Smoothieboard, new opensource, ARM 32 bits ( Cortex-M3 ) CNC controller board
Hi CNC people !
I've been advised to come here and ask for opinions about my new project, so here I am !
Before the board, short story :
I got into CNCing stuff by building a Contraptor Mini CNC.
Then I converted a $1k cheap chinese laser to run using an arduino instead of the crap electronics they have in there.
At that point both machines were running using the awesome opensource Grbl firmware on arduinos.
I started contributing to it, and had all kinds of crazy ideas about stuff to add to it, but it soon became evident the 8bit atmega chips are not very well suited for feature-packed firmwares.
Simen, grbl's author at that moment, suggested doing an ARM ( 32bits ) port.
Around 9 months ago I started doing just that. building a new firmware from scratch to run on the mBed board, keeping only grbl's acceleration/jerk/planning math, 6 months ago I had CNC mill, and laser control working with it, and a few months ago I got it to do 3D printing. Smoothie was born.
Right I should explain that now: smoothie is a modular firmware.
You have a basic core that does you usual Gcode interpretation, 3-axis ( including non-cartesian ) stepper control.
And on top of that you can enable ( or code ) additional modules that add capabilities.
There are for example modules for :
* Laser control
* Spindle control
* Extruder control ( 3D printing )
Other features can be easily added as modules ( see here for an example of how that works ).
This way you can add functionality very simply without having to worry about the deep inner workings of the firmware, and just have it to what you want.
Ok but that's for programmers. For users that just means that you enable/disable modules in a config file, and the firmware does what you want it to do.
And that different projects can share a common firmware, and thus share progress on the core.
The source code for the firmware is here : .
The website is : smoothieware.org/, and there is a growing community of users.
At the moment, users are mostly from the reprap community, and they build breadboard setups using LPCXpresso or mBed boards.
But a few are also into lasers, and CNC milling.
So Smoothie runs lasers, mills, 3D printers, and it's been suggested quite early that it would be possible to design a board or boards that could run Smoothie, and be used for those uses.
That's where smoothieboard comes in.
I've been developing it for the past months, got a lot of help from the reprap community and from individuals, I finally have a prototype working, and a probable release date ( June 1 ).
Let me paste the feature list from the website, those things are exhausting to type :) :
Micro-controller
* NXP LPC1769 32-bits Cortex-M3 MCU, running at 120Mhz. 512kB Flash, 64kB RAM.
* Drag and drop flashing : simply drop a new firmware file to the smoothieboard to update.
* USB2 Composite device : shows to the computer as both a Serial device, and a Mass Storage device ( exposing the SD-card ), à-la mbed
* Ethernet
* microSD card file storage for file based config, and playing gcode files from SD
Stepper drivers
* 4 Allegro A4982 stepper drivers.
* Each capable of driving bipolar steppers up to 35V and 2A.
* 1/16 microstepping.
* TSSOP package allows for much better thermal handling than commonly used A4983/8.
* Digital control of the current setting for each driver instead of trim-pot manual control.
Power outputs
* Two SMT BSP100 ( 30V/6A ) Mosfets sharing a power circuit
* Two optional thru-hole ( TO220 ) Mosfets sharing a power circuit : solder what you need.
Power inputs
* Main 12-35V ( Stepper drivers ) power can be connected using a 3.5mm screw terminal, SMT power jack connector, or a Molex connector ( ATX-harddrive style )
* 5V input can come from either a 3.5mm screw terminal, a SMT power jack connector, or a Molex connector as above. Or be taken directly from the USB cable.
* Each of the two Mosfet couple can take it's power either from it's own 3.5mm screw terminal, or SMT power jack connector, or be connected to the main stepper driver circuit using jumpers.
Inputs
* 4 Thermistor ( ADC ) inputs.
* 6 Endstop inputs.
* Play/Pause [LED Tactile Button
Extensibility
* SPI connector, I2C connector, Serial connector
* Lots of pins broken out ( Including step, direction and enable pins for the stepper drivers, and mosfet pins )
* 13 Additional GPIO pins broken out
* 4 LEDs, many connectivity options
The design inherits a lot from the current RepRap electronics : RAMPS and Sanguinololu in terms of features, but is also much more powerful, and designed with other uses than reprap in mind.
A*second version of the board, without the stepper drivers, but with connectors for power, step, direction, enable etc ... will be available for when 2A is not enough also.
What you can see on the website now is the prototype version :
http://chibidibidiwah.wdfiles.com/lo...eric_fixed.png
The production version will be a tad smaller ( 120x120mm ), 4 layers, and have neater component placement, but otherwise it's pretty much it.
At the moment, we have a working prototype. A few things still need coding for it, once that's done we'll probably do a test run of the production version just to be sure everything is ok, then a real production run around June 1. There is a no-string attached reservation list on the smoothieboard page to help us plan the quantity of that if you are interrested in getting one before everybody.
Not sure what to add :) Questions ?
So there, what do you think about it ? Criticism is very very welcome, the board has gotten a lot of it over the past months, that has changed it considerably, and helped a lot.
Cheers ! :)
Edit : a small video we did the other day when we got the prototype stepping for the first time : [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1zAcWRP-_8"]Smoothieboard Prototype - YouTube[/ame]
Edit : and yes, of course, the board is opensource ( GPL )
2 Attachment(s)
Re: Smoothieboard, new opensource, ARM 32 bits ( Cortex-M3 ) CNC controller board
My first succefully smoothie project:
Hotwire foam cutter "Desktop" Size
https://youtu.be/AKgKzSsWntw
Attachment 362074
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Re: Smoothieboard, new opensource, ARM 32 bits ( Cortex-M3 ) CNC controller board
Quote:
Originally Posted by
arthurwolf
Hi Doorknob !
We have a picture of a -C model with the connectors it comes with on the kickstarter page :
Attachment 202588
It includes everything on that picture ( that's the 5XC version, 4XC and 3XC have the same, with the connectors they don't need removed ).
About upgrading, you'd have to add the IC ( A4982 ), and about a dozen passives.*It can be done, but if you think you'll upgrade someday I'd recommend going with a 4X*or a 5X*directly. It can be fun if you enjoy SMT soldering though, nothing difficult.
Thanks for pointing out the shapeoko forums, I'll post there !
Cheers !
Someone sent me a PM asking about this product for their specific use so I took the time to examine it closely
While I think this is a really neat product with some great potential, for anything more than a simple one color or two color (dual extruder head) 3D printer, foam cutter, hobby engraving machine or CO2 laser that doesn't factor in tool length or DIA, color mixing or auto-focusing, I think it falls short for anything in an intermediate or advanced machining capable capacity but really great for the beginner making his first cheap/inexpensive beginner machine.
Considering I can buy a very good 5-axis USB BOB that works with Mach3/4 for less than $30.00, finding a standalone offline gcode board that can meet some intermediate machine needs is as always a challenge but I must say, this project offers fantastic beginner bang for the buck but there are limitation of use for your product based on it's current functionality/implementation that people are just not aware of that may cause some disappointment if they fall into the belief that this can do it all.
Also considering that a single nozzle tri-fed extruder head capable of "on-the-fly" RGB color mixing is now becoming affordable (less than $40.00), not having that third extruder feed (E3) drive means the board wont be easy to make work in this desirable 3D configuration when you need six drivers and as far as I know only the GTM32 3D printer control board offered by Geeetech seems to be able to do "on-the-fly" color mixing and claims to be opensource but I have yet to personally substantiate the opensource claim since I can't seem to locate the code-base and replies from Geeetech don't seem to be happening.
Using a 405Nm or 450Nm laser instead of the CO2 laser with a PWM output for power level control and dedicated inputs for auto-focus which can be easily implemented in the GRBL code makes it's laser machine use limited to manual focus adjusting and CO2 laser machines.
For milling and router use what seems to be lacking is a list of supported GCODES to determine if tool length/diameter compensation along with some canned drilling/threading cycles is supported since these are not implemented or supported in the base GRBL code and trying to follow your code-base to determine if these features have been added is time consuming.
On my small mill, a single pass cutting aluminum at a depth of 1in (25.4mm) with a 1/2in (12.7mm) 3 flute end mill and a feed of 15IPM has enough of it's own challenges as I push the hardware to it's limits but changing from a 1/4in (6.35mm) DIA with a 3/4in cut depth end mill to a 1/2in (12.7mm) with a 1in (25.4mm) cut depth end mill without having to modify GCODE to manually adjust cut paths because tool length and DIA compensation is not available is annoying to say the least but for most hobbyists they accept the practice because it's what is available in the way of controllers.
Don't get me wrong, your project definitely has a place in the beginners market and this is what everyone seems to be basing new projects on while the intermediate or graduating hobbyist either settles for the beginner platform of dumps some serious cash on a controller that over-exceeds his needs (and his budget).
Congrats on a wonderful product and the black PCBA is a nice touch and hope it can grow and develop with wisdom and age to become a line of controllers that can meet most hobby requirements and not end here.
I'll keep my eyes open for your updated version of this product in the hopes that it offers some intermediate features and functionality for those of us who have graduated from kindergarden.
And a final congrat goes out to karloterrazas for posting pics of his clean and what appears to be a finely crafted foam cutter, it seems the smoothie is a good fit for the hardware.
