Question Sidewinder X1 to Switchwire conversion

[aldiallo-3dKlip]

Hi everbody,

Apologies if this is not the right place to post this but I currently own 2 printers, an Ender 5 Plus and a Artillery Sidewinder X1 both using Duet 3 Mini 5+ and running Klipper and following the read of these 2 sites here, and also here and several weeks of reflexion I'm thinking about pulling the trigger and convert my X1 into a Switchwire, not the usual tinkering that I'm used to but I'm more than happy to go for it but before jumping in I have several questions that you guys with a better knowledge of the Voron universe might be able to help me answer.

- Is the Duet 3 mini 5+ enough to drive the printer once the conversion is done?

- What would be the best approach for doing this and getting the pieces required, a kit would be great but not sure if they exist for the Sidewinder so I'm assuming that going self-sourcing is the way to go, I'm based in France so need to really check my options?

- I'm currently running E3D Hemeras on both printers one with Revo and one with the Volcano but I do have a BMG laying around somewhere, my question here would what would be the best solution to put for the extrusion, If I could reuse the Hemera it would be great, as I'll be saving some dollars but I'm open here ?

- Should I decide to go umbilical what would be you suggestion here, not sure if the BTTs would be compatible with the Duet, from the Duet side, they have the Duet 3 Tool board as well as the new Roto tool board but in both cases I have no clue how they work under Klipper.

- That brings me to my following question, I've been happily living with Klipper in my printer for the last 3 years (Thanks Nero3D/ The Canuck Creator) but is Klipper mandatory on a Switchwire or more largely speaking on a Voron or can they run RRF? real question here so please don't shoot me !

Sorry if all of these questions are silly but I just don't want to start this like a bull torwads the red blanket (or whatever is called), head down and full steam ahead without really thinking what I'm getting into and what I'm doing as I move forward.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this thread and more thanks for any answer you'll be able to provide that would help me move forward in this project.

 

[Sandman50]

The Duet has 2 amp drivers. Adequate for a switchwire, as long as your motors are rated to 2amps. Not sure what drivers are in there, but most can current limit to lower in klipper.

The Core XZ motion system on a switchwire (SW) requires different belt mounting than what the stock cartesian system requires. To fit a Hemera, you may need to redesign the gantry mount. My recommendation would be to go stock with your 1st version and see how you like a stealthburner. If only because you can focus on getting it running.

I have a voron 2.4 and an anycibic vyper switchwire conversion. The 2.4 uses a CAN toolhead board and the SW uses a cable chain toolhead. I can honestly say that the overal work required was less for the CAN toolhead vs. the "stock" wire management on the SW. If I was to do a SW conversion again, I'd go with a CAN toolhead board.

I don't know if RRF can do CoreXZ. But klipper works for that. There is elegance in having 1 OS for multiple printers.

 

[aldiallo-3dKlip]

Hi Snadman50,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, so concerning the motors the Artillery comes stock with 1 42-40 motor for the X-axis, same motor for Z-axis, 1 42-48 on the Y and 1 42-24 for the extruder, I believe they're all rated 1A.

I know I'll need to rebuild to motion system to be core XZ and get belts installed as well as work on the gantry to use the Hemera for now I'm more concerned of how to go about getting the required hardware here in France for the conversion, was hoping to find a kit from LDO or other reputable brand; anyways I've found some kits linear rails kit in Ali Express for the X1 so was thinking about starting by doing that first and see how that goes before doing the rest of the conversion (any advise on that?). BTW, what do you mean by going stock with my 1st version? you mean replacing the Hemera with the Stealthburner and see how that goes, right?

Concerning the firmware, I'm more than happy to keep using Klipper, I was asking I've seen several times that RRFs firmware had the can support built in and therefore was easier to use when wanting to use can with duet hardware.

 

[Sandman50]

Yes, I would suggest using a stealthburner rather than the Hemera - UNLESS you have access and skills for a CAD program. The mounts are not the same and you would need to re-design the stock stealthburner mount to hold the hemera and a bed distance sensor. (What does the Hemera use for bed sensing?)

Not sure about shipping to France, but all the parts can be purchased off Aliexpress.

CAN is independent of Klipper or RRF. CAN is a firmware level program protocol that enables 2 wire communications over a bus topology. Klipper runs on top of that (and I pressume RRF - though I have no experience with RRF).

Setting up Klipper for CAN is the same process as setting up klipper to not use CAN, it's just that you need to flash the toolhead board as well as the main control board with Klipper. But the effort for wiring is ~1/20th of stock wired toolhead. (you also need to procure a CAN toolhead board.).

I use a BTT Octopus pro for the main board on my SW. For my Voron 2.4 I used a BTT Manta M8p and a BTT EBB-2209 toolhead board.

 

[aldiallo-3dKlip]

Hi Sandman50,

Thanks again for the information, I'll start checking.