Any Arduino users?

[rrowan]

So anybody using Arduino?

Looking for basics of getting started. I am thinking to with start with the Uno rev 3 board and a shield (GRBL?) to drive stepper motors (NEMA 17).
Basically a pen on small simple CNC machine.

Thanks

Rick R.

[tbone321]

You would probably be better off using the Ras Pi.  For around $35 you get a fully operational PC with various headers that a standard PC does not have such as the GPIO header which allows the Pi to have direct hardware control .  There are also libraries available to allow the Pi to control the Arduino and all under a Linux OS.  You could also do much of this stuff with the PIC and you already have the programmer.

[TexasStingray]

I been using an Arduino R3 for aboput 2 years. I created the Panther DMX Player based on the Arduino. I have modified the Panther to control my yard lights (MR16 Leds) using a photo resister and a relay using a 12V 2amp wal mart. I have another one that has been modified for Blue Tooth Connection to allow me to turn on my Pool light with auto shutoff after 1 hour using a solid state relay. Working on another that will accept IR to turn on a spot light with normal relay. I have put some videos of simple firmware mods on youtube.

Scott

[rrowan]

Thank you Tom and Scott,

While I agree the Raspberry Pi has more cpu power and other goodies at this time its not what I currently want to use. That could change in the future. I am also not fully moving away from the microchip PICs either ( I do have a small stock pile of different PICs) and there is a small project I am starting with a PIC once I understand what the device needs that I need to control. Thank you for your suggestions.

Scott, sounds like you have some cool projects that you have done and I will take a look at your youtube videos.

Thanks

Rick R.

[twooly]

I just got one for a Christmas present.  Been playing with it to control a dumb led strip and a 16x32 matrix.  I want to get a bluetooth module/wireless module to play with that.  I'm just on the starting side too 

[packetbob]

I have just started building a Arduino based 3 axis mini CNC device called the piccolo (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) that sounds similar to what you are doing...
You may want to check it out.....

They don't have kit but have released all the information and artwork files to make your own. Someone in our local maker space put together a group order for the parts while someone else ordered a bunch of the boards. The PCBs took about a month to get but seem to be fine...

I have got the board populated and tested. Just waiting for another member of the group to get the various mechanical parts laser cut (again through the local maker space that has a laser cutter) so we can assemble the rest of the unit...

oops wrong button - met to click on quote but hit modify. My bad.
RR

[rrowan]

I have just started building a Arduino based 3 axis mini CNC device called the piccolo (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) that sounds similar to what you are doing...
You may want to check it out.....

They don't have kit but have released all the information and artwork files to make your own. Someone in our local maker space put together a group order for the parts while someone else ordered a bunch of the boards. The PCBs took about a month to get but seem to be fine...

I have got the board populated and tested. Just waiting for another member of the group to get the various mechanical parts laser cut (again through the local maker space that has a laser cutter) so we can assemble the rest of the unit...

oops wrong button - met to click on quote but hit modify. My bad.
RR

Cool but what about this board(s)?
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Rick R.

[packetbob]

That looks fine... There are a bunch of similar stepper driver boards for 3D printers (RAMPS, RUMBA, etc) that are Arduino based... With the one you show you will also need to source the A4988 stepper driver modules and a decent 12 volt power supply to drive them... Make sure you use heat sinks on the A4988s as they tend to run hot.. May want to use a fan too....

For $20.00 you can't go wrong...

Whatever mechanics you use will end up costing a lot more......

I'm also working on putting together a 3D printer (Prusa i3) right now....

[wftxlites]

Ardunio uno is good to use if you would like to build your own board eventually. The ATmega328P is a dip style cpu. I have built a RGB light controller that uses DMX and I used the uno board to program the cpu chips for my boards.  So, I prefer the uno due to the dip style cpu and ease of programming.  So, if you can program in basic, VB, or C then the ardunio programming language is easy to do. There are a lot of example pieces of code available out there to build on and there are many shields if your not into building your own or boards based on ATMega328P. One thing to know there are several versions of the Ardunio programming software and not all code works on each version. So that can be frustrating when trying example code. I suggest downloading Version 021 and 1.0.5 r2. I mostly use 021 which is older.  It is just that I've had better luck with it in what I am doing. There are modifications that need to be done in various versions of Ardunio/AVR code in some cases. If you plan on building your own board and buying the chips then you will also need to place the boot loader on new chips. Again for me it was easier to modify the AVR code in 021 to use boot loader code to burn the chips based on info I found on the web.

I'm sure that there may be easier methods now as it has been a couple years since I've tried any of the new Ardunio software. Many bugs have been addressed and fixed since 021.