Hi all,
I have a home built CNC machine and it is working great! Except, it is losing steps frequently.
I am a mechanics guy, not into software at all.
I run a GRBL on an Arduino Uno with a CNC shield attached and DRV8825 stepper drivers for Nema 17 motors.
I see many advantages in using encoders.
How could I use this kind of encoder directly attached to the stepper motor shaft?
I would have no idea on how to even remotely start with this.
Any advice or guidance?
Thank you in advance,
Lou4
Simply don't. GRBL can't do it. And you still have a deeper problem when loosing steps - power supply, acc to big, speed to high .. whatever .. you need to give more information.
Thats a pity that GRBL cannot do it.
I think that the motors are sometimes just not powerful enough to get trough the material and will need another try to get trough.
Thanks anyways.
The answer is not to add feedback, but to find and fix the cause of the missing steps.
Have you set the stepper motor coil current on the stepper drivers (see this Pololu page for instructions)?
Can you increase the stepper motor supply voltage? Are you sure that the stepper power supply can supply the current required by the steppers?
Can you reduce the feed rate?
Higher voltage and more importantly current will fix most of your issues.
Of course you will need to re-calibrate the drivers when doing that.
Most of the V3 shields are capable of 36 volt (going higher runs a slight risk of tracks burning up)
Check the capacitor size on the board to make sure they are rated for at least 36 volt before going that route.
You dont mention how deep your cuts are or what you are cutting ?
cutter size ?
Spindle capabilities / specs ?
All these come into play and more so with home CNC machines.
Even with wood (hardwoods) I often use multiple cuts.
Bob.