External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else? - Prusa add-ons (GPIO, accelerometer,...)

RE: External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

Virtually_human — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 17:51:12 +0000

Did you ever move forward with this setup?

Posted by: @ondrej-kabelka
Hi, how can I use a hackerboard (for example) to connect 5 buttons outside the enclosure and assign them the function of loading filament using G-code from M704 0 to M704 4? Is a hackerboard and 5 microswitches enough for this? Or do I also need an ESP32 or something else?

RE: External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

Robin_13 — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 03:12:52 +0000

Look at an I2C keyboard or interface to the buttons. Another thread talks about I2C being the communications for the Xbuddy. Maybe work that way.

RE: External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

Ondřej Kabelka — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:34:57 +0000

But i see whats really is GPIO board. It only puts GPIO pins from xBuddy to board. GPIO isnt comunication port for external purpose.

So i must put 5 micro buttons on pins and in printed set macro.

RE: External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

Ondřej Kabelka — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 08:56:50 +0000

OK, I understand. But I don’t really want to use up 5 out of 7 pins on the Hackerboard just for buttons. Isn’t there a way to connect an ESP32 to the Hackerboard to get more options? The buttons should only be switches that trigger code in the ESP32, in my opinion. That way, I can also have the G-code stored directly on the ESP32.

RE: External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

_KaszpiR_ — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 22:57:58 +0000

I guess it should be enough to have 5 buttons, hackerboard and tiny capacitors to keep the buttons from debouncing ( or just use buttons with such feature in them) and to trigger execution of the specific gcode file per key press.

Though with additional esp32 you would be able to do a bit more if needed.

External Buttons for Filament Loading – Hackerboard, ESP32, or Something Else?

Ondřej Kabelka — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 13:31:52 +0000

Hi, how can I use a hackerboard (for example) to connect 5 buttons outside the enclosure and assign them the function of loading filament using G-code from M704 0 to M704 4? Is a hackerboard and 5 microswitches enough for this? Or do I also need an ESP32 or something else?