I'm still running my original Duet 2 Wifi I bought in February 2017. It's still amazing for my needs (self-designed CoreXY).

I'm rarely on this forum nowadays because my printer just works, firmware upgrades (nowadays) are pretty simple and so sophisticated at the same time, and I just haven't needed support in a while.

I'm just thankful I jumped on 'semi-early' I guess? Back then, Duets were fairly rare and when I'd post a pic of the web interface in a group somewhere people would be amazed and ask what it was. Now, there is more competition but it's still there at the top IMO.

Looking in the Firmware forum, I would guess I was on v1.17 or something at the beginning, currently on 3.4.6. That's a big jump. There were a few hiccups with firmware versions along the way, but the community and company worked together to get through them, continually improving.

No real point to this post, just kind of a shout out to the product and people. @dc42 and @Phaedrux are legends in this world to me.

@Phaedrux

Thank you so much Phaedrux. You are a legend in my book. I was pretty frustrated but wanted to give another last ditch effort before ordering a Maestro (which would have been a step down since I do use sensorless homing) and your post helped motivate me.

@oliof done, ordered. Thanks for pushing me that direction.

Filastruder is running a 20% off sale, perfect timing.

@oliof done, ordered. Thanks for pushing me that direction.

Filastruder is running a 20% off sale, perfect timing.

@oliof said in Upgrade Duet2 Wifi - add the Duex5 or Duet3 Mini with 2+:

@SuperJETT for future proofing, the Duet3mini plus 2 stepper expansion is the way to go IMO.

EDIT: It also means you get to keep your old printer running while the new one is being built.

Good points, thanks.

I have had my Duet 2 Wifi since Feb 2017, still a workhorse and love it, but I'm building a new printer with 3x Z motors so need some extra steppers.

I also have a Chameleon (that I haven't touched in 2 years) that I control with a small pancake motor that activates a switch instead of moving the gantry to hit a switch.

X, Y, Z1, Z2, Z3, E, Chameleon means I need 7 steppers total.

• I could get the Duex5 to add 5 steppers but it's $120.
• I could get a new Duet 3 Mini plus the Mini 2+ expansion board for ~$165 then sell my current board for maybe $50 so it would be a wash money-wise but with a new board.
• The third option is the Duet expansion board and wire up some steppers I have here, $30 but not as elegant IMO.

Opinions? Money is a factor, but not the biggest one probably. No matter which option I go with, I'm going to have have an extra board.

I'm still running my original Duet 2 Wifi I bought in February 2017. It's still amazing for my needs (self-designed CoreXY).

I'm rarely on this forum nowadays because my printer just works, firmware upgrades (nowadays) are pretty simple and so sophisticated at the same time, and I just haven't needed support in a while.

I'm just thankful I jumped on 'semi-early' I guess? Back then, Duets were fairly rare and when I'd post a pic of the web interface in a group somewhere people would be amazed and ask what it was. Now, there is more competition but it's still there at the top IMO.

Looking in the Firmware forum, I would guess I was on v1.17 or something at the beginning, currently on 3.4.6. That's a big jump. There were a few hiccups with firmware versions along the way, but the community and company worked together to get through them, continually improving.

No real point to this post, just kind of a shout out to the product and people. @dc42 and @Phaedrux are legends in this world to me.

@fcwilt Like mentioned, it takes time for the movement to go hit the switch, so this would eliminate those moves each color change.

I have a few different ideas, but what would be the best way to have the Duet control a 3D Chameleon electronically instead of moving the gantry to hit a limit switch?

The Chameleon is triggered by a limit switch which takes time for the gantry (or whichever part you use to hit it) but since that takes time for the movement, I'd rather be able to just turn a pin on/off.

Best way?

I'm actually considering using E1 with a motor and an arm on the shaft to hit it because that will give me the ability to physically trigger the switch instead of having to use a macro, but macros would be pretty easy too so I'm exploring that option.

@Phaedrux

Thank you so much Phaedrux. You are a legend in my book. I was pretty frustrated but wanted to give another last ditch effort before ordering a Maestro (which would have been a step down since I do use sensorless homing) and your post helped motivate me.

Wow.

I had tried 2 different 'known good' cables on both my gaming desktop and work laptop and never got the port to recognize, no Windows tone, nothing, but as a last resort I grabbed another USB cable here at work and just got the port to recognize.

Baffled.

The rest should be easy...

But seriously, always keep trying. (I had been working on this since Saturday trying all the troubleshooting steps but if you can't get the port to appear, it's hard)

@Phaedrux
Here's where I am:
plugged into 5v power supply or computer, 5v lit, 3.3v lit, USB lit, and DIAG lit. The reset button is not stuck, appears to operate properly. The wifi module has a small blue LED lit. This is with or without the SD card installed.

With my Paneldue plugged in, it loads the main screen but says Connecting in top right. I can go to the Console and enter M997 S1 but get no response.

The LEDs that are lit never change no matter what I do.

I'm fairly frustrated that it has died in under 4 years. Had I been running high currents or printing 24/7 or had some wiring issues, I might understand it, but for a (relative to others) expensive board to fail this soon to me is surprising and disappointing.

I was on firmware 2.0.5 and started having a loss of connectivity through network and Paneldue would lose connection also. This wasn't that big of an issue except this weekend I needed to do a couple of multicolor prints with filament changes and on the first one it was locked up when hitting the pause.

So, I figured I needed to finally go to v3 then v3.2 The update to v3.0 was fine, M115 reported the correct firmware so I uploaded v3.2 and lost all connectivity. No wiring changes were made during any of this, it was installed normally and I had just finished that failed print 30 minutes prior.

I've tried a full erase/reset, commented out M552 in config.g, but am stuck with the 5v, 3.3v, DIAG, and USB leds lit and no connection via wifi or USB. I've tried multiple USB cables and ports but am fairly certain it's just dead.

I bought it in Feb 2017 which is almost 4 years of excellent printing running fairly low current steppers and not printing that often, maybe a few hours/week average except for doing faceshields last year for hospitals and a few other times.

Any other suggestions to try to recover it?

Also, was it just at its EOL? I expected it to last a lot longer than 4 years.

What's next, a Maestro or go to a SKR Mini E3 maybe? I'm not sure I want/need to shell out the money for another Duet. I do have a Paneldue, but it's the second of those as my first died after about a year.