Luke Meier
Oct 13, 2019

Upgrade Kit from AR2 -> AR3

I'm in the middle of my AR2 build, I have it mostly done but nothing hooked up yet. Control box is done, wiring harnesses done, mechanical assembly is 90% done. However the AR3 has a lot of features I want, is there an upgrade path or kit I can buy to change out whatever necessary to get to the AR3?

Chris Annin
Oct 13, 2019

Ive tried to keep everything as much the same as possible.  The hardware and aluminum parts do not change.  The drivers, electrical enclosure and several electrical components do not change.  The biggest cost change is updating to the dual shaft motors - honestly if you have already purchased the single shaft motors I would just stick with those - the closed loop is a nice update but I wouldnt feel that its worth the extra cost to upgrade if you already have the single shaft motors.   If that is the case I would just follow the instructions from the AR3 manual and just omit any steps for the encoders.  Then in the latest software just click the buttons on the calibration tab to ignore the encoders.   If your control box is done its the same drivers so you could add the teensy if you want and use the new software or you could stick with just using the mega and the AR2 software. Let me know if that makes sense or if there are any other questions I could answer.

Julian Holcroft
Oct 16, 2019

how much of the hardware is the same for the AR2 and AR3

Chris Annin
Oct 16, 2019

@Julian Holcroft
all the parts in the aluminum kit are the same and all the parts in the hardware kit are the same.

Luke Meier
Oct 13, 2019

Ok I will finish the AR2 as-is and then try the AR3 afterwards as a separate project. Thanks!

matthew flego
Oct 13, 2019

I am definitely very excited about the release of AR3 and thinking about a conversion to encoders for Julian's build.

@Chris Annin
have you heard of anyone printing an AR2 out of continuous carbon fiber strand / or fiber chop? Also now that things have moved over to ARM I am wondering about the possibility of raspberry pi 4 as a full stack controller (dreams of single board TMC driven channels as well). Do you have any interesting level shifting complications when utilizing the teensy 3.5? I'll check out
@Zach Allen
's work again on the github for the control software at the OS level, but very curious if the Teensy sketch could work combined with an OS like raspbian or possibly RTOS. Can't wait to see the AR3 folder appear on the github page. Thank you so much for versioning up! Super pumped!

Chris Annin
Oct 15, 2019

yes Ive had a few people print with carbon fiber and they reported positive results, no issues. I dont have a Git repository for the AR3 I just put all the files on google drive and have links on the downloads page of this website.

frenchmakers
Oct 14, 2019

Hi,

@Chris Annin
, can you please create a Stepperonline's kit for AR2 to AR3 upgrade

As

@Luke Meier
, i would like to upgrade my AR2 ( i can reuse existing stepper motors ) None of this individual elements exist on stepperonline website:

17HS15-1684D-HG10-AR3 ( even 17HS15-1684D-HG10 )

23HS22-2804D-HG50-AR3 17HS15-1684D-HG50-AR3 or tell us exact reference for this items

Thanks Vincent

Chris Annin
Oct 15, 2019

I know they are just finishing up production and getting the AR3 motors in stock. All the motors for the AR3 are new items as I had them add dual shaft and mounting holes for the encoders. I will ask them about getting the individual motors listed as an item as soon as possible.