Re:Homemade Circuit Board and Software

Message: 16
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 12:40:31 -0000
From: "dex367" <dexlabboy@...>
Subject: Homemade Circuit Board and Software

I am just finishing up the layout of a 4-axis board.

It uses four ST Mico's L6208 stepper driver chip sets.
It takes from 8 to 52v and drives to 2.8A rms.
Each L6208 is connected to a single Motorola 68HC908MR16
microcontroller. You can control the clock, reset, CW/CCW, Half/Full
step and even microstep.

It also has a E-stop and 8 limit switch inputs.

The Parallel Port is also connected to the microcontroller.
With this configuration I can change or modify the I/O of the
parallel port to operate the stepper drivers. I was thinking of
using a USB port but heck that will be in my next version.

The serial port works a onboard in circuit programmer for the
microcontroller. All I need to do is flip a switch and reprogram the
microcontroller. I have designed the hardware to change its
operation in software.

[That sounds pretty impressive, Dex. Are you an electronics technician in
real life?]

With this nearing completion, I am now looking for software to run my
machine. I now have a three axis wood router.

I need to find software (I am willing to buy.) that will do the CAD
and CAM. Any suggestions? I need alot of flexability and complex
shapes.

[Have you tried Rhino? It's good for complex shapes, because the NURBS
surfaces it uses are a lot "lighter" memory-wise than an equivalent polygon
mesh. Of course, once you're done manipulating your forms as NURBS, you can
mesh them for export. The best format to save in for export to most CAM
programs is STL. You can download a fully-functional copy (good for 15
saves) from www.rhino3d.com .]

This winter I will be designing a 4 axis machine. The fourth axis
will be a rotary axis that will turn a log 36 inch dia by 101 inch
long. This will be used to make wooden sculptures.

Dex

[Logs don't usually make great carving material, since they have an innate
tendency to split from the inside outward. If a cylindrical shape is wanted,
you might be better off quartering a log, drying the quarters separately,
then gluing it back together before carving. For 4-axis CAM on sculptural
shapes, you might look at DeskProto, which has very good 4th axis capability
and is also simple to use. You can download a working copy from
www.deskproto.com that's good for 30 days.]

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com