Question about motor control

[Arturo Pérez Mulas]

Hi,

I've been reading through the blog and the thingiverse comments and this forum. First of all, thanks for sharing all this info! I have a question, though... It is not clear to me how you control the motor... could you please elaborate a bit on this? Which board, stepper motor and program you use?

Thanks

[Duane Johnson]

Hey Arturo!

Sure, I've actually gone through a few iterations.

In version 1 (the "Makerslider") I used an Arduino UNO with a GrblShield and modified Grbl software (see https://github.com/canadaduane/grbl).

The nice thing about that setup is all of the acceleration and deceleration is taken care of by grbl and works nicely.

In version 2 (the "Cinemon Stick") I'm using a Teensy 3.0 and a pololu A4988 driver controller. This arrangement is quite a bit cheaper and smaller. For the software, I'm experimenting with the AccelStepper library to get acceleration and deceleration.

So far, version 2 is not quite as smooth as version 1, and I'm trying to figure out why. I may end up using my own library or another one if it continues to appear that AccelStepper doesn't have the timing resolution I need for smooth acceleration.

Duane

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[Arturo Pérez Mulas]

Thanks Duane!

I really like your design! I have built one resembling the original slider, but I really like your configuration with the motor at the end and not having the motor move along the makerslide. I just need to get my printer well calibrated to make all my parts! Thanks.

[Duane Johnson]

Arturo--since you're interested, I just updated the github repo with my latest designs for the motor bracket and idler.

https://github.com/canadaduane/MakerSlider

(See motor_bracket.scad and idler_bracket.scad)

The new motor_bracket removes the need for bolts, and gets further out of the way so that the timing belt does not rub against it.

The idler bracket is not much different--just the holes are slightly bigger so that a bolt is easier to go through the plastic to hold the ball bearing idler.

I'd be interested in your feedback. I'm thinking of removing the need for bolts on the idler as well. It seems like the pressure from the bolt pulling the idler and the motor toward the center of the makerslide is sufficient--the parts fit snugly into the aluminum extrusion, so why add bolts?

Duane

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:41 AM, Arturo Pérez Mulas <theotoc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Duane!

I really like your design! I have built one resembling the original slider, but I really like your configuration with the motor at the end and not having the motor move along the makerslide. I just need to get my printer well calibrated to make all my parts! Thanks.

--

[Arturo Pérez Mulas]

Awesome,

Thanks Duane! I hope I can have the 3D printer set-up for the weekend, and as soon as I print the parts I will report back!

Thanks again,

Arturo.