CNC hardware: stream g-code to an Arduino
posted Jul 21st 2010 12:00pm by Mike Szczysfiled under: arduino hacks, cnc hacks
[Reza Naima] has been using an Arduino as the center of his CNC setup for quite some time now. It handles three stepper motors, limiting switches, e-stop, and spindle control. The sketch he’s using allows him to stream g-code to the popular prototyping platform, freeing him from needing a dedicated PC. It’s worked so well that he’s decided to clean up the code and develop a shield to help others get up and running. If you want to see his progress or lend a hand, check out the google group he started for the schematics, code, and forum discussions. There is already a CNC project for Arduino called Grbl but [Reza's] approach uses the Arduino libraries in an effort to make the sketch more customizable for the average user.
i’m doing something similar with an xmega-based controller board, but instead of building a g-code parser, i’m piggybacking on the work of the reprap folks and their sanguino3g protocol, which is cheap to implement on the microcontroller side. plus replicatorg is pretty decent software, even if it is biased toward 3d printers.