Hi
Can anyone tell me if this is practical or easy to do-at present I have only read "Getting started with Arduino" and have not yet purchased any hardware. I do already have a computer... and I am building a 3 axis router to be driven by stepper motors.
My objective:
use my computer keyboard or joystick as input to Arduino.
Use Arduino outputs as input to stepper motor drivers
The motor driver will run a motor forward or reverse as long as key is pressed or until a stop key is pressed or joystick released
and/or run motor to move router a set distance using a number keyed in form keyboard.
Display position of router on my computer screen.
I figured I woud buy stepper motors and drivers as a kit and use Arduino and computer keyboard or joysitck for manual power feeds. ( in the future I want to make the router CNC controlled, but I think it would be very handy to have a manual numeric controller.)
Thanks for any help. I am on the fence as to whether or not jump ino this or to instead try to make some kind of non-Arduino controller to power feed the router.
Yes it is perfectly possible to do what you want, although it is a bit of an advanced project for a beginner.
I have just completed a similar project myself.
You might want to look into the firmata project. If I remember correctly, some things along those lines have already be done and would be a good source of inspiration.
