www.CncPlayer.com

[admin]

Hi,

I realized that it will take some time until my Usb CncPlayer Arduino is ready and mature enough for the cnc market. So I remembered the RepRap project. RepRap (search the web for 'reprap') is a cnc 3D printer. Actually this is a pretty amazing technology but unfortunately I have no demand for printed 3D workpieces. I'm more into metal like steal and aluminum and cnc milling machines, lathe and such.

But RepRap is open source and so is the motherboard and the firmware. The motherboard is based on / derived from the Sanguino, which is an Arduino clone. It got an ATmega644P processor, is equipped with a slot for an SD memory card and so on. Basically an interesting board with lots of I/O pins.

Well, the RepRap protocol is very similar (but not identical) with my CncPlayer protocol because both are packet oriented. So I implemented / interfaced the motherboard with the CncPlayer.

Currently the CncPlayer can 'jog' the machine. That means pressing the xyz -/+ buttons in the CncPlayer will move the machine's axes accordingly. Feedrate also works. This is already a small success. The next work to do is to make the CncPlayer mill a *.plt etc. file. Maybe I have to change the RepRap/MakerBot firmware slightly. Not sure yet. I was just reporting my current development stage here.

A few more words: When I received my (RepRap/MakerBot) motherboard by postal mail I realized that it has no usb port. So I had to order again the breakout board which was 13 Euro if my memory serves me well. The motherboard just has a 5 Volt serial TTL port. The breakout board has the popular FTDI chip that does the serial to usb conversion. No soldering required. The breakout board is the very small board that stands vertical and has a black chip and the usb connector. You can see it in the images.

That's all for the moment.

Regards, Walter