Upgrading the LitePlacer's TinyG with silent TMC2209 drivers

[carbon-rod]

Hello humans,

I recently purchased a new 3D printer from Creality and it utilises German engineered TMC2209 stepper drivers which make the printer near on silent!! I was very impressed.
I did a little search and found the stepper drivers as a quite commonly available module, so after some research on compatibility etc, I decided to purchase a few and install them. Oh man, they work very well!

The LitePlacer is so much quieter now, I had the current on the motor turned up quite a lot before, which I'm sure didn't help the noise, but this is amazing, the new stepper drivers barely produce any heat, whereas the old ones were getting so hot that I needed to attach a shonky heatsink to them. I'm also super impressed that when the machine is idling the driver must reduce the current output as the motors barely produce any heat at all! So I was able to wind up the motor off time, you could disable it all together if required.

I've attached an image of the pinout to modify the TinyG in case anyone is interested, it's not pretty, but it's functional. I might at somepoint design up a little expansion board that makes it easier to interface with the TinyG.

I added a quick comparison video on youtube as well, it's hard to tell from the phone camera, but it's significantly quieter now. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di4Z6mQLL0E

Anywho, hit me up if you have any questions.

Muzz.

[KeithM]

Great post, the picture is very informative.
Keith

[AnalysIR]

@carbon-rod

Many thanks for your post. I went ahead and got some PCBs made along these lines, with some extra stuff.

Features:
- Upgraded TMC2209 drivers from BigTreeTech v1.2 ($20.80 for 5PCs with heat-sink delivered. I got one extra just in case)
- These TMC2209s come with male headers underneath, that plug into 4 pairs of female headers
- Upgrade any combination from 1 to 4 motor stepper drivers.
- Added a set of jumpers to easily switch the z-limits between OpenPNP & Liteplacer. (yellow jumpers in image below)
- Also added the circuits for both the solenoid & pump FET switches
- Footprints for SMD or TH Capacitors close to the stepper drivers. I am using TH KEMET 100uF 35V 105degC. The ones on the TinyG are still in circuit.
- As suggested the native TinyG pots are turned down to the minimum (The 4 motor wires are now switched to the terminals on the new PCB).
- The TMC2209 pots are set @ 50% for now.
- Functions as a generic TinyG stepper upgrade (not just for LP)
- Solder jumpers to set MS1 & MS2 for micro-steps. Defaulted to 1/8 micro-steps.
- 1 LED to indicate 24V supply to the PCB & another for 3V3
- Spare 24V & GND screw terminals. (2 or 3 of each). Also spare pair of male header pins for 3V3 & GND

To say the LP is now very quiet is an understatement. Much quieter than in the video linked above. With the lower noise I am now hearing some noises I never knew were there before (for example my Y end stop was just about hitting the frame before stopping. I didn't notice the thud before with the motor noise & a quick adjustment on the end-stop switch fixed it.

The motors are now very close to ambient temperature (vs very hot to touch before with the native TinyG drivers).

As can be seen below, the new PCB inserts into the top of TinyG, using female headers on the TinyG and long Male headers on the new PCB. (Long male headers are used to avoid contact with components on the TinyG, with the added benefit of more airflow.)

(Right click and select View Image, if it is not all visible)

IMG_4128.jpg (776.82 KiB) Viewed 12299 times

I plan to make the PCBs along with all of the required components available on our Tindie Store https://www.tindie.com/stores/analysir/ (excluding wires and stepper drivers) over the next week or so.

In the meantime if the OP(carbon-rod) would like a PCB just send me a PM here or contact me via the contact link on our website.

(Note: I haven't tested this with OpenPNP yet, but have tested all 4 motors, the solenoid & pump and the z-min/max on LitePlacer without issue)

[AnalysIR]

As mentioned above, the upgrade PCBs with components are now available on Tindie, via the link below.

https://www.tindie.com/products/analysi ... r-openpnp/

For LP forum users there is a special discount available (1st 5 only), by using the code F38955D3 during checkout.

Update: Above offer code expired now. 2nd batch of PCBs available now, via Tindie link above.

[carbon-rod]

As mentioned above, the upgrade PCBs with components are now available on Tindie, via the link below.

https://www.tindie.com/products/analysi ... r-openpnp/

For LP forum users there is a special discount available (1st 5 only), by using the code F38955D3 during checkout.

Hey bud!

Thanks so much for designing up the board, it's certainly much more professional than if I had have done it. I certainly wouldn't say no to one!

Thanks very much

[AnalysIR]

I certainly wouldn't say no to one!

@carbon-rod .... No Problem. I will need your postal address & email address. You can use PM here or contact me via: https://www.analysir.com/blog/contact/

[infinitemach]

This weekend I finished installing the TMC2209 TinyG upgrade from AnalysIR.

Wow! What a difference! I don't even hear the stepper motors anymore. No more ringing and buzzing when the machine is idle.

Assembly and instructions were very straight forward, really no complications there. If you decide to buy this upgrade, get the version with the SMD components pre-soldered, it's really worth the small difference in price.

It is really important that all the wiring to the TinyG is fully labeled, before installing the upgrade board. Also, a clear photograph of the wiring before the upgrade helps very much.

I had a few questions about the installation and AnalysIR was very quick to help.

The only issue I had post-install was that I had to turn down the speed settings for the Z and X axis. The Z axis would move maybe 10mm and squeal to a stop when doing a rapid move. The X axis had no problem with rapid move but was producing some noise (not nearly as much as with the original TinyG drivers!). I adjusted the speed of the X axis down and the noise went away.

[fcawth]

Just got done installing mine. Nice improvement in the smoothness and sound.

Regarding the noise at higher (moderate) speeds: I changed the TMC2209 drivers to spread cycle by moving the resistor according to the manual (linked below) and the vibration/noise at higher speeds was much better - I've got X,Y, and Z set up this way and I could actually move the speed up to faster than before. It's not completely silent at the faster speeds but at slow speeds it is very quiet. Plus the motors stay much cooler. I think that these TMC drivers cut the current down when the motor is not moving so it would be nice to increase the timeout where the motors shut off. I didn't see a setting for this - can this be done?

I've got a 24V fan blowing on the TMC2209 drivers just to keep them cool - those heatsinks got a bit warm.

https://zco.ro/media/documente/TMC2209-V1.2-manual.pdf

[JuKu]

> The Z axis would move maybe 10mm and squeal to a stop when doing a rapid move.

The motor stalled: the inductance of the coils prevented the magnetic field to change direction fast enough to keep up with the rotation, i.e. the motors magnets positions.

If it worked before at a given speed, you are likely using more current than needed. (If it stalled because of the different waveform on the coils, it is what it is.)

[AnalysIR]

I think that these TMC drivers cut the current down when the motor is not moving so it would be nice to increase the timeout where the motors shut off. I didn't see a setting for this - can this be done?

try something like:

Code: Select all

$mt=300

see original article here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5992

I presume you have to save TinyG settings for it to be permanent.