How borked am I? (I believe my controller is dead)

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Bradley, hey all,

@bpavlack

my controller just recently fried so it does happen. It cost me $590 with shipping, taxes, and fees.

At this price, you could also have considered to buy an original Buildbotics Controller. It is produced in the USA and is back in stock now for $699 USD + shipping (without power supply which is $69). It evolved further since Onefinity forked their software and hardware, and unfortunaley Onefinity does not backport any of the new features (What’s new in Buildbotics 1.0.2, What’s new in Buildbotics 1.0.0).

@Aiph5u

…now it has nice new features like programmable G-code macros, remappable I/O ports, 5 V I/O (instead of 3.3 V), G-code is editable in the controller display, more VFDs supported, 0-10 V analog spindle control added (besides PWM and ModBus), better Modbus debugging, WiFi has an external antenna (on the Onefinity, WiFi is enclosed in the case which acts as faraday cage ) and it has a 15-pin Auxiliary motor control port which provides access to the step{X,Y,Z,A}, dir{X,Y,Z,A}, motor enable, and motor fault inputs to the four motor drivers. These lines provide the ability to bypass the internal motor drivers and control external drivers. This allows you to attach closed-loop stepper drivers like this one and to drive closed-loop stepper motors on the Onefinity classical series (like the Elite Series do).

The Onefinity Controller has these lines internally too, but there is no access to these.

@Aiph5u

The original Buildbotics now provides access to the internal axis control lines on their 15-pin Auxiliary motor control port:

Image: Comparison of recent Buildbotics controller (above) and Onefinity controller (bottom): The Buildbotics now has an additional 15-pin Auxiliary I/O Port for access to the axis control lines.

This would allow to circumvent the internal four Texas Instruments DRV8711 stepper drivers and to use your own stepper drivers, and other stepper motors.

The pins available would be the same as on the Masso G3 for connecting stepper motors:

@Aiph5u

• step{X,Y,Z,A},
• dir{X,Y,Z,A},
• motor enable, and
• motor fault inputs.

This would allow users to connect other stepper drivers, e.g. to retrofit closed-loop stepper motors (as used on the Masso, or to connect closed-loop stepper drivers like this one), or servo motors etc. to the PRO/Original Series Onefinity Controller.