Accelerated Tech
Networking
3D Printing
This project is launching soon.
The X1Plus Expansion Board is a hardware companion to the X1Plus open-source custom firmware distribution for Bambu Lab’s X1 3D printers. It adds printer expandability with an Ethernet port, two USB ports, a STEMMA-QT / Qwiic-compatible I2C connector, and four interchangeable GPIO headers for pluggable add-in adapters.
Whether you’re a print farm user who needs reliable connectivity and a status indicator, a Home Assistant power user who wants environmental sensors, a creator who wants control over a high-quality camera, or you want to spice up your printer with an LED strip without an external microcontroller, the X1Plus Expansion Board provides a compact solution!
On the inside, the X1Plus Expansion Board plugs into the port on the X1’s AP board that connects the chamber monitoring camera (and the chamber monitoring camera then connects to the Expansion Board). The X1Plus Expansion Board has a Microchip LAN9514 combination USB hub and 100 megabit Ethernet controller and a Raspberry Pi RP2040 to handle GPIO controls, as well as voltage regulators to step down from the printer’s main 24V power supply, providing a reliable 5V and 3.3V power supply for the board to use without loading the AP’s regulators.
The X1Plus Expansion Board tucks away cleanly behind the X1’s LCD screen with a case that you can print yourself or order an SLS print of it if you just want to get started right away. It has four expansion headers on the top; initially, we’ll offer a camera shutter remote trigger board, an addressable LED level shifter board, and an Andon light board (sold separately or as a bundle).
X1Plus offers several add-on boards that give your printer even more amazing new capabilities:
The camera shutter remote trigger board has two 2.5mm TRS-style shutter release connectors, allowing you to wire your printer up to a camera and take beautiful time-lapses of your prints from all different angles. This is a de-facto standard for shutter release accessories, and there are many cheap adapter cables from 2.5mm to interface with many different makes of cameras.
The LED level shifter board allows you to connect a string of WS2812B-compatible LEDs to the Expansion Board. For short lengths of LED strips (not more than 500 mA), you can power them directly from the Expansion Board; if you have an external power supply, you can inject power into your LED strip that way and use the level shifter to provide a 5V-compatible output.
The Andon light board provides nine programmable RGB LEDs, a few buttons, and a beeper. With a relatively low profile, it can give visual indications of each printer’s status in a print farm. Find out at a glance whether a print is complete, has failed, or any number of other programmable conditions.
The X1Plus firmware modifications for the X1 are open source software that you can install today on your X1 if you like. The X1Plus Expansion Board and its add-ons are also open-source hardware, developed on GitHub, and, of course, designed with KiCad. The CAD for the Expansion Board’s mount is currently designed in OnShape, and we’ll provide STEP files as needed to build it.
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"If you love your Bambu Lab X1 3D printer and the open source philosophy, then the X1Plus Expansion Board is perfect for you."
· accelerated.tech · accelerated-tech
We've been helping other companies build and commercialize their own hardware products for seven years, and all the while, we've been doing our own open source work. We're excited to get to use the knowledge we've accumulated to build the things that we've wanted to have in our own labs, and give as many people access to them as possible!
