Greetings from Australia,
I'm brand new to this, so if I do something wrong, please forgive.
I would like to fit an Arduino to a 3018 CNC carving machine, but I don't know which one. Have seen pix of this machine with an Arduino UNO attached. Is this the best one for this job?? If not, could you recommend one please??
That depends on the CNC firmware you plan to use on the Arduino. I think the most common one is grbl. The stock grbl is written for the Uno, so it would make sense to get the Uno if you are planning to use grbl. I see there is a version of grbl for the Arduino Mega, but it looks like that project is not as actively maintained as the standard grbl. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad; it well may be that they got it working fine and decided it was good enough.
So just do some research in the documentation of your chosen firmware and it should guide you in the right direction.
FYI, Arduino is having a sale in the Arduino Store right now so it could be a good time to be buying an Arduino!
Arbuthnot:
I would like to fit an Arduino to a 3018 CNC carving machine,
My CNC 3018 came with an Arduino. Is yours different?
If you really do want to replace the standard controller board I suggest you get a Mega with a RAMPS shield. I believe there is also a RepRap RAMBO which is an all-in-one equivalent.
...R
As it is only a small machine the standard UNO+CNC SHIELD is probably your best bet and can be had very cheaply.
If you only just getting into this aspect that would be my suggestion.
If however you are a little more advanced then Robins idea is something to consider.
However there are voltage concerns to be aware of when going down this path as not all RAMPS boards are made equal.
There is also a couple of other quite active threads going on right now that you may want to look at in this section.
They often contain some quite useful information that could give you a head start in some parts.
Bob.
ballscrewbob:
As it is only a small machine the standard UNO+CNC SHIELD is probably your best bet and can be had very cheaply.
You are quite correct. I was thinking of a 3D printer - many of which use a heated bed and need controls for that.
Apologies for any confusion.
...R
You are partly correct Robin.
That's my next machine with a MEGA and a ramps 1.6 but still running GRBL.
As much as i think I could probably make the move to a full blown MACH2 or 3 based machine I am keeping it with what I am comfortable with and can make easy swap outs etc.
All the extra do-dahs and pins etc. will find a different use especially the larger MOSFETS which I can use to power SSR's for fans and such.
Bob.
Do you have any experience with that version of grbl modified for the mega ballscrewbob:
If so, how does it compare to the standard version of grbl?
Early days so far Per.
It compares well but it took me a while to find a "drop in" version.
What I have so far is promising, but also waiting for a newer version to be release for the MEGA.
The GNEA one is what I am most interested in but dev is quite slow.
Would be awesome if they did a V3 shield and a ramps version in the same package.
Clearly more headroom for the developers to add some extra bells and whistles.
So far only found versions that work with the ramps boards and nothing for the V3 uno board due to pin out issues it seems.
I know they are the same architecture as such but the mega version does seem a little more responsive from my limited experience.
Did read up a lot on using the ramps board and started with a 1.4 which works fine for around 12 volts but wont take me where I need to be in the 24 volt range.
Just got a 1.6 with the various upgraded components (have to be careful choosing the right 1.6) so hopefully this week sometime I will drop it into the test rig.
Awaiting a largish cheque to be able to go on a shopping spree but looks like that may be after xmas.
Bob.
Thank you all for your replies.
To answer Robin2, the 3018 I bought from banggood has a "Developower v2.0" board. Had nothing but trouble with it and only runs GRBL 0.8. Thought about upgrading to GRBL 1.1 on Dev2 but McAfee said it was carrying malware. That was the finish of that!
I think ballscrewbob's idea of UNO+CNC Shield is the way to go, but are these separate units or all in one??
Thanks again for your advice, it is truly appreciated!!
P.S. Bob what is a "Tesla member"?? That man fascinates me.
Arbuthnot:
what is a "Tesla member"??
The Forum software has a series of levels according to your post count. For example, you are a "Newbie" because your post count is between 0 and 49. ballscrewbob is a "Tesla Member" because their post count is between 6250 and 9999.
So you only have 6248 posts to go before you become a Tesla member. Better get busy!
Here is the full list of forum member levels and their associated post counts:
DojoDave:
- Newbie: 0
- Jr. Member: 50
- Full Member: 100
- Sr. Member: 250
- God Member: 500
- Edison Member: 1000
- Faraday Member: 2500
- Tesla Member: 6250
- Shannon Member: 10000
- Brattain Member: 15000
They are two seperate items but can often be purchased as a bundle.
For what they do they are very versatile.
Where possible get them with some decent drivers too !
Taken a few out here as I often push my machine too hard. Most of us will at some point kill a driver.
I have no idea what a tesla member is, and it changes with the amount of posts you have but from my understanding the different names are all based on electrical heroes / inventors of some form.
Have to admit many of his things are pretty cool and it is only as we move forward we see how much he gave us and how correct he was.
Bob.
EDIT Thanks Per for the list.
What I noticed regarding the mega version vs the standard version of grbl is that the last commit to the gnea/grbl-Mega repository was August 2018, whereas the last commit to the gnea/grbl repository is August 2019. In the gnea/grbl readme, it says:
NOTE: Arduino Mega2560 support has been moved to an active, official Grbl-Mega project. All new developments here and there will be synced when it makes sense to.
So, from the quick glance at the repo stats, my concern would be that the developers are not keeping up with syncing improvements made to the gnea/grbl code over to the gnea/grbl-Mega repository. A very common problem in the open source software world is that people start these amazing projects but then run short of time/interest/resources to keep it updated. Not surprising considering it's often all volunteer work. So I always try to use the information provided by GitHub to evaluate how actively maintained a project is when I'm making a decision of which software to use.
All things the same, my take would be that the difference in price between an Uno and a Mega is so small relative to the overall cost of the average CNC machine that I would rather have the room to grow that a Mega provides instead of always being right up against the memory limits imposed by the Uno. However, if using the Mega means missing out on useful features only available in the standard grbl firmware, then the Uno might be the best choice. Certainly it's very impressive to see people do so much within the limited resources of the
ATmega328P!
There was a fork that is a little more current for the MEGA version.
That's probably where I will be heading for a test copy.
Also any other versions of GRBL that have a newer update too.
Just to get an idea of the differences.
Ne newer fork has a SLEEP function but I am not sure that will be too useful.
Yeah, I wouldn't expect that the power consumption of the ATmega2560 would be much of a consideration for a CNC machine.
Arbuthnot:
the 3018 I bought from banggood has a "Developower v2.0" board. Had nothing but trouble with it and only runs GRBL 0.8. Thought about upgrading to GRBL 1.1 on Dev2 but McAfee said it was carrying malware. That was the finish of that!
There is something illogical here.
Assuming you were unfortunate enough to get a copy of GRBL with malware attached, that is no reason to change the hardware. Just get a clean copy of GRBL.
And if yo do get new hardware you could still run into the malware problem.
Sort out the malware problem and try the newer version of GRBL on your existing hardware before spending money on new hardware.
...R
PS ... malware is something that can affect a PC. It does not affect Arduinos and you will not be running the GRBL program on your PC.