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Get Quad extruders for Replicape by adding Reach
I’ve finally gotten around to testing the Reach A0 add-on board for Replicape A4A. This is a board that adds three more extruders to the two extruders that come with Replicape, for a total of five extruders. Any axis can also be configured in slave mode, in case you have multiple steppers pr. axis.
The Reach board was ready for review over two years ago, but only now the software for it was ready. Some people have made their own versions of the board, but as far as I know, no one has ever gotten it to work! Well, that all ended on Tuesday, when the Reach board was running for full capacity.
Reach A0 is an add-on board for Replicape A4A, the pre-runner for the Rev B board. Many people have asked for a Reach rev B, one that is compatible with Replicape Rev B. All I can say is that it will be designed, but the volume will likely not make it a viable product for sale. Best case will be small production run, but as you know that really increases the price.
The cool thing about this is that Redeem now has support for up to 8 axes that can be operated at the same time. Previously, one had to chose an extruder, but now you can be fancy and use this G-code:
G0 X10 Y10 Z10 E10 H10 A10 B10 C10
That is if you are one of the three-ish people that have a Reach board. The fans can be connected to the thermistors, so the fan on the extruder starts when the extruder temperature goes above 60 degrees celsius. The M104 command now also supports higher number extruders as well.
Any of the additional axes can also be used in “slave mode” so there is no need for a splitting cable if you happen to have an additional stepper driver.
Fun project! Hopefully someone will try this out with a diamond hot-end or Kraken.
Hopefully there will be a Reach Rev B for recent Replicape soon.
I’m hoping that the mention of PT100 support on the reach becomes an actual thing (Of the three options, it’s the one I like most, the others being that someone figures out how to make E3D’s adapter work with the Replicape through diking out the pull-up resistor on the thermistor input (I am assuming there is one. Would be nice if Elias could confirm/deny), or Elias designs a little stand-alone adapter that plugs in similarly to a reach (Would be a small part, but might get some nice sales (And with E3D selling theirs at 15 pounds, it would probably still sell at say, 25 dollars, and 20 would actually undercut them)
Hello,
when will the board availaible and at what price?
Thanks for a note.
Volkhard
Hello,
is anybody reading the comments? It would be helpful if somebody could anser questions.
Thanks.
Hi! It is currently not the top priority since Replicape is sold out and waiting for a new batch, but I can publish the steps for connecting an additional stepper driver and also how to add a thermocouple! Would that help?
Published steps for connecting an additional driver (or two!) would be very helpful. Did you ever write these up?
PS: I’ll ping you about this on Slack once Slack comes back to life…
We really need six stepper drivers since our 3D printer use double motors on Y and Z axis so please tell us how to add one extra?
(And in the future we really need the reach board so that we can run three extruders).
I’m also interested in the steps for connecting an additional stepper driver to my Replicape for my second extruder.