[lucas]

Excellent Luc! Thank you for your effort and explanation.
The PCB needs to be about 6mm wider to fit my LCD board and the holes need to be adjusted a little vertically as well.

There's more wrong than that and thus far from excellent.........
Should really have read the thread in detail before I jumped into this.

I didn't realise that the original PCB matched the LCD mounting holes AND connector location and thus are mounted back to back.
This can be solved quite easily but makes routing a bit harder.

My keypad looks much like Khalid's except its the recommended 4x4 button matrix. As you can see, the ribbon cable coming from it has a smaller pitch than the screw connections you provided for. Fitting a header strip to the ribbon and a header socket strip to the PCB seems like neater way to execute the desgn.

This will be impossible to implement without having traces running everywhere between IC and header pads. The keypad cable (100mm in the farnell datasheet) is too short to place the connector anywhere else but on the bottom and center of the PCB.

One way out is to extend the keypad cable somehow.
Another would be to rotate the keypad upside down but then you will need an overlay and the key locations would become weird.

Edit: Probably the best solution would be to make the PCB longer on the bottom so that it partially extends beneath the keypad. I'll look into that tomorrow.

What do you think?

Sorry for raising the hope and finally creating a mess.

[backyard_cnc]

Well after much hair pulling (as if I have any!) I finally sorta got my controller working. When I say working I might be stretching it but what the heck.

I had several boards produced by a local PCB house at reasonable cost and used the nice design with the integrated keypad as posted by VIAMAU. I got my 18F452 as a free sample request from MICROCHIP since I am in the electronics industry and they like when people use their products. I finally got my programming sorted out after a number of trys, issues related to the programming cable/software etc.... I scrounged the shop and found most all the necessary parts including 16 6mm tactile switches removed from an old VCR front panel! Put it all together and DISAPPOINTMENT@! Nothing on the display but blocks! Heres where I must digress...............I didn't have the required 20x4 line parallel data LCD but I did have a serial version by PARALLAX for my basic stamp stuff so I figured just remove the serial pcb and we should be good to go NOT! Well maybe but I damaged 1 and possibly more of the itty bitty traces on the PCB ..........anyway long story short didn't work no how after much tinkering. Then I thought well I got some 16x2 LCD's with non standard pin-out so a little lash-up and we should get something. Well glad I did because now I see everything as I should( well except the missing bits from teh display being too small) ! WOW success , a good feeling. Ordered up 2 new display's from an ebay vendor last night so hopefully next week should have those and that will give me time to wire up a stepper driver and fully test it out. Very excited!

So far so good and many many thanks to Steve (kwackers) as the original designer of the project and to VIAMAU for his PCB design with integrated keypad! Awesome thread and a great project. It will be very useful in the shop!

Once I get it all together with correct display and cased I will post a few pics. This is gonna be great on my SHERLINCE Rotary Table!

Cheerio
Gerald
:banana:

[jhovel]

Hi lucas.
Why don't you have a look at and modify viumau's design by removing the integrated keyboard? He uses a double sided board and I think etched only one side. All ground connections are made on the component side. That works for me, by spot drilling through just the copper all but the ground connections. The DIY "vias" would be wires soldered on both sides and then snipped off.
The one tight and narrow trace where 'STEP' goes between the PIC pads needs to be re-routed parallel to the trace from the 2nd pin off the right at the top of the PIC and then jumpered across parallel to JP6.
It would be good to have the header row for the keypad in the centre at the bottom. On reflection, I'd be quite happy to pull the keypad cable apart a little at the end and connect it with screw terminals there, instead of fiddling with closely spaced header row pads.
Also, I can't see why the PCB can't extend a bit above the display to allow some traces to go around the top of the display connectors? I think there will always be a bit of air in the box there. Might neaten everything up a bit.
Lastly, I can't figure out what the 5 pads in the middle of the board next to the transistor Q2 are for? Anyone? Or the jumper JP9 just below pin1 of the display connector?

I had a go - making a mess in Eagle - to show what I mean, NOT to show any skills!:drowning: I can't figue out how to draw a jumper between the loose ends of the traces I left diagonally across the bottom right corner of the PIC, I can't figure out how to delete the switches, add any pads or move vias or pads.... quite useless really.... the penny hasn't dorpped yet. Over to you lucas.

Cheers,
Joe

[Kekar]

Bump

Is it possible for someone to collect all the parts and make a "kit"? I can solder, but no chip programming or board etching.

Kenneth

[backyard_cnc]

I have produced and used VIAMAU pcb design as it is shown in the thread and it worked out well. It is a good design. The 5 pin connector in the middle of the PCB is for connections to limit switches and some basic handshaking to allow this controller to "talk" to other controllers or CNC devices. The limited number of jumpers on the top side of the PCB is really not a big deal and is preferable to the cost and or work of producing a double sided PCB.

In my opinion the integrated keyboard is quite useful and functional. I do now have the design on file at my local PCB house and if anyone would like a copy of this PCB they are $30 postage paid anywhere in North America. They are nicely etched and pre-drilled. Anybody interested can send a private emessage.

Gerald

Hi lucas.
Why don't you have a look at and modify viumau's design by removing the integrated keyboard? He uses a double sided board and I think etched only one side. All ground connections are made on the component side. That works for me, by spot drilling through just the copper all but the ground connections. The DIY "vias" would be wires soldered on both sides and then snipped off.
The one tight and narrow trace where 'STEP' goes between the PIC pads needs to be re-routed parallel to the trace from the 2nd pin off the right at the top of the PIC and then jumpered across parallel to JP6.
It would be good to have the header row for the keypad in the centre at the bottom. On reflection, I'd be quite happy to pull the keypad cable apart a little at the end and connect it with screw terminals there, instead of fiddling with closely spaced header row pads.
Also, I can't see why the PCB can't extend a bit above the display to allow some traces to go around the top of the display connectors? I think there will always be a bit of air in the box there. Might neaten everything up a bit.
Lastly, I can't figure out what the 5 pads in the middle of the board next to the transistor Q2 are for? Anyone? Or the jumper JP9 just below pin1 of the display connector?

I had a go - making a mess in Eagle - to show what I mean, NOT to show any skills!:drowning: I can't figue out how to draw a jumper between the loose ends of the traces I left diagonally across the bottom right corner of the PIC, I can't figure out how to delete the switches, add any pads or move vias or pads.... quite useless really.... the penny hasn't dorpped yet. Over to you lucas.

Cheers,
Joe

[lucas]

This is what I was thinking about last night: rotating the PIC makes routing easier to place the keypad connector in the bottom center. The PCB is a bit larger towards the bottom but this shouldn't be a problem.

The mounting holes and LCD connector should now match the LCD dimensions so that both can be mounted back to back.
It is still single sided and DIY friendly but I had to use 2 jumper wires (J1 and J2). Component placement can be improved but I would like to use this one as a starter.


@ jhovel:

We can't use viumau's design because the LCD mounts on top of the component side, in the original one they are mounted back to back. This affects the placement of the LCD connector.
Could you check if the dimensions are now correct to fit the LCD?


@ Kekar:

I could do it but only if there's enough interest (doesn't look like there is), also different keypads are available, some like this one, others another one. So it will be difficult. A PCB and programmed pic should be possible but I will only do it with Steve's permission.


Can somebody please verify the layout?

Luc.

[jhovel]

Hi again Lucas.
This layout looks much cleaner. Thank you for your effort!
However, the display is much wider than this:
the distance top to bottom mounting holes is now correct, and so is the distance of the right mounting holes form the connector pins. The distance between left and right mounting holes is 92.5mm centre to centre (at least on mine). The display PCB is 98mm x 60mm and the display itself is 97mm x 40mm (outside dimensions of LCD frame).
That gives you even more space to play with
Maybe you could make all traces the same (larger) size to allow for masking or etching mishaps for us amateurs
Cheers,
Joe

[lucas]

Hi again Lucas.
This layout looks much cleaner. Thank you for your effort!
However, the display is much wider than this:
the distance top to bottom mounting holes is now correct, and so is the distance of the right mounting holes form the connector pins. The distance between left and right mounting holes is 92.5mm centre to centre (at least on mine). The display PCB is 98mm x 60mm and the display itself is 97mm x 40mm (outside dimensions of LCD frame).
That gives you even more space to play with
Maybe you could make all traces the same (larger) size to allow for masking or etching mishaps for us amateurs
Cheers,
Joe

I uploaded the corrected version in my previous post.
Dimensions are corrected (it was 10mm too small)
There was also an error on the keypad connection and a 100nF decoupling cap has been added (more is better).
The tracks are larger also.

If I find some time this weekend I will have a go to build the PCB, most normal parts are 'in stock". Today I will order the specific parts and try to get it finished next week.

Regards,
Luc.

[jhovel]

Nice work, Lucas!
Excellent fit and nice layout. I also noticed that you reversed the connections for the keypad - toughtful touch!
Cheers,
Joe

[lucas]

Waiting for a PIC, LCD and keypad:

[backyard_cnc]

never being one to pass up junk that people put out in the trash I figured I should put some of it to good use for the rotary controller project. I had found a number of sloping front metal cases last year and the smallest (10" by 7.5") of the 3 is near perfect to package up the controller PCB along with a nice stepper drive I found on ebay and as well a Power Supply PCB that was salvaged from an old printer! The power supply has +24V, +5V and +/- 12V. I tested the 24 v at over 2A so is a perfect match for the driver I have. The 12 V will run the controller and I need 5V for the optocoupled inputs on the stepper driver. Just need to make a new front panel overlay to mount the controller and keypad and cover up the existing holes in this used case. Overall a good cost savings!

As soon as my LCD displays show up I will be in business. Looking forward to getting it all complete and operational.

Gerald

[Khalid]

Here is the link of the first gear i did with the Steve indexer Firmware
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJTQlq8kK24"]YouTube - Video Fire Monitor Gear.avi[/nomedia]

[backyard_cnc]

Thanks for posting the video Khalid, looks good!

Gerald

[Khalid]

Thanks Gerald and thanks to Steve too..
Another video. Index machining of Locknut Grooves . Material SS-316.
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeRRKTzqyTU"]YouTube - NUT.avi[/nomedia]

[jhovel]

Hi Khalid. I love the cleanliness of your shop! It looks huge! Can you post some pictures of your machines? I'v been reading and watching many of your build threads. Most educational.
Thank you.
Joe

[Khalid]

Hi Joe,
Attached are some snaps of our Machine Shop.
We are going to CNC the radial drill Machine shown in picture5.jpg this year. The steve indexer firmware was installed on one of our Milling Machine shown in picture6.jpg.

The same will be implemented for our Boring Machine rotary table shown in picture4.jpg.

[jhovel]

Thnaks, Khalid.
Are these publicity shots or is the factory actually this clean?????
Even the workers are spotlessly clean and in business clothes - not worker's overalls....

This is obviously not the the shop where you keep your big home-made CNC router, is it?

Cheers,
Joe

[Khalid]

Hi Joe,
We have Safety, Quality, Housekeeping on top priority...We have housekeeping audits .. We have checks on each and everything storages for material shavings, cutting fluide(waste), pigeons ****s.. .. We use paint/shirt without loose cloths with All PPE's especially the googles...

We have PMP plans for all our machines, work instructions etc...We have almost zero incident since the last 10 years...

This is the shop that provide maintenance services to two of our Fertilizer Plants...and i am shop floor in-charge of it...

PS:
I keep my machines in my home.. so my own CNC router, laser scanner, CNC embroidery machine etc...

[jhovel]

Wow, now I'm even more impressed!
Great machines you use there - and BIG!
Keep up the good work and keep posting about it. I really enjoy reading your threads.
Cheers,
Joe

[Khalid]

Wow, now I'm even more impressed!
Great machines you use there - and BIG!
Keep up the good work and keep posting about it. I really enjoy reading your threads.
Cheers,
Joe

Hi joe, its nice you like it. Our machine shops comprises three sections:
1- Machine shop (More than 33 Machines)+portable machines
2- Tool Room (More than 30000 tools inventory)
3- Vehicle shop( Cranes, Aerial Lift, Flat bed, fork lifts, air compressors etc)

If you see the pictures of our vehicle shop, you will amazed to see no oil spillage considering our quantity of fleets.. the same with organized tool room, where we have daily transaction of 100's of various tools required for plants maintenance...Attached picture shows the entrance and offices portion of vehicle shop... I am the left-most one of seminar photo, me as a host...

Regards