I've lurked around for quite some time now, after a short stint at building a reprap using lumber and drawer slides. Personally, I think we might see better progress if we conform more closely to CNC standards rather than re-designing the wheel. It would also allow people who already have CNC (like myself) to focus on the extruder and utilise existing hardware for everything else. Electronics: Most stepper-based CNC machines are controlled via LPT port and a simple chip stepper controller. The flow-rate on reprap is almost identical to spindle speed PWM on CNC, just scaled down. For those not proficient at soldering, they could skip these steps and get a professional stepper controller. I suppose it would need special drivers to control, but the rest should be compatible as is. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10319#msg-10319 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:43:54 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10421#msg-10421 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10421#msg-10421 Reiyuki Controllers Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:48:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10375#msg-10375 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10375#msg-10375 Ian Adkins Controllers Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:08:09 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10374#msg-10374 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10374#msg-10374
I have built an Arduino shield that has 2 25 way D type sockets mimicking 2 LPTS.

Still testing with standard hardware that accepts MACH3 CNC commands. So far so good and very simple.

I believe Ian Adkins (Bits from Bytes) is working on something similar that may be available]]> emt Controllers Sun, 16 Mar 2008 06:32:11 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10325#msg-10325 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10325#msg-10325
On the other side i have some discrete stepper-drivers with CLK/DIR-input, which i could wire to a parallel port, but it's much better to drive them with a microcontroller-board, which has an USB- or serial interface.

So i want an open and freely reconfigurable interface-layer between the host-software and different stepper-drivers or CNC-controllers.

I know, the PIC's and Arduinos do this task already, but why not rewrite the output so you can reprap with any hardware you have at hand?

Viktor]]> VDX Controllers Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:11:33 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10324#msg-10324 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10324#msg-10324 nophead Controllers Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:18:46 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10321#msg-10321 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10321#msg-10321
You might want to follow what nophead is doing at the hydraraptor.blogspot.com if you already have CNC. He's doing some brilliant work in printing HDPE.]]> Forrest Higgs Controllers Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:37:01 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10319#msg-10319 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?13,10319,10319#msg-10319
Personally, I think we might see better progress if we conform more closely to CNC standards rather than re-designing the wheel. It would also allow people who already have CNC (like myself) to focus on the extruder and utilise existing hardware for everything else.

Electronics:
Most stepper-based CNC machines are controlled via LPT port and a simple chip stepper controller. The flow-rate on reprap is almost identical to spindle speed PWM on CNC, just scaled down.
For those not proficient at soldering, they could skip these steps and get a professional stepper controller.


I suppose it would need special drivers to control, but the rest should be compatible as is.]]> Reiyuki Controllers Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:56:16 -0400