FYSETC’s:
Big Dipper
Duet 3 Mini 5+
Onboard 7-way tmc2209 stepper motor drive
Input / output IO full TVs protection
28V maximum input
Based on same54p20 (arm cortex M4 @ 120mhz), it is fully compatible with duet3 mini5 +
So ever since I got into 3D printing and started to see more customization’s and modifications the duet line of boards has always been the be all end all when it comes to features, standards, g-code and over-all functionality. With that being said it should come to no surprise to say demand for these boards are quite high, and having a controller that can out preform many other on the market for such a low price point.
That’s where the Big Dipper from Fysetc comes in. At the time of writing this(8/18/22) the price came in at around $100 on aliexpress. Now there are some boards available that aren’t even half as good and at almost the same price, and they don’t run reprap firmware and lack hardware peripherals that don’t even come close to some of the other boards in Fysetcs line. Some truly great stuff coming from them.
Now I don’t mean to come off totally supporting Fysetc in this manner, but everything I’ve ever gotten from them has been great, and it works without any issues. From what I hear too, they have great support and are more than willing to go the extra distance for their customers.
In any case let me take you through some of the use cases for the Big Dipper and show how I implemented it in my system. First of all the board is well constructed, the only true complaint I have is the terminal blocks are a little light. I would have used terminal barrier blocks instead. There are 7 stepper drivers and onboard wifi. Overall setup was a breeze(besides some minor issues with the motor pinout and the tempdb pinout).
The whole configuration of the Big Dipper can be done through RRF’s online configuration tool, which takes the hassle of manually editing the config.g file. Although if you want to use all 7 steppers and some of the more advanced features, you will have to edit manually. The github page comes with a firmware section that gives an example for editing.
https://github.com/FYSETC/FYSETC-BIG_DIPPER
Looking at overall performance everything seems to be running fine with the newest version of RRF. All the features remain consistent with the original duet. I decided to use a raspberry pi 4 with the Big Dipper and everything worked right out of the box, a ribbon cable for connection between the PI and the BD is provided and makes getting setup a lot easier.
With the raspberry pi I’m using the printer in a cabinet with a monitor and keyboard. The system feels like an enclosed cnc machine with control panel. So with that being said I love it.
The printer in an Ender 5 that has all the electronics mounted the the rear exterior, nothing too fancy, it looks like more than it actually is. Having the printer in a cabinet has many advantages for printer different materials like polycarbonate or abs.
I have future plans to add a bed leveling probe that the carrier can dock. That’s one of the reasons why the big dipper is an excellent choice for a printer you have plans to upgrade or add-on, there are several drivers with a nice amperage range and it also has many options for add-ons made by Fysetc.
As for issues with the board the only one I found was upon inspecting the Tempdb for connecting a daughter board and a PT100 sensor, noticed the pin-out represented in the SCH file is backwards and should be re-labeled in the SCH file.
All in all though the big dipper is a great choice for your next build, especially seeing that it’s less than 110 dollars now.