And finally, here's the controller board I intend replacing the parallel port cable with. It runs the RepRap GCode firmware on the arduino-compatible RBBB (on the left), and has usb-serial, bluetooth-serial and sd card modules on the right, so I can choose which to use depending on my mood. :) It's not completely wired up yet; I still need to put in the 5v/3.3v regulators and connectors for the limit switches.
Like on the driver board, the modules are all socketed so I'm not committing them to this board forever (I use that BT serial module for everything, you see.)
Friday, August 21, 2009
And again from the rear...
Here is the other side of the mill, with the driver board mounted against the vertical pipe. The bottom of the board has three EasyDriver stepper driver boards (from different sources, since I've blown a few ;_;) along with the parallel port and 24v connections. And at the top is the rotary tool speed controller I found at Mondo Technology. At the moment that's in dire need of some smoothing capacitors, since I get spurious steps on every axis whenever it's on. :o
The straggling grey wires on the right go to the limit switches; since I've only just added them there's nowhere for them to plug in just yet.
The straggling grey wires on the right go to the limit switches; since I've only just added them there's nowhere for them to plug in just yet.
Actual photos again!
Here's the current state of the mill, now that I've found an SD card reader again (they all hid on me, grrr). On top of the milling platform is the cheapo rotary tool motor from before, mounted on some aluminium angle and ready to be stuck on the Z axis. You can also see a few microswitches peeking out at the end of a few rails. They're only hotglued on - partly because it was fast and easy, and partly because that way a rogue stage can't do any damage if it forces it's way past a switch (they'll just pop off.)
Saturday, August 8, 2009
First Movement!
My mill made it's first movement today! I've finally got three working stepper driver boards, and the Y driveshaft hooked up.
It is pretty slow, in part because I haven't configured KCam properly, and partly because the drivers are locked in 8x microstepping mode. I can modify the drivers, but it requires desoldering IC pins and adding wire jumpers - and after watching multiple drivers lose the magic smoke, I'm somewhat reticent to touch them.
Still, things are slowly progressing for the first time in ages!
It is pretty slow, in part because I haven't configured KCam properly, and partly because the drivers are locked in 8x microstepping mode. I can modify the drivers, but it requires desoldering IC pins and adding wire jumpers - and after watching multiple drivers lose the magic smoke, I'm somewhat reticent to touch them.
Still, things are slowly progressing for the first time in ages!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
