RepRap / CNC PIC Motherboard

Good day Forum.

Me and a friend are currently working on building our own RepRap / CNC machine. Its very basic not meant for 3d printing at the moment. We just want the machine to do the basic xyz movements for now.

We constructed the stepper drivers with the A3982 IC (http://reprap.org/wiki/Stepper_Motor_Driver_2_3) , and it work perfectly. We now want to construct a motherboard to drive the steppers, using a PIC18F4550. I would prefer to use this PIC because we have a Microchip programmer and are familiar with Microchip software.

The problem is that we want to be able to use at least some gcode, that the machine is able to make at the very least some basic shapes and drawings. We would be able to connect the PIC with USB to the PC, no problem, but what do we do to get the PIC to read gcode and produce the shape that we create on the PC? Where does one get the firmware for a PIC?

We can write some code, but we are amateurs when it comes to programming, and I suspect writing a PIC based Gcode interrupter will be a bit above our know how right now.

Any input will greatly be appreciated!

Thank you!

... what's wrong with an Arduino as controller and maybe sprinter/printrun as firmware/host?

You don't need a programmer and learning the Arduino-IDE and the used processing-style C-code should be much easier and faster than writing an own firmware from scratch with basic skills ...

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

I also mess with PICs on occasion and never used an Arduino until I bought a Mega 2560 for my Prusa.
I had the whole thing built and up in test mode in 4-5 weeks. I have been tweeking the setting in Skeinforge for the past 2 weeks.
I would also strongly recommend going with what is out there already like VDX stated.
It took me less than 6 weeks to have a usable Prusa printing PLA and ABS. The ABS needs a little more speed from my first settings but everything is good size wise. My PLA setting vary a little based upon color but are printing OK.

Just buy the Arduino and RAMPS kit or make the Gen 7 board from components. I think you can get all the components for the Gen 7 board for around $75-$80 from Mouser.

Repic is PIC18-based, but it's still in development, and fits Polulu stepper drivers not your 2.3s.

You don't need a programmer if you buy the ATmega with bootloader pre-installed (in an Arduino or as part of a Gen7 kit).

I loooove people posting the same thing multiple times

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

@Traumflug:
According to communication theory and scientific experiments, if you want to get a message through, especially to a collective, you have to repeat it many, many times (and in different ways).