4 X's Stepper Shield

[Metroid]

I have developed two new shields for the Arduino Uno. The top shield is based on the shield of Buildlog.net but the bottom shield is totally new.
The top shield is for the Pololu Stepper Drivers, like A4983 (must have a extra 100k pull-down on M1), A4988 or the new purple version. There is a extra jumper selection for selecting the forth driver as a Spindle/Extruder driver or Dual Y driver. In the Dual Y configuration it is still possible to use the spindle port for turning the spindle on or off through the bottom shield.

Top Shield .sch

Shield Board top sch.png (17.79 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

The bottom shield has all the possibilities to connect six end/homing switches, buttons, Spindle and vacuum cleaner. It is compatible with GRBL v0.8. The pins are connected to the Atmega through a Pull-up resistor of 4k7 and a 100nF to ground. The capacitor is for filter any interference of the stepper motors.
The four buttons are on the board and can be connected externally. The buttons have the same configuration as the homing switches. There are the Hard Reset, Soft Reset, Hold and Resume button.
Two Relays are for the spindle and vacuum cleaner or coolant. The relays are power by a 2N2222 transistor. A 1N4001 in opposite direction will ensures that the induction of the coil will be dissipates.

Bottom Shield .sch

Shield Board bottom sch.png (16.65 KiB) Viewed 1530 times

Here is the bottom shield as PCB:

Bottom Shield .brd

Shield Board bottom brd.png (22.08 KiB) Viewed 1529 times

Gr.
Rob.

[Metroid]

Top Shield PCB:

Top Shield .brd

Shield Board top brd.png (21.8 KiB) Viewed 1525 times

SketchUp Drawing:

SketchUp

All to gether.png (146.74 KiB) Viewed 1525 times

Gr. Rob

[Godsplan]

Hey Metroid,

great board design and interesting solution (nice sketchup visualization!).

I think this solution will double the cost, because you have to manufacture two different pcb's.
But i will prototype your solution for spindle enable etc. and will see how i could integrate this into "xpix" and mine solution: StepperX or GrblMainboard solution: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1224

[Metroid]

I have made a prototype my self. And it works perfectly with GRBL v0.8.
Here is a photo of version 1.0:

Photo Shields and Arduino

2013-03-06 12.25.57.jpg (174.93 KiB) Viewed 1490 times

Version 1.0 had some issues that the screw connectors where to close to the drivers. And the connection of the +5v and Vmot screw connectors where not the same.

V1.1:
The top board has the reset and sleep pin of the Pololu drivers connected to +5V.
Same orientation of + and - of +5V and Vmot.
Spacing between the drivers and screw connectors.

The bottom board with the spindle control is sill usable for people who have the buildlog.net shield.

I order my PCB at http://www.Seeedstudio.com. For each design you get 10 PCB's for a bout $25,-.

Gr. Rob.

[Althiels]

Nice work, that looks great!

[Godsplan]

I have made a prototype my self. And it works perfectly with GRBL v0.8.
Here is a photo of version 1.0:

2013-03-06 12.25.57.jpg

Version 1.0 had some issues that the screw connectors where to close to the drivers. And the connection of the +5v and Vmot screw connectors where not the same.

V1.1:
The top board has the reset and sleep pin of the Pololu drivers connected to +5V.
Same orientation of + and - of +5V and Vmot.
Spacing between the drivers and screw connectors.

The bottom board with the spindle control is sill usable for people who have the buildlog.net shield.

I order my PCB at http://www.Seeedstudio.com. For each design you get 10 PCB's for a bout $25,-.

Gr. Rob.

looks great!

[cvoinescu]

That looks good! Although, personally, I'm not a fan of stacking stuff like that. I'd rather have the drivers on an airy, spacious board, with connectors arranged logically around the edges, and a shield on top of the Arduino for harnessing the connections, with little or no logic on it.

[Metroid]

That looks good! Although, personally, I'm not a fan of stacking stuff like that. I'd rather have the drivers on an airy, spacious board, with connectors arranged logically around the edges, and a shield on top of the Arduino for harnessing the connections, with little or no logic on it.

I did that for backwards compatibility of the buildlog.net shield.
And it's better to split the TTL and 12-35V. The drivers are stack on top for the best airflow possible. The connection between the drivers and the screw connectors are as short as possible. They are even double layered for the best performance. This all will help with EMI problems.
The Top and bottom shields are filtered on every place possible.

And for the best performance connect your ground/null to the shield of a shielded four wire cable. And on the motor side connect the shield to a metallic part of the motor/CNC. This will cut interferences that been send through the ether by a open cable system. So make your system electromagnetic compatible. And you have less problems with the USB connection.

Gr. Rob.

[ejs]

Well shut my mouth and call me Shirley. I was on my way home tonight and had the lightning strike to supplement the Buildlog v3.0 board with an 0.8c compatible breakout. I was poking around and found this thread. It's a compact build, I'll give you that.

Personally I prefer a long, flat build, and my next step solution has a very different set of features, but a nice build is a nice build. Kudos.

Where did you get the stacking headers by the way? I'm having a time at finding them reasonably priced.

~EJ

[Metroid]

The stacking headers can be found by http://www.Iprototype.nl, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10007 or https://www.adafruit.com/products/85.
In between there are long male headers.

Ger. Rob.