• Manual Jog Controller using Rotary Encoders and an Arduino UNO

    Mukunda Modell • 06/09/2018 at 04:16 • 0 comments

    I've been working on another component to this project. To control the CNC mill I'm building a controller with two rotary encoders for manual control of the mill. The jog wheel controller uses only a single Arduino UNO to read the encoders as well as  emulating a USB HID Keyboard to pass the control movements to the CNC control computer. If you'd like more details or to see the code, then check out the separate project page.

  • ESP32 & MicroPython for step pulse control.

    Mukunda Modell • 03/12/2018 at 10:44 • 2 comments

    I've decided to experiment with the ESP32's RMT controller for generating step pulses. 

    The technique has already been explored over at buildlog.net blog and it looks really promising. I want to see if this will be a practical method for precision step pulse control in MicroPython. I'll write more about this once I've gotten MicroPython on the ESP32 Wrover to control these shiny new gecko drives.

  • First major setback: dead spindle motor

    Mukunda Modell • 12/21/2017 at 11:49 • 1 comment

     A couple of days ago my grizzly 2hp spindle motor let out it's magic smoke. So now I'm waiting on delivery of a new 3 phase motor + variable frequency drive to power it. This will allow me to have better control of the spindle speed and I planned to upgrade eventually, however, I had hoped to avoid the cost until much later in the project.

    While I'm waiting for the new motor + VFD, I plan to install the ballscrew for the table X-axis, which will replace the ACME screw, enabling smoother table movement with less friction and much less backlash than the crappy OEM lead screws.

    I should have a decent amount of time to work on this project over the holiday as I have a week of vacation from work. I'll try to post another update next week.

  • 3D Model of an RF45 Milling Machine

    Mukunda Modell • 11/30/2017 at 15:09 • 1 comment

    I found a cad model of a very similar mill, the RF45, I believe that grizzly's mill is built on the same castings. You can check out the model which I have shared on the online cad app OnShape: RF45 Model