in Duet 3D in mind - Building ver.2 Pick and Place machine:

That sounds good, only thing is to use one BAT43 or BAT85 or even 1N4148 on the Output line of the sensor with the cathode "pointing" towards the sensor, simple.

That diode is recommended when connecting an NPN sensor to an older Duet 2 board. It is not needed when connecting to a Duet 3 board.