I have decided to run estlecam on my new machine having never used an arduino before i would be keen to see either photos of your hardware or a wiring diagram. I have leadshine steppers and drivers and mouser power supplies plus limit switches, do they attach directly to the output/ input pins on the uno or do I need to use a shield? Separate question if i use an uno with wifi will this work with esltecam or does it require a USB cable?
I used a screw shield to make the connections easier. This is how you can wire external drivers. C-Beam cnc. And read the GRBL wiki it will help answer a lot of questions. gnea/grbl I have never tried wifi. I am too scared. The last thing I would want is a dropped signal or some other complication that screws up a long job or expensive material. Plus, I am not sure how you would zero it to your work piece without being physically present. I usean old cheap Windows 7 laptop someone gave me. It also allows me to use a generic Xbox controller as a pendant for jogging and zeroing.
Thanks for the reply, do you have a part number or link to the "screw shield" you used, I have a Uno Rev 3, what is the cnc shield recommended for use with estlecam? I'm hoping for something like attached I can follow for the Uno
You do not need any type of shield for Estlcam. From the link I posted. gnea/grbl Anything that is Arduino based will work with Estlcam. Estlcam will re configure it for you. Estlcam is the CAM and Controller I use. The above photo is how I wired mine to external DQ542ma stepper motor drivers. Kyo's diagram shows how to hook your arduino to a driver. You just have to replicate it for each axis. If you want a plug and play solution, order the board you showed in the picture if you can get them prebuilt. Better yet, order the Black Box controller from OpenBuilds. It costs about the same as 4 DQ542MA steppers and a genuine Arduino board with no soldering required. It can also drive the higher torque drivers. Making your own controller with an Arduino is not super difficult, but it can be time consuming. To make it somewhat easier, I used a screw shield like this for my UNO. All it does is make a screw terminal connection point for each pin on the arduino. The Diagram you show above is hard to read but if you just substitute the Arduino where the controller card is, all the other components utilize the same pins unless the controller does not use GRBL. Then, you will have to seek help from someone else. I only know GRBL.
How do I get Estlcam to connect to the black box. Black box is not in the menu of controllers. Any help would be great
If you are using Estlcam, it reflashes your Blackbox to their firm ware. There is an option to go back to GRBL.
Doesnt it still have the option to create gcode only (without reflash, create gcode, send to BlackBox using CONTROL. What does its firmware give you that Grbl doesnt (to justify risk of flashing)
Yes can do G-code only for sure. I have also flashed my BB from GRBL to Estlcam (xpro4 preset) and back to GRBL and then back to ESTLcam with no issues. All my BB features work with no issue in Estlcam (probe, spindle on off, home switches at least). Before BlackBox, i was using an Arduino uno and also went back and forth (GRBL/Estlcam), with the Uno preset in Estlcam. Gary
Yes, but I was assuming that he was trying to connect it as the controller to the BlackBox. But he could do as you said and just create the Gcode and then use Control to send it to the BlackBox. I think if it were me then I would use the OpenBuilds software to create the Gcode as well. They seem very similar and intuitive in how the Gcode is created. On my Lathe build I am almost done with I plan to use OB Control.
I don't know it that well, so not sure why it forces its own firmware on users. Didn't know it cant connect to grbl (knew it could generate grbl gcode, so kinda dumb then that it can't connect?) kinda feels like the whole reflash is an unnecessary way of trying to force you into using it exclusively
Kinda Dumb maybe, but estlcam supports tool changes and doesn’t slow down on trochoidal or large (file size) 3D jobs. Gary
There is also a whole lot of probing functions as well so that may be the case. It may be that it is just a modified form of GRBL. What I am seeing with all the additions Peter is adding to OpenBuilds Control is that it is very similar to Estlcam and free. I do like the tool change aspect of Estlcam though.
Toolchanges · Issue #26 · OpenBuilds/OpenBuilds-CONTROL is in the pipeline. The inconsistent way different cams output toolchanges is more of a holdup than the control side Probing is a host function, grbl has all the probe commands (so again, why own firmware. If he supported Grbl, it would still do that for him) The trochoidal etc question was probably true against Grbl 0.8, 1.1 handles super tiny trochoidals out of Fusion, and 3D files just fine
I have no idea what his firmware is, or even if it is different than GRBL. I am most definitely not a programmer. In my mind the stuff you and him create is magic that allows me to make cool stuff. In my book you guys are wizards and I very much appreciate what you guys make which allows me to be creative. I am one of those people that buys that cool thing right before the another cool thing comes out that I may have preferred. I purchased the Estlcam license because I wanted the probing functions back when bCNC was my only option, and I was too dumb to get it to work. Two months later you came out with the OpenBuilds control.
