X-controller vs the Arduino

X-Carve Upgrades
1

Please tell me what’s the difference between Arduino and X-Controller

I have searched the forum, but did not find anything

Why should I upgrade to X-Controller

Kristian

2

Biggest difference is power. Xcontroller can drive nema23 to full power the shield cant. The shield also doesn’t have buffering on inputs. And also xcontroller has an e-stop, pause play and stop button. It’s still alot of money, have you checked out phils demon.

3

The Xcontroller is still essentially an Arduino from a GRBL perspective. What differs is the Gshield versus a custom Inventables solution.

  • the Xcontroller can support up to 4A per output
  • the Xcontroller has 2 slaved together outputs for the Y axis so each Y axis motor gets its own power.
  • as mentioned, the Xcontroller has input filtering for limit switches and, I think, probes to help with noise issues.
  • the Xcontroller added easy pause, resume, and abort buttons but those same inputs are available on the other setup
  • no soldering required for the Xcontroller
  • all wires are easily connected to the back

To me, it’s worth the money (I have one) but it is a good amount of money (but still a fair price IMO). Phils setup is quite a bit cheaper but also requires much more labor and also a greater understanding of electrical systems than the Xcontroller does. I’m not saying you have to be an engineer but connecting 2 ribbon cables and 1 power connector for the Xcontroller is much easier than all the wiring you need for phils setup. To each their own.

5

Thank you Phil
I have a lot of knowledge in electronics
But I do not know how to use it for the X controller.
Is it an advantage to upgrade to the X controller
Against Arduion that came with when I bought my X-carve

How do I know which one is the best choice for my X-carve

6

If you take your time to do a project and you are not in a hurry - Arduino + gShield is fine.

If you are going to do production work where you want the most aggressive feeds and cut depths - X-controller or your own controller like Phil built (this would also benefit from better motor, stronger frame, better belts upgrades)

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7

I have all the time I need and I´m not in a hurry

But there was someone who wrote somewhere
That if it was good to have the X controller
If you wish to cut 3-D

8

You can always upgrade at a later time if you start doing projects which the Arduino+gShield can’t handle.

Personally, I would just keep going with what you have until you run into a situation that your machine can’t handle.

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9

I don’t think 3D or 2D has much impact on which controller to use. You can perfectly cut 3D with gshield + arduino.

For some reason people tend to see the xcarve, Xcontroller and Easel as a fixed marriage. but easel is not (yet?) capable of 3D.

While they were designed to work in perfect unison, all three components ‘can’ be swapped out with an alternative of your choosing. If you want 3D capability, you’ll need to look beyond Easel for code generation. You can still use Easel as a gcode sender as far as I understand it. people can correct me if I’m wrong about that.

1 Like