Mach3 and VFD Wiring

[cropwell]

I am a little suspicious of that solution. Estlcam has provision for an arduino controller, but I don't know where you would get one, how it is programmed and what functionality it offers. Being Arduino, it ought to be open source.

Having said that I took a look on t'Interweb and found this http://blog.protoneer.co.nz/arduino-cnc-controller/ - interesting !

Cheers,

Rob

[Neale]

maybe I'm just a little confused but I believe there are people using an arduino as a controller but they could easily be using a BoB also.

There is some open-source software called grbl that runs on an Arduino. It takes gcode via a usb connection and will generate step/dir pulses for up to 3 axes. There are a few digital inputs for limits and homes plus run/stop, and outputs for spindle direction and analogue speed plus coolant switching. You can wire the Arduino output pins directly to a stepper driver without a BOB. I was using a cheap TB-something driver but the input side of these things uses pretty much the same opto-isolators as any driver. Unlike Mach3 or LinuxCNC, grbl has no user interface so you have to run something on a PC to send it gcode, accept manual input, etc. If you think of it as an external motion controller, it will give pulse rates up to 25KHz or so on 3 axes and could be used with a low-spec PC with something like Universal Gcode Sender to give a crude user interface, but Mach3/LinuxCNC it ain't. Neither is it a BOB replacement.