Can i use a Duet 2 ethernet on a tronxy x5sa printer? (2024)

Hi,

I have an tronxy x5sa printer that has two z motors, and uses both x and y at the same time to move the print head.
The origional board sometimes ignores the G28 and G29 command and it is hard to get it to print well. (hard to calibrate the steps also)
I want to replace my board with a board that will work fine every time
I use Simplify3D to slice, then it sends it to my octoprint server where i run timelapse and monitores the print operation.
Can i use a Duet 2 ethernet board with my printer? what about the cables, do i have to cut them and solder new plugs or are there adapters to buy?
Can this board also control two fans? i have one fan for the hotend heatbrake and another fan for cooling the print.

I have only one working hand after a brain stroke, therefor am i looking for a easy but good sollution to make my printer print good.

thank you

Best regards,
Freddy

@ulven said in Can i use a Duet 2 ethernet on a tronxy x5sa printer?:

tronxy x5sa

duet does support corexy printers and it has 2 connectors for for the z axis for your two motors.
the duet comes with crimps and housings for the connectors. so you will need to recrimpt them. you will need a crimping tool (can also be done with pliers but i would not recommend it). there is no soldering involved in crimping.

the duet has 5 fan headers.

but as far as i know the tronxy 5 have some mechanical issues that need to be solved first for a good print.

Thank you for your answer, are there any pictures that can show me how to crimp and what cable that should be where?

the x5sa looks to me like a OK mechanical machine, the bed is level and the moves are ok

what other mechanical are you thinking about?

https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Duet_Wiring_Diagrams

That should be everything that you need to know for where things go on the Duet.

I don't know what your existing control board is, so it's hard to say for sure what goes where, but...

Most control boards use similar wiring for the motors, and you can probably just move the motors over to the Duet without having to crimp anything.

I had to change my endstop wiring, as the way that they're wired for a RAMPS connector is a different wire order.

Thermistors should just plug in, and the heaters for the hotend and bed are fine.

If your printer has a hotend probe, you will probably have to change the wiring. Note that the hotend connector on the Duet has 3.3V power, so if your probe needs higher voltage (Like the BL Touch, for example) then there are alternate wiring schemes available.

Other accessories, such as fans or lights, you should be careful as to the voltage that you connect them to. Some printers will use 5V accessories (My MakerBot clone uses 5V for the lights, for example) sometimes including the fans. It's worth checking.

Your Duet board will come with the crimp ends and connectors, plus ferrules and the like, so you will have all of the connectors that you need. A good crimping tool is helpful, but if you're patient, a decent pair of pliers can do the job.

The rest is going to be setting up the configuration.

I'm in the process of installing a Duet 2 Wifi board on my Tronxy X5SA, I don't have Z homing and bed leveling working yet though.

I had to rewire my X and Y limit switches, The limit switches have a three pin connector with an end pin used and the center pin used for the Tronxy controller. I had to use a paper clip to release the center pin and plug that pin in to the unused pin mount on the Tronxy connector. It wasn't terribly challenging (I'm disabled, I have SMA), but if you only have one hand to work with you may need assistance or a small vise to hold the connector still while you remove the center pin.

Once done I was able to plug the Tronxy X and Y limit switch cables in to the Duet 2 Wifi board. I did have to remove the orientation clips from the board though since my original connectors are a bit wide.

I don't yet have a proper crimping tool and crimping pins is challenging for me to do due to poor hand strength so I try to avoid crimping if at all possible.

I was looking for information on this printer. I found some details here: http://www.tronxy.com/x-series/tronxy-x5sa-3d-printer.html

I don't see what the original controller board is, which is what I was looking for.

That looks like an inductive sensor for the Z probe. There is information on configuring that around here somewhere.

As this is a single hotend, I might suggest that you consider using independent Z motor configuration. I'm doing this on mine, it allows the Z motors to be controlled independently, which means that the Duet can manage levelling the bed (At least on the X plane) by itself, without needing mesh levelling. I find it very handy.

I am also guessing fromt he power suply specification of 30A that this is a 12V power supply. This means that the bed heater and hotend cartidge will be 12V. This further makes the independent Z motor configuration more desireable. Most control boards run dual Z motors in parallel, particularly on 12V power, which means that the driver has to run double the current it might otherwise need. The duet runs them in series, which reduces current demand on 24V power, but can be weak on 12V. I would strongly recommend that you use the additional motor driver for the second Z motor.

@supraguy

The Tronxy X5SA board is an F-Mini from these folks.
http://www.cbd-3d.com/en/index.shtml

With custom Tronxy firmware. I don't know what it's based on though.

I wish the F-mini board were more reliable, I like the menu layout on the LCD panel but the LCD panel isn't very sensitive and just never worked well for me. My F-mini board no longer keeps the hot end hot enough if my heated bed is on, which is why I'm switching to the Duet 2 Wifi myself.

Other than my X and Y endstops and my inductive sensor I've not had to change any of my other connector wiring.

I'm waiting for my ferrule crimper to arrive (Tomorrow) so I can properly connect my high current items.

Good call on the fans, I thought they were 12vdc on the X5SA, the fan for the electronics cooling is, but I don't know about the part cooling fan or the hot end fan. I'd better find out before I smoke one of my fans.

@pr0xyfl00d3r
What's your config.h file look like?

How's your bed sensor wired up? I'm not sure of the pinout on mine.

Here is my Z probe connections and config file

0_1547187024799_config.g

I have a Tronxy X5S running on Duet Ethernet and after some mechanical modifications my prints are excellent quality.
I have DC42's IR Z probe fitted and the Z motors are wired independently so I can use the leadscrew levelling feature.
In my set up I found that Tronxy had supplied the bed heater incorrectly wired!
I now have two power supplies. The original 12v one supplies everything but the bed heater. I changed the wiring on the bed heater to accept 24v and so have an additional 24v supply for this. The output for the bed heater from the Duet connects to an SSR who's output is 24v. Before I changed the bed from 12v to 24v it used to take ages to heat up and because it was originally wired incorrectly, not all of the bed got heated. Now it heats up very quick and the heat is uniformly spread.
Here is a copy of my config,g to help you out.

; Configuration file for Duet Ethernet on Tronxy X5S

; General preferences
G21 ; Work in millimetres
G90 ; Send absolute coordinates...
M83 ; ...but relative extruder moves
;M667 S1 ; Select coreXY , rev 2.02 and earlier
M669 K1 ; Select CoreXY mode
M555 P2 ; Set output to look like marlin

; Network
M552 P192.168.1.106 ; Configure static IP address.
M553 P255.255.255.0 ; Set netmask
M554 P192.168.1.1 ; Set gateway
M550 PTronxy X5S ; Set machine name
M552 S1 ; Enable network
M586 P0 S1 ; Enable HTTP
M586 P1 S1 ; Enable FTP
M586 P2 S1 ; Enable Telnet

; Stepper Drives
M569 P0 S1 ; Drive 0 runs forwards, active low enable, (X)
M569 P1 S1 ; Drive 1 runs forwards, active low enable, (Y)
M569 P2 S0 ; Drive 2 runs backwards, active low enable, (Z1)
M569 P3 S0 ; Drive 3 runs backwards, active low enable, (E0)
M569 P4 S0 ; Drive 4 runs backwards, active low enable, (Z2 in the E1)

; Dual Z
M584 X0 Y1 Z2:4 E3 ; Dual Z motors Z and E3 (extruder1 drive). Make sure Z drive is L/H stepper and E3 is R/H stepper
; Leadscrew positions: The measurement is taken from X=0, Y=0. Therefore X will be negative, Y positive and middle of bed = 160
M671 X-100:415 Y160:160 S2.0 ; Leadscrews at middle left and middle right (S0 is correction value)

;Drive settings
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 E16 I1 ; Configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X80.5 Y80.5 Z400 E96 ; Set steps per mm for 16 microsteps
;M350 X32 Y32 Z32 E128 ; Use to setup new microstepping (dont delete default 16 microstepping)
M566 X600.00 Y600.00 Z12.00 E120.00 ; Set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min) - Jerk
M203 X18000.00 Y18000.00 Z180.00 E1500.00 ; Set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X3000.00 Y3000.00 Z100.00 E10000.00 ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X1000 Y1000 Z1000 E1100 I30 ; Motor currents - mine are 1.68amp, 85% = 1.42
M84 S30 ; Set idle timeout

; Axis Limits
M208 X-15 Y-12 Z0 S1 ; Set axis minima (adjust to make X=0 and Y=0 the edges of the bed)
M208 X310 Y310 Z380 S0 ; Set axis maxima (adjust to suit your machine)

; Endstops
M574 X1 Y1 S0 ; Set active low endstops for X and Y
M581 Z1 S1 T0 C0 ; Set Z1 endstop as an e-stop for Z protection if Z probe fails when probing the bed.

; Filament Run Out Sensor
;M591 D0 P1 C4 S1 ; Filament runout Sensor for Extruder E0 on E1 Endstop input P1 = signal HIGH.

; Z-Probe
M574 Z1 S2 ; Set endstops controlled by probe
; M558: the P is probe type, H is dive height-the height before probing, A is max number of probing each point, S is tollerance when multi-probing.
;M558 P1 H3 F120 A10 S0.03 I0
M558 P1 H5 F120 T6000 ; Set Z probe type to unmodulated and the dive height + speeds
; G31: the P is the reported Z value when triggered. X,Y are offset coordinates. Z is trigger height, you can decrease value if nozzle is too close
; or increase if too far away.
G31 P500 X-30 Y-5 Z2.25 ;2.25

; Mesh Grid
; The following M557 commands are not needed if you are using a bed.g file to perform bed compensation
;*** Adjust the XY coordinates in the following M557 commands to suit your build and the position of the Z probe
M557 X10:280 Y10:280 S20 ; Define mesh grid

; Heaters
M305 P0 T100000 B4138 C0 R4700 ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 0 (bed)
M143 H0 S120 ; Set temperature limit for heater 0 to 90C
;M305 P1 T92000 B4138 C0 R4700 ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 1 (nozzle)
M305 P1 T100000 B4092 R4700 ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 1 (nozzle)
M143 H1 S280 ; Set temperature limit for heater 1 to 250C
M307 H1 A299.8 C109.4 D4.0 S1.00 V12.3 B0 ; Autotune result for hotend
M307 H0 A109.8 C457.8 D2.1 S1.00 V12.3 B0 ; Autotune result for bed

;Expansion pins
M307 H2 A-1 C-1 D-1 ; Make heater2 on extruder2 available and use it for pwm led lighting

; Fans
M106 P0 S0 H-1 C"Part Cooling" ; Set fan 0 value (Part Cooling)
M106 P1 S255 I0 F259 L125 H1 T60:140.
; Below 60 deg C the fan is off. At 60 deg C the fan will come on at 50% then will ramp up to full full speed between 60 and 140 deg C and remain at 100% for any ; temperature above 140

; Set fan 2 value (Duet mcu), PWM signal inversion and frequency. Thermostatic control is turned on, fan comes on at 40 deg and reaches full speed at 65 deg
M106 P2 F500 T40:65 H100:101:102

;CPU Temperature Calibration
M912 P0 S-15.8

; Tools
M563 P0 D0 H1 S"Extruder" ; Define tool 0
G10 P0 X0 Y0 Z0 ; Set tool 0 axis offsets
G10 P0 R0 S0 ; Set initial tool 0 active and standby temperatures to 0C

; Automatic power saving
M911 S10 R11 P"M911 S10 R11 P*M913 X0 Y0 G91 M83 G1 Z3 E-5 F1000" ; Set voltage thresholds and actions to run on power loss

; Custom settings

M42 P2 S255 ; Turn led lighting on full
M98 PLevelLeadscrews.g ; Option to perform leadscrew levelling
M98 PEnable Mesh Levelling ; Option to enable on start up

@chas2706 Hello,

There is possible to share all configuration files ?
I have the same setup like yours.
But I have many problems to fix it.