[chalks]

lucas,
its fun when you get a result! I have arranged the loan of an old computer and will try the PICPgm you recommended, I do like the very simple screen and simple language in the system description.

Update:- Being blessed with the same stated attributes as Paul 2 plus persaverance, I have now discovered how to change the driver port and am currently programing a PIC. It is taking a very long time 3/4 of an hour so far and still going.

Paul 2,
Firstly many thanks for your very kind offer, I will try to do the thing myself (note the attribute statement above) but if all fails I may well take advantage of the offer.
I started the project on the basis of a good idea at the time and gathered all the kit I thought would be needed not sure how compatable it all is!!

Many thanks to both of you for your very helpfull posts.

Regards
Chalks

[paul2]

Hi Chalks,

"It is taking a very long time 3/4 of an hour so far and still going."

I hope it works OK. Please let us know how the programing goes.
It takes just moments with a PICKIT2.
Regards.
Paul.

[chalks]

Paul
After an hour plus the screen produced the message "too many errors giving up". I have reloaded the hex file and now I'm having trouble getting the PICpgm to see the programer again. I never had this trouble with hammers!

I WILL suceed. Just don't know when.

Chalks

[lucas]

Your problem is probably that USB converter.

Just try it on the old pc direct on the port, if your programmer is good it should work fine and fast.

[paul2]

Hi Chalks,

I know just what you are going through, been there! The frustration is the worst bit.
I bet that Lucas is right. Having said that. I had no luck with very cheap serial or parallel port programmers. Back to the too old and dopey thing there I think.
Have you built the rest of the circuit yet?

Paul.

[chalks]

Lucas, Paul,

Pleased to report success!!!!!, the old box and new(to me ) program cracked it. Thanks both for the encouragement. The time for the job 98 secs. I now have 2 usb-ser connectors for disposal.

The circuit is built and the LCD lights with two rows of rubbish, now what?

Chalks

[paul2]

Hi Chalks,
Well, good to know that you are making progress, but not so sure about the rubbish on the LCD.
You will have to check all of your connections to the LCD again. I bet you are already doing that. I assume that the two rows of rubbish are not squares, if so the contrast pot, VR1 needs adjusting.
Paul.

[chalks]

Paul,
This morning powered up and had 4 perfect lines of text and bleeps on button pressing. How very satisfying!!

Chalks.

[paul2]

Pleased to hear that.
You’re away now! ;-)
Paul.

[kwackers]

Hi guys,
just to say I'm still here. ;-)

Apologies for those looking for my website, sadly it was hacked and I wasn't able to recover the database which means having to do everything from scratch again...
Hopefully I'll get around to it shortly.

Cheers,
Steve.

[salzburg]

Paul2, maybe you can help me.

I have been trying for months to make this controler to work but all

I get on the screen is black rectangles which get darker or lighter

with the movement of the vr. Would you know what causes this.

[kwackers]

Black squares (usually lines 1 & 3) simply mean the LCD has not been initialised.

If you hook the LCD to 5v with no other electronics it would do exactly the same...


The most likely suspects are:-
PIC not programmed correctly. (Check and in particular check the config bits are correct).
Wiring between PIC and LCD. (Use a multimeter to check that each connection on the chip reaches the appropriate pin on the LCD, then check that any two adjacent wires don't short circuit).
Oscillator not running. (Check wiring around xtal and the two caps).
PIC power and mclr line. (Check pic has 5v & 0v on appropriate pins, also check pin1 is at +5v).
Faulty LCD. (I"ve never seen this...)

If all the above is correct the unit will work.

Finally, if you have a keypad and beeper attached, pressing a key should result in a beep. If it does the PIC is running and the issue is the wiring to the LCD.

[paul2]

Hi Salzburg,
It seems you have the answer from the master. :-)
Paul.

[chalks]

Steve,
Your programmer has given me great satisfaction in many aspects of its build. I would like to thank you for all the help you have given in this thread to so many people and myself.

Early in the thread you mentioned that the PIC had plenty of capacity left, and that at sometime you had given thought to an electronic leadscrew. You may have seen the "stepperhead video" showing the regrinding of the flutes on an endmill, an exercise I have found requiring an aproach other than the classic flute guidance when dealing with small diameter cutters. This application may also be capable of being widened to allow thread milling (having already covered rotation of object and traverse).

If the above is just too much please excuse my raising it as I have no understanding of what is involved but the majic of your project starts the mind racing..

Again many thanks for producing an excellent project.

Regards Chalks.

[salzburg]

Kwackers and Paul2: looks like I have to start over again. There is no

beep when pushing a button. My programmer tells me the chip is

programed. Have to get a frequency meter to see if the crystal is working.

[coalburner]

Hi Kwackers, sorry to hear about the website, who do you host with? (i'm in that industry in the UK and have several custys using Concrete, including my wife ) We haven't had any hacking issues with our linux hosting for many years - maybe I can help you there)

Anyway, have you released the source for the latest versions, last I had was V2.0, I believe there was a 2.12b or c release, would appreciate latest source if available.

regards

CB

[Marty_Escarcega]

My buddy is willing to buy/program and ship the PICS:
$16 shipped CONUS for the PIC18F4520

$21 Shipped CONUS for the PIC18F452

That is CONUS, worldwide you can figure on another $10 or so for shipping depending on method. Priority Mail international worldwide is about $8 more than CONUS, around $15 but there is no tracking. To go Express Mail international you are looking at $20-$30 depending on the location

He can be contacted directly at Beevo1ATcoxDOTnet

[kwackers]

@chalks
I've looked at lots of options using similar technology, basically the skies the limit but sadly my time isn't... ;-)
Originally I built this to save myself the hassle of using dividing plates and the reality is that making it public has cost me time & money but since I was going to build it anyway then it was no big deal and I'm pleased that folk have gotten good use from it.
Designing and making stuff that I have no current use for is a different matter though.

@coalburner.
Thanks for the offer. I went with concrete because it was fairly straightforward and less 'bloggy' than other software and probably wouldn't have had any issues, however I also hosted a site for my mum(!) which was running wordpress and it was a security flaw in wordpress that allowed them to compromise both it and all the rest of the stuff on my server. The big issue is all the chaff I wrote that glued the site together along with how I'd laid it out - I don't have any copies of that stuff so will be starting from scratch. I do have copies of the physical stuff that makes up the divider though so it's not an entire loss.
At some point I'll publish the source for 2.12 on here. Just need to dig it out and clean it up. ;-)

Cheers.

[chalks]

I do understand, thanks for the response.

Regards chalks.

[justforfun]

Was reading the posts and it made me think. I've built two of Steves design, but I used PICs that was programmed by Steve.

I'd like to give PIC programming a shot, just to do it.

Reading the posts and being in the US, sometime things just don't click for me, age and low IQ does that.

I found this item on Ebay.

PICKIT 3 & MCU Universal ZIF socket for PICkit 2 or 3, link below.

PICKIT 3 & MCU Universal ZIF socket for PICkit 2 or 3 | eBay

Is this all I need with the exception of a computer, PIC chip and hex file?

Is there any other things like software, etc.?

I'd like to be able to think I was able to build this thing with the exception of the great design.

Seeing as I could never do the design, I'm not even going to think about that.

Thanks.