Hi Guys,

I'm busy "designing" a CNC router. I have started with what I like to call an axis coordinator.

The coordinator should do the following:

Control the Stepper motor
Read the temperature of the stepper motor
Control some indicator LED's
Read photo interrupters which will indicate the zero and max positions of the axis.
Run two fans, one keeping the coordinator cool and another to help keep the stepper motor cool.

Unfortunately my circuit diagramming tool is very rudamentary so I don't have symbols for fans for instance.

Attached is what I have so far.

I would really appreciate any comments on this especially if anything is blatantly wrong with it. I'm really doing this to learn and maybe have something useful in the end.

 

In reality, the micro controller will control all the axis'. It will also be physically removed from this unit and connected via a cable and a DB15 connector.

 

Any reason you don't just use a prebuilt multiaxis CNC controller board? All the hardware/software is done...
I really like the smoothieboard with smoothie firmware but there are many others out there..
Its more than capable for a CNC router or 3d printer or laser engraver and supports many different types of kinematics such as delta robots/scara/xyz cartesian, etc...
Best feature is the ethernet support/internal web server where you can easily build your own GUI,etc..

Also why do you feel the need to monitor/cool the steppers?
As long as you pick an appropriate power supply and drive them in their ratings then cooling is not really needed.. They are very rugged devices.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm busy "designing" a CNC router. I have started with what I like to call an axis coordinator.

.

By 'Axis Coordinator' do you mean the trajectory planner, or are you using a off-the-shelf front end?
If you want to determine the maximum temperature the steppers should reach, just feed them with the label rated fixed DC voltage for a period of time, the ambient temp will also come into play.
Max.