SmoothieBoard vs. TinyG for CNC milling

What about something like this: http://www.pibot.com/set-of-pibot-electronics-kits-for-cnc-2-0-c.html

For the price you cant beat it.

 

Wow - that seems like a nice bundle....

I have a smoothie, it runs my current (non OX) CNC but it is a little underpowered and can be fussy at times. I am shopping for driver boards for each axis with the hope of milling my own plates for an OX build

 

Really advise against this kit, Its 4.5a drivers dont power nema 23's. Found i lost steps under cutting loads. Probably due to actual current output is probably only 2a. when i raised this with pibot they had no evidence to support thier claims of 4.5a and stated that they will not run all nema 23's so basically only the 2a versions. The breakout board linked with thier non microstepping drivers gave constant chatter and jerky movement. Really i could only see this kit working for a nema 17 3d printing setup. Not for cnc.

 

Hey there !

Arthur from the Smoothie project here.

It's most definitely not. The first machine it ever ran was a laser cutter, then came CNC routers, and then only long later, came 3D printers.

The motion control part of the code is a fork of GRBL's which is CNC-centric, instead of Marlin or one of the other 3D-printer centric firmwares.

There are plenty of people using Smoothie in CNC routers ( including big ones ) with no problem.

We are also working on supporting RS485 control of spindles, and several other CNC-centric features, which we'll be the first ones to support.

Could you tell me more about that ? This is very very surprising, and doesn't match with what users usually report.

You can contact me directly for support at [email protected] ( my email is all over the website ).

We also have what is probably the best documentation around for an open-source CNC controller : smoothieware.org , we put a lot of effort into it.

Also, there is a -huge- community, more active than any you'll find anywhere else ( possibly because the project joins together cnc/laser/3D-printer users ) : very active forums and mailing lists, a 100-strong IRC channel ( #smoothieware @ irc.freenode.net ).

It'd be surprised if you could find another project that has better overall support.

It's to be noted that due to the large heat-sinking surface on the board, the drivers *will* go up to 2A, which is not the case of some other boards, which will overheat bellow their rated current. And 2A is enough for the smaller models in the NEMA23 family. We have people running NEMA23 shapeokos, OXes and chinese machines directly with Smoothie, they just don't get full torque/speed out of their machine ( which is fine for some uses ).

If you want to get full usage of your motors, just use external drivers : Smoothieboard has connectors for external drivers, and chinese microstepping drivers of good quality are fairly cheap.

You'll be "wasting" the on-board drivers by not using them, but depending what you compare it to, it's probably still a very reasonably priced solution.

It really isn't Just delete all of the 3D printer files from it, and it'll still compile fine and be a very good CNC-router ( you don't actually need to do that, just don't enable them in config ).

My point is : it is a -general purpose- controller, and a LOT of work has gone into making sure it works as well for CNC routers as for 3D printers or laser cutters.

And the fact it supports all of those at the same time, means you get the biggest community, and the most active development around ( which was the project's intent ).

The boards all have connectors for external drivers. And a board without the stepper drivers wouldn't be much cheaper, you can probably just ignore the fact they are there


About the PiBot, those are crap-cheap Toshiba drivers, search the internet for info about them, they have very bad stepping quality, and tend to burn easily. I strongly recommend against using those.

If you want to use an arduino-based solution, an arduino + screw-shield + chinese microstepping drivers, will cost you less than the pibot, for the same firmware, and better drivers ..

 

What would people recommend as cheap external Stepper drivers? I have the smoothie (I am very pleased with it except for poor Stepper drivers) - I am driving 3A nema 23s

 

Hey.

If you can be happy with 1/16 microstepping, those are a cheap solution : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free...e-Hybrid-Stepper-Motor-Driver/2034559754.html ( those are toshiba drivers with good heatsinking and protection. You won't burn them, but they'll sound "rougher" than the Allegros on the Smoothieboard ).

And if you are ready to put some more money into your drivers, for higher quality and microstepping, look at something like this : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Best...-driver-50V-4A-free-shipping/32264347801.html

I mostly use the CW5045 on my machines, which are another valid option.

Cheers.

 

hexfet drivers or dsp hexfet if you want better repeatability tho these can run upto 100khz so your going to want a 100khz motion controller n bob and mach 3, grbl wouldnt do them justice.

 

what are those sanyo chips like? same price as mosfet (hexfet). Not a powerful as mosfet, mostfet equivelent at same money is 5.6a. cant see the difference between the sanyo and toshiba, if im honest.

 

beg your pardon.. I misread the price as £. they are a bit cheaper. expect to pay $50 for mosfet.

 

Smoothieboard does 100khz fine, for information.

 

I think the software is similar to gbrl controller.

 

A external driver was mentioned. how about something like this:
http://www.cnc4pc.com/Store/osc/product_info.php?cPath=75_74&products_id=493

A Breakout board would also be needed and then one would have to use either Mach3 or Linux CNC.