Eric Lien , I wanted to ask you (and other using it) about Azteeg

@Eclsnowman , I wanted to ask you (and other using it) about Azteeg X5 GT, after reading up on other solutions it is not my first choice, but I might be able to get one that has never been used for cheap with 4xSD5984 drivers, so I’m looking into it as I am trying to keep the budget as reasonable as possible so if I can get that for maybe a third of the price of a Duet Wifi, then that would be worth consideration.

I have a couple of qualms about this, one being about the SD5984 drivers, which only have 1/32 microstepping. I’m wondering if I get the Azteeg if I should possible just buy a couple of BSD2660s for X & Y and use the SD5984s for Z and E.

Another is that I’ve read that support from Panucatt is pretty much nonexistent, which is obviously not good if I run into any issues.

I’m also interested in adding some led strips and such but for me it’s not clear if I can do that. An advantage of running on reprap firmware would be that I could do all sorts of custom things with the extra GPIOs, adding some sensors or other things in due time. But as I will probably add an RPi for Octoprint, I’m guessing I can do some stuff using GPIOs of that?

I’d really appreciate both some thoughts on the topics above as well as just general thoughts on the X5 GT.

Thanks in advance.

For the latest in firmware development… I would say Duet Wifi is your best choice. But if you can get a discount board… You can’t go wrong with the X5 GT either. And the 5984 are a solid driver. 1/32 microstep on a HercuLien or Eustathios is more resolution than you will ever need, so don’t worry about that. And if you really want more, get 0.9deg steppers.

Great, thanks so much. I’ve also seen that I can add light control to the RPi, which is a bonus, so I will try to get the discount X5 GT