Has anyone tried this conversion on their Makita Router? It looks really promising. GRBL_SPD - Makita Router Integration Board by JHARRISON on Tindie https://d3s5r33r268y59.cloudfront.net/datasheets/27212/2023-03-01-18-32-12/ConnectionDiagram.pdf
Give it a go! Haven't tried it but as it just replaces the potentiometer and switch it should work. Wouldn't recommend it to just anyone as it involves mains wiring, but i have seen you work and feel comfortable letting you give it a go
Or consider the SuperPID www.SuperPID.com - Super-PID Closed-loop Router Speed Controller - closing the loop as well, not just speed control
I’ve asked for the Gerbers, we’ll see what he says. Personally, I’d prefer he uses KiCad, not Eagle. KiCad is much nicer to use IMO.
Update: Jon replied to me via Tindie and as a result I’m planning to test his design on my 240v Makita and let him know how it goes.
I worked out a deal with Jon to test it on my RTO700C, so I should have one in a week or two to install and test. I’m very excited!
My kit arrived during the week and I've been gradually putting together new wiring and designing a new all in one electronics case for it. Hopefully I'll get time to install and test it this weekend. Model is here: Printables
I still haven't gotten around to installing the GRBL_SPD mod yet (it's been ~10c for the last few days ) - but I have spent time improving the CNC case design. V2 is much nicer aesthetically, and my new V3 version (published separately) is designed for use with XLR Sockets. XLR jacks and sockets are a bit expensive (cost me $160 all up), but I think it'll be well worth it. Printables
I realised I made a mistake with the 4-pin Female XLR Sockets, I accidentally used the wrong model for the specified Amphenol sockets (which is what I personally ordered). So I’ve uploaded a v3.2 with the fixes. I'll leave v3.1 as an option for those who want to use non-Amphenol 4 pin sockets.
I finished building an updated version of my router electronics case. It’s a little crowded, so I might make the case a little bigger. The internal wiring is long enough to work in a bigger case. For now I just need time to finish the external wiring and test it all.
My OCD kicked in, so I added 10mm in height and 20mm depth to the case to make wiring less crowded and released it as v3.5.
I decided I wasn’t entirely happy with the initial white on black lid (it came out looking grey), so I reprinted it in black on white and it looks much better. I’m also much happier with the larger case design. I spent most of tonight replacing the 2040 extrusions that hold the Y axis linear rails with 2020 extrusions. The 2040’s just made everything more difficult. So now that it’s all back together, I just need to finish the wiring and test everything.
I finally got back to my CNC project, I finally got around to taking my spindle apart to install the relay and wiring for the GRBL_SPD controller. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to test it.
That turned out awesome! I'm surprised while you had the router open you didn't replace the power cable with 16awg shielded (so you can drain and ground the router) wire so you can run it in the chain.. just saying . Gary
Cheers. The Aus spec unit is already using a 3 pin grounded plug and cable, plus it has an X2 class capacitor for noise suppression.
Did you perhaps measure the potentiometer pins in respect to GND/Earth? From what i've heard they are floating around mains voltage relative to Ground... And now they are outside the safety of the case if that is the case
I didn't, but I'll check this before before I fire it up. EDIT: that was one reason I used stranded Cat5e twisted pair wiring - it helps suppress noise etc.
Yes, as its analog it might be a little subject to noise, but its more a safety concern. The onboard controller doesn't seem to have an isolated PSU, so you may have a risk of shock on the ends of those cables now. Per original design spec it was all inboard - with just a safe plastic dial protruding.
Apologies for the radio silence all - my health has finally improved enough for me to get back into projects (getting old sucks!). I spent some time double checking everything today and making sure I hadn’t made any dumb mistakes and then fired it up properly for the first time. Good news, the controller works perfectly on my 230/240v Makita router. Auto and Manual on/off mode both work, and the manual speed control seems to work flawlessly The only issue I have is the PWM control from my CNC board - Im able to turn the spindle on and off via software, however only if I set the spindle to 30k (M3 S30000). And that results in 10k RPM being provided. I’m now thinking that I need to check my config.h file as variable speed may not be enabled. Anyway, this solution from Jon is looking really great!
And speed control works great when I switch my DLC32 firmware over to FluidNC. Only problem is that it seems a bit sluggish on my DLC32 despite it meeting the minimum requirements. I also lose my 2.4” touch screen. Although that last thing is a non issue 99% of the time as I rarely use it. I might go back to ESP32 GRBL if I can figure out how to configure it and compile the FW in vscode. Once I have my machine back together, I’ll take some video.
I figured out why FluidNC was laggy on my DLC32, I forgot to erase the ESP32 before programming it. Now it seems to run very well. I also figured out how PWM speed control needs to be configured for the GRBL_SPD board and it works really well now. I just need to put my CNC machine back together!
Here is the FluidNC PWM Config I settled on: PWM: pwm_hz: 1000 direction_pin: NO_PIN output_pin: gpio.32 enable_pin: gpio.27 disable_with_s0: false s0_with_disable: true spinup_ms: 0 spindown_ms: 0 tool_num: 0 speed_map: 0=0.000% 10000=1.000% 30000=100.000% and to get OB Control to work nicely with FluidNC - you can set the FW / Build to: Grbl 1.1g
That's interesting, thank you. I've been avoiding FluidNC as I had issues trying to run it with with Control. As I preferred using Control, I've stuck with Grbl_ESP32 which, although obsolete, works very nicely.
No worries, here’s what the config looks like in FluidNC: And you can see that Control connects and even shows a FluidNC config page:
