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electronic lead screw
- Thread starter greenail
- Start date
Cheers, Greenail,
i don't understand re GRBL, Got enuf trouble with arduino, lol
But found it,
GitHub - terjeio/GRBL_MPG_DRO_BoosterPack: Tiva C BoosterPack for GRBL MPG/DRO
Tiva C BoosterPack for GRBL MPG/DRO. Contribute to terjeio/GRBL_MPG_DRO_BoosterPack development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
any good, clear and basic overview re GRBL?
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So, grbl was highly optimized for 8bit arduinos and has been very very successful for folks running real production machines. Lately there has been quite a lot of development for faster processors with more memory which is exciting. Bart Dring released open source hardware and a grbl port to the esp32 that I have been using for over a year. You can buy one of his boards on tindie.com or you can make your own (i've done both). Bart's port supports trinamic drivers, laser mode, hobby servos with step/dir and a whole bunch more. It is stable and because it uses the esp32 it can support much higher step rates so you can get smaller microstepping if you need it! The 8 bit arduinos really struggled with >16 microstepping. The great thing about he esp32 is that is is very inexpensive and easy to get.
grblHAL is another port of the classic grbl codebase which also supports esp32 but it supports a bunch of other boards and it is designed to make it easy for follks to add new processor architectures. Generally the jogging on grbl has been sub par due to trying to squeeze it onto an old arduino with very limited memory. The newer 32bit processors generally have much more memory available so more can be done to improve jogging (as you can see above by his MPG). grblHAL also has some preliminary support for spindle sync and G76! Finally terjeio is working on his own gcode sender that enables support for his grblHAL specific enhancements. This seems the best fit to use to make a ELS since it already handles the spindle sync, step generation, acceleration motion control etc. Again, it would also do full CNC if you needed it to.
generic grbl:
github.com
a decent video:
bart's port:
github.com
bart's blog (generally interesting)
grblHAL is another port of the classic grbl codebase which also supports esp32 but it supports a bunch of other boards and it is designed to make it easy for follks to add new processor architectures. Generally the jogging on grbl has been sub par due to trying to squeeze it onto an old arduino with very limited memory. The newer 32bit processors generally have much more memory available so more can be done to improve jogging (as you can see above by his MPG). grblHAL also has some preliminary support for spindle sync and G76! Finally terjeio is working on his own gcode sender that enables support for his grblHAL specific enhancements. This seems the best fit to use to make a ELS since it already handles the spindle sync, step generation, acceleration motion control etc. Again, it would also do full CNC if you needed it to.
generic grbl:
Home
An open source, embedded, high performance g-code-parser and CNC milling controller written in optimized C that will run on a straight Arduino - gnea/grbl
github.com
a decent video:
bart's port:
GitHub - bdring/Grbl_Esp32: A port of Grbl CNC Firmware for ESP32
A port of Grbl CNC Firmware for ESP32. Contribute to bdring/Grbl_Esp32 development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
bart's blog (generally interesting)
Thanks for all ur efforts here GreenailSo, grbl was highly optimized for 8bit arduinos and has been very very successful for folks running real production machines. Lately there has been quite a lot of development for faster processors with more memory which is exciting. Bart Dring released open source hardware and a grbl port to the esp32 that I have been using for over a year. You can buy one of his boards on tindie.com or you can make your own (i've done both). Bart's port supports trinamic drivers, laser mode, hobby servos with step/dir and a whole bunch more. It is stable and because it uses the esp32 it can support much higher step rates so you can get smaller microstepping if you need it! The 8 bit arduinos really struggled with >16 microstepping. The great thing about he esp32 is that is is very inexpensive and easy to get.
grblHAL is another port of the classic grbl codebase which also supports esp32 but it supports a bunch of other boards and it is designed to make it easy for follks to add new processor architectures. Generally the jogging on grbl has been sub par due to trying to squeeze it onto an old arduino with very limited memory. The newer 32bit processors generally have much more memory available so more can be done to improve jogging (as you can see above by his MPG). grblHAL also has some preliminary support for spindle sync and G76! Finally terjeio is working on his own gcode sender that enables support for his grblHAL specific enhancements. This seems the best fit to use to make a ELS since it already handles the spindle sync, step generation, acceleration motion control etc. Again, it would also do full CNC if you needed it to.
generic grbl:
Home
An open source, embedded, high performance g-code-parser and CNC milling controller written in optimized C that will run on a straight Arduino - gnea/grbl
a decent video:
bart's port:
GitHub - bdring/Grbl_Esp32: A port of Grbl CNC Firmware for ESP32
A port of Grbl CNC Firmware for ESP32. Contribute to bdring/Grbl_Esp32 development by creating an account on GitHub.
bart's blog (generally interesting)
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RJ, I see that the motor you chose runs at 200 steps/rev, while the one James used is 1000 steps/rev. Did this require a change to the code? I have zero experience coding and I don’t want to get into a project too deep for me to wade through!
There is a section of the code with well documented configuration. You can change the steps/rev there by changing one number. You can probably also enable microstepping with a switch on the controller to match the original.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,983
James is using a servo with a built in 1000 step encoder. Yes, you will have to change some parameters in his code. He explains how to this in part 10 of his video series.
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 9,983
You can change various different parameters to achieve the desired output ratio depending on your particular situation. I use a 2:1 gear reduction in my gear box to increase torque to the lead screw and changed a parameter accordingly. For instance, I could change my srepper resolution to 400 steps/rev. or change the lead screw pitch from 16 to 32 with the same effect.
I think I roughly follow you, and I should be able to muddle through. The flashing and parameter setting parts of this project will be the big challenge for me.
Here's a combo I was looking at:
Yesterday I ordered Clough's interface board, a 1024p/rev encoder, Launchpad, 5v supply, display/control panel, Bud box. Here goes!
The last things to figure out are servo, driver, power supply, drivetrains for servo and encoder, nuts-n-bolts stuff.
One more point I'm a little lost on - will I need to source the connectors to hook stuff up to the interface board? From the pictures, it doesn't look like the male parts of the connectors are included…
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- Joined
- Jan 10, 2019
- Messages
- 1,220
Since this thread resurfaced, James posted a video several weeks ago on making the display box front panel from circuit board material (copper-covered fiberglass), and etching the printing. Turned out great, though it's unclear at this time whether he plans to make them available.