GRBL firmware and bCNC

silverdog · #1 Mon 17 April 2017, 10:07

I am testing GRBL Arduino firmare with bCNC control software https://github.com/vlachoudis/bCNC/wiki ... Kitchen Table testing for the moment

... but I am realy impressed on haw the open source is moving

... just give a look at the Probe/Auto Level and Probe Camera Alignment

... Sonny Jeon GRBL's developer is working on a version for the ARM 32bit processors which will have much more memory and speed ....
BTW it's a 4 to 12 $ solution.

TheDave · #2 Wed 05 July 2017, 08:52

Sergio, thanks for the link! I was also impressed to find a CNC board for my Raspberry Pi that includes an Arduino Nano pre-programmed with Grbl software:
http://wiki.protoneer.co.nz/Raspberry_Pi_CNC

Sadly, it looks like they can only drive up to NEMA 23 motors (2.8 Amps), and I wonder if they can really do that anyway (motor drivers claim up to 2.5 Amps with additional cooling installed). But this looks to be the way of the future

silverdog · #3 Wed 05 July 2017, 15:06

Dave, here a solution to connect any drivers you like to those boards :-)
https://www.banggood.com/MKS-CD-5786...mds=mywishlist

TheDave · #4 Thu 06 July 2017, 06:00

Sergio, that is awesome!! I see a kitchen table project for me real soon!!

Dumitru Ivanov · #5 Mon 10 July 2017, 01:29

I'm also renovating and that table project sounds like a plan.

TheDave · #6 Thu 13 July 2017, 11:44

I was doing some more reading and found this on the Gecko Drive web site:

"A motor control will always draw less than 2/3 of the motor’s rated current when it is parallel (or half-winding) connected and 1/3 of the motor’s rated current when it is series (or full-winding) connected. That is to say, a 6 amp per phase motor will require a 4 amp power supply when wired in parallel and a 2 amp power supply when wired in series."

So I should be able to use NEMA 34 motors with the Protoneer board and the recommended Pololu drivers. I have no idea what the quality is on them, but it is possible. Maybe this motor?

https://www.omc-stepperonline.com/hy...s26-2006d.html

silverdog · #7 Fri 14 July 2017, 05:11

uhmm ... I think pololu are a bit underpowered for a nema34 ... if you want to try that solution, use at least the drv8825 which have a maximum output of 2.5 Amp pay attention to the specification, because they generally declare the peak output but the continuos output is lower ...
this coul be a better option: http://www.watterott.com/en/SilentStepStick-TMC2130 or the tmc2100 ..... the max output is the same of drv8825.