The Duet 3 6XD motherboard is a high-performance controller designed for CNC machines requiring stepper or external servo motors. In fact, this new board in the Duet 3 family allows up to 6 of the most common external stepper and servo motor drivers on the market to be connected. To begin with the external drivers uses step, direction and trigger signals that can be configured and customized by firmware according to your needs.
Like the Duet 3 6HC motherboard it provides IO input and output connections for handling temperature probes, limit switches, sensors, fans, etc. Notably, this board offers opto-isolated IO inputs/outputs to facilitate integration with PLCs and other industrial control systems. This represents another step forward for Duet 3D electronics toward industrial applications.
Also with this board, Duet3D has maintained the overall goal of the Duet 3 board family, which is to allow maximum flexibility in machine design through custom motherboards, expansion boards, tool boards and expansion modules.
In fact, like the other Duet 3 motherboards, it can be accessed directly from the network in stand-alone mode (via Ethernet port) or has the option of using an SBC (Single Board Computer, e.g., Raspberry Pi) for direct control over the board via bus. Also using Duet 3's CAN-FD bus, it is expandable and compatible with the entire range of Duet 3 expansion boards.
Like all other boards from Duet3D it also uses the well-known and proven RepRapFirmware 3 firmware, which comes preinstalled on the board.