NanoDLP shield is a low cost simple PCB board with stepper driver, which directly get wired to Raspberry Pi GPIO. Without any additional hardware you can control all elements of basic SLA/LCD 3D printer using this board.
There are many different types of NanoDLP shields out there. The first NanoDLP shield designed by NanoDLP team and plans shared as DIY project.
NanoDLP shields could be considered alternative of the RAMPS based control boards such as NanoDLP Official Controller Board.
Ease of Use
NanoDLP shield support fully backed into NanoDLP, with simple configuration it could be used. Wiring also simple and no complex communication going on. NanoDLP Official Controller Board also easy to use but still it is much more complicated device with more advanced use cases.
Reliability
Major problem with NanoDLP Shield is pulses being generated by NanoDLP itself and due to many technical limitation on OS and NanoDLP itself. Pulses are not perfect. So you should expect:
- It may miss steps on high speed, so it should always use with low speed. (Not much problem on SLA)
- Pulses are not in perfect form and makes stepper motor make strange sounds.
- Slicing and other heavy processing will affect movement quality and may cause missing steps.
Due to reliability issues with NanoDLP shield, majority of users using RAMPS based controller boards.
Other Differences
The functionalities of the shield are enough for basic 3D printer projects but RAMPS based boards providing so much more functionality. Shields cost also lower than RAMPS counterparts.
Cautious
Currently NanoDLP shields being produced by 3rd parties. Some may not work correctly as expected. If you are not sure about NanoDLP Shield, we strongly advise you to use RAMPS or NanoDLP Official Controller Board.
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