Who knows about simple electronics?

[WobblyHand]

Seems like if you are going to migrate to Arduino anyways, why not have simple buttons which you can debounce in sw, and output the correct pulses to the stepper? Why futz with a pulse generator, when you have an Arduino? One button can be jog fwd, the other jog rev. The Arduino does the rest... Think there's a debounce library floating around, and probably a one shot emulator (single pulse generator).

 

[markba633csi]

I'm wondering if a flip/flop is what you had in mind? Push once for forward, push again for reverse?

 

[Reddinr]

Agree with WobblyHand, who beat me to the punch...

I think you are asking for un-necessary trouble by putting a mechanical switch in line with a pulse-train. For experiments, it's no problem but for future, I suggest the switches/buttons connected as inputs to your Arduino. Then, sky's the limit.

I've done my share of microcontroller projects as a profession and hobby. Can help with that if you want, when you get to that point. I'm sure there are others here with uC experience as well.

 

[Inferno]

Agree with WobblyHand, who beat me to the punch...

I think you are asking for un-necessary trouble by putting a mechanical switch in line with a pulse-train. For experiments, it's no problem but for future, I suggest the switches/buttons connected as inputs to your Arduino. Then, sky's the limit.

I've done my share of microcontroller projects as a profession and hobby. Can help with that if you want, when you get to that point. I'm sure there are others here with uC experience as well.

Thanks for the offer. I might hit you up.
Around 5 years ago I was pretty crazy about Arduino but my laptop crashed and I lost everything. Stupid me for not having it backed up.
At any rate, when I lost all my Arduino sketches, I lost a lot of the desire to retain the knowledge. There have been other roadblocks too but I'm not going there.
As I said before, this is all proof of concept stuff. Once the entire hardware structure is up and functional I will refine it.
I already bought the switches that I'll use regardless of electronics vs arduino. They actually "may" be SPDT switches which would solve the problem easily. Won't know til they're here.

I'm wondering if a flip/flop is what you had in mind? Push once for forward, push again for reverse?

No, that's what I'm trying to avoid.
What I want to have is this. With the forward/back being on one side of the hand wheel and the left/right on the other side.

 

[Hawkeye]

If you can get the system working, you might want to consider using an (on)-off-(on) toggle switch as a control. Momentary contact, always returns to centre when you release it. It would eliminate unintentionally reversing your feed by hitting both buttons at once. You could use a 2-pole switch to eliminate the diode. That might also make the step signal delay that Reddinr mentioned easier to do.

 

[homebrewed]

I'd suggest adding limit switches to avoid over-driving your table and possibly damaging something. Also an emergency stop button you can slap in case something really goes sideways. Not doing it guarantees you will someday regret that omission.

 

[Inferno]

I'd suggest adding limit switches to avoid over-driving your table and possibly damaging something. Also an emergency stop button you can slap in case something really goes sideways. Not doing it guarantees you will someday regret that omission.

Both good points. The E-stop is already part of it and I bought microswitches for stops but the steppers won't be so powerful to not stall if there's an overlimit or crash.

I added about a week and a half to the need for the electronics. I bought the wrong size timing belt so I'm waiting for more to arrive.

As for the DPDT 3-position switch idea, I am trying to get away from having a switch proud of a surface.

 

[3Dogs]

I will chime in and say: mechanical switches are a mistake. The bounce time is so long that the motors will get many pulses each time they are pressed. And, you don’t need two switches for direction - one is enough. Pressed for Fwd, released for Rev.

If you are going to use an Arduino, ditch their development platform and use Platformio. It’s way better.

 

[Inferno]

I will chime in and say: mechanical switches are a mistake. The bounce time is so long that the motors will get many pulses each time they are pressed. And, you don’t need two switches for direction - one is enough. Pressed for Fwd, released for Rev.

If you are going to use an Arduino, ditch their development platform and use Platformio. It’s way better.

I might have to check Platformio out.
The mechanical switches are goin to be simply for larger movements, not precision. The precision will be manual or with a pulse wheel.

The entire button idea is based off of someone else's build. I liked the simplicity in his design and wanted to modify things for my own tastes.

 

[Inferno]

OK, I got switches in. They aren't what I thought I was ordering. I won't say they weren't as described (but they weren't).

The switches were supposed to be momentary. They are single pole, 2 way, latching switches. Which, if they weren't latching switches, it would be easier to hook up as the illustration shows. In the up position the U (up) connection is made. In the D (down) position, the U disconnects and the other connection is made. C is, of course, common and would be coming from the pulse generator.
When both switches are up, only the *dir* gets power and that should be just fine. Then if pressing button 1, the dir is powered and the step signal goes to the driver.
However, if BTN 2 is pressed, instead, the power to *dir* is cut and the step signal goes to the driver.

This would reverse the motor, right?

My brain wants to say there's a way to do this without the *dir* getting power all the time when nothing is pressed but I'm not seeing it right now without adding electronics (a simple flipflop would do it)