[ipodman1991]

Hello agains,
i was on the net looking at personal fabricators, and saw these schematics. i guess they are used to control stepper motors for the pf's. are they any good for a cnc machine?

http://reprapdoc.voodoo.co.nz/bin/vi...ommsController
http://reprapdoc.voodoo.co.nz/bin/vi...pperController

sorry, i tink you ahve to copy and paste the links.

An answer would be appreciated. they seem real easy to make and use.

thanks

[ViperTX]

Ah, possibly....what about software??

[ipodman1991]

Im not sure about the software, i cant program anything (yet, im trying to learn). this page is linked to on the stepper controller page:

http://reprapdoc.voodoo.co.nz/bin/vi...otorController

i cant really understand it, i dont think it really has any specific code.

[ViperTX]

Okay, I found the software...see http://www.reprap.org It's an OPEN SOURCE project for a self replicating machine.

The software is beyond the scope of most of the people on here, it's very interesting and appears to allow you to create stuff on the fly, it uses a GUI interface....I could be a bit mistaken as I only read the highlights.....it's interesting enough that I bookmarked it and plan to take another look at it....it's absolutely amazing how much work people do for free and the love of an idea.....

[ipodman1991]

Yes, it is very interesting stuff. i dont think id ever make one, but it looks very cool.

i found the code for the pics. its on their sourceforge page:

https://sourceforge.net/project/show...kage_id=188575

now we just need to know if the code would work with a cnc machine. the reprap machine doesnt seem all to different than a cnc machine. the cnc machine cuts, the reprap pours. the stepper motors would move in a similar fashion, im assuming.

[ViperTX]

Well.....most of the drivers you see on this site uses step/direction and the reprap stuff does not use step/direction....so, while you may be able to get similar results when machining something....the CAM software is quite different.

[Halfnutz]

From what I recall it uses a driver (rather than a program like Mach3) to generate the machine moves from Corell. It operates like a printer driver and is basically transparent, you just print to the machine after setting up the parameters for the machine in the driver set up.

There is a similar technology advertised here on the zone for laser cutting but I don't recall the name offhand.

[pminmo]

ipodman,
Take a look at the boards on my website: http://pminmo.com
More info at my wiki:http://www.pminmo.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Or look at my forum:http://www.pminmo.com/phpBB/

It might answer some of your questions.

[ipodman1991]

thanks for the replys guys. i guess thoses two boards i linked too wont be too great, or work at all, period.

pminmo, thats a real nice site u made. il be checking it out more.

thanks for the help.