http://diylilcnc.org/forum/tags/grbl Free, open-source plans for a low-cost 3-axis CNC mill by Taylor Hokanson and Chris Reilly. Sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. en-US Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:39:31 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://diylilcnc.org/forum/search.php http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/v2-electronicsdriver-board#post-896 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:40:15 +0000 shapeoko 896@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Nice list you have going here Chris!</p> <p>I'm like a walking advertisement for buildlog.net right now, but I'm really &lt;u&gt;really&lt;/u&gt; digging their 4 axis open source CNC controller (here: <a href="http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2011/08/open-source-4-axis-stepper-driver/" rel="nofollow">http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2011/08/open-source-4-axis-stepper-driver/</a>)</p> <p>It uses the pololu drivers (2A max per motor), has active cooling (fan), and works really well with EMC2. When I'm not using one of the grbl boards (grblShield, stright grbl with breadboard, stepper shield, etc) I'm using this controller and so far it's been flawless.</p> <p>I've used a lot of different boards over the last 6 years (xylotex, hobbycnc, and a some <strike> Chinese </strike> knockoffs from ebay, among others) and the one thing I really like about designing around the pololu drivers is that they're cheap ($12) and replaceable. So if you blow up an axis, just pop the driver out of the board, and replace it with another. Most of the other designs would require you to replace the whole board.</p> <p>A second "cool" point about the buildlog.net controller goes to the idea that you can control a relay, which in turn could control the spindle, through the 4th axis! You can read more about that in this blog post: <a href="http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2011/10/pololu-compatible-relay-driver/" rel="nofollow">http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2011/10/pololu-compatible-relay-driver/</a> </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/v2-electronicsdriver-board#post-889 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:19:23 +0000 Chris 889@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>We're looking at a few different options for stepper driver boards for DIYLILCNC V2. Here are the criteria we're looking for:</p> <p>-USB Compatible<br /> -Capable of driving at least 3 motors @ 3Amps/motor<br /> -Open source (hardware, firmware, and controller software)<br /> -Cross-platform (Windows/OSX/Linux), open-source GUI controller software<br /> -~$100 price point</p> <p>So far, we've had good experiences with the <a href="http://www.hobbycnc.com/">HobbyCNC Pro Chopper</a> board:</p> <p>Pros</p> <ul> <li>Good price: $80-$100 (3 or 4-Axis versions)</li> <li>Handles multiple [up to 4], high-current motors.</li> <li>Works with EMC2 (great open-source control GUI) in Linux, or Mach3 (not OS) in Windows</li> <p>Operation is stable &amp; very robust </ul> <p>Cons</p> <ul> <li>Requires assembly/soldering.</li> <li>Requires additional parts (transformer).</li> <li>Assembled board/power supply are large for a desktop machine.</li> <li>Requires parallel port on controller PC.</li> <li>Closed design (firmware/hardware).</li> </ul> <p>We've also been testing the <a href="http://www.synthetos.com/wiki/index.php?title=Projects:TinyG">TinyG</a>, a very cool USB-based CNC controller. It's still in development, but looks promising:</p> <p>Pros</p> <ul> <li>Decent price: ~$100.</li> <li>Works via USB on Mac and Windows (Possibly Linux).</li> <li>Arrives assembled.</li> <li>Surface-mount components keep board small.</li> <li>Works with off-the-shelf PC power supply.</li> <li>Easily extensible, works with Processing, CoolTerm, etc.</li> <li>Firmware is open-source.</li> </ul> <p>Cons</p> <ul> <li>No stable GUI (yet).</li> <li>Still a bit buggy with GCode interpretation.</li> <li>Requires additional heat-sink for use with DIYLILCNC-size motors</li> </ul> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/grbl-an-arduino-based-g-code-interpreter#post-524 Wed, 16 Jun 2010 14:33:19 +0000 Bill 524@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p><a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/06/grbl_an_arduino-based_g-code_interp.html">Grbl</a> is a mostly complete implementation of the g-code standard, written to run on an Atmega328-based Arduino. </p>