G540 router and extruder axis

Hey has anyone gotten a CNC using a G540 working with the reprap gcode? I have one but I need an additional axis since my router uses dual motors on the y axis. I'm looking for and idea on a breakout board that can interface with my second parallel port and control the extruder driver and maybe the extruder temp via.

Basically I'm looking for a cheap BoB that is isolated and puts out step and dir, and a thermocouple I can manipulate via TTL logic. Anyone run across something that might work?

What is G540? What is a BoB?

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

G540 is a 4 axis breakout board (Bo + stepper drivers. Kind of an all in one package for a CNC control box. The problem is it's a sealed box which isn't easily added to. I have a second parallel port but I'm a bit leery of directly hooking a driver to it without some sort of isolation. The g540 does have a optoisolated 0-10vdc (PWM, 50Hz) output for a VFD which would be very nice to control a PID for the extruder temp if the g-code can be written to control temp via tool speed (M03).

All of this does rely on the ability to convert reprap g-code into something closer to industry standard. There is a method to this madness too. Reprap seems to have trouble with dealing with multiple extruders. CNC mills however have been using multiple tools via automatic tool changers for a very long time. It's a "standing on the shoulders of giants" type thing.

Well, patches are welcome. Teacup firmware is as close to industrial standards as possible. And "possible" means the amount of contributions here.

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

@TheGremlin: You don't drive your (Geckodrive) G540 directly, you connect to it from a PC via the printer port and use a control program, right? So what are you driving your CNC router/mill with? Mach3 or LinuxCNC (formerly EMC2)? If one of these two, there is slicing software that will produce gcode that these programs can use. For example, this company uses cheap Chinese stepper boards linked to Mach3: [reprap.org]
There are also Mach3 and LinuxCNC/EMC2 sub-forums here [forums.reprap.org]
Your G540 should already provide 4 axis control, which is all you need for reprap - X, Y, Z and use A for the extruder.

If you just want a breakout board to just send enable/step/direction to the G540, you could get a normal RAMPS/Sanguinololu board without the Pololu Stepper drivers, and wire the enable/step/direction pins to the relevant pins on a printer cable. Then you'd have all of the heater and thermistor/thermocouple controls, though you'd have to learn how to use the reprap control software like pronterface. I have seen some people have done this, can't seem to find it at the moment.

Yeah that would be possible but it would mean disassembling the g540 to get at the stepper drivers. I'm current mid rebuild of a old servo CNC mill which got me thinking of adding a extruder to my router. In the end I might just end up building a rostock or a small gantry type printer and use ramps/rambo. It would be nice to be able to use standard cnc hardware since it's rated for much higher forces. Think Boweden cable speed while keeping the extruder on the hotend. Easily possibly when using 380oz steppers @ 48v. For example I can rapid at 1200IPM which is about 420 mm/s but I have a big heavy spindle and a huge gantry. As much as I like the little stepper drivers the extra muscle of the bigger motors and higher voltages allows for heavier printheads and faster acceleration.

@TheGremlin - I've used my Isel CNC-mill for printing with a wade extruder in three different ways:

1. generating slightly modified/optimized G-code and using the original CAM-software

2. replacing the Isel interface-card by a Gen3 and using RepRapHost

3. replacing the Isel interface-card by an ArduinoMega-RAMPS and using Repetier or Printrun

All three methodes works, but the ArduinoMega was the easiest mod ...

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Viktor
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