Driving a Warthog w120 with reprap

So fantasies do come true. I have a Warthog xyz router table (4 feet by 8 feet and 1200 lbs (half ton)) sitting in my garage that runs. Well, till the Flashcut signal generator went bust. Argh. Propriety garbage!
I have built a Prusa i3 and have engineered a Dremel holder for that but have not got around to the code and hardware changes yet.
Now comes the same need for the Warthog. It has 3 Gecko G201X motor drivers. These things are beefy yet simple as they only need Step, Direction, motor connections, +V and Ground. The motor wiring is the same as what the Ramps connect to. The motors are equiv to Nema 34 range.
In looking at the Ramps board with the stepticks I realized that the stepsticks could be left off the Ramps and the Geckos wired in those three places.
I could hack out the hotbed, extruder, fans and thermistors with dummy loads or change the code. I would rather put the dummy hardware in to fore go making massive changes to code and leave that open source as is.
And yes there are limit switches in the table that I can connect into the Ramps.
So I have figured out the wiring connections for the Geckos and limit switches. And I can add dummies for the parts of the Reprap that are missing on the Warthog. I am just not sure at this moment about any code that might need to see the stepsticks there. But this is my next step.
As I get this done then I will have a Warthog that is non proprietary and can be easily repaired by a cheap trip to online stores or Microcenters.
The motors have their own power supply. The Z axis has only 6"s of travel but we are thinking if we don't go beyond this we can just throw sign dxfs or gcode at this table and let it go to town just like we are running a printer with the same software interfaces, like Pronterface.
I posted this to tell about this journey. I has its hiccups but no real problems yet. The people that are professional printers and joggers(table runners) are all trapped in the proprietary world. They don't know hardware or software real well and don't want to. They just want to print or mill signs and get paid.
As I write this I realized more and more that I can just swap the Geckos in, put in dummy resistive loads for fans, hot bed and thermistors, connect the limits in and jog the heads.
This way I don't touch the 3d printer aspect of the Reprap environment and the Warthog proprietary aspect has been abolished. And the biggie is that this new setup is extremely cheap to maintain.

If anybody would like to comment with hurrahs or impediments we are gratefuly welcome to both.

We have some very cool projects we want to accomplish as we can mill metal, stone, foam, wood or PVC.
Thanks in advance.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2019 12:08AM by Giantkiller.

... there are no problems to use RepRap-electronics for different CNC systems - I'm building pastedispensers, laserengravers and big industrial ultrasonic cleaners with 3m linear drive in X with my own electronics, based on Marlin firmware and Pronterface (slightly modified for the specific use-cases)

To avoid problems with the longer wires with the 3m-axes I've level-changed the STEP+DIR and endstop signals to 24V levels (and back to 3.3V again for the ArduinoDue) ...

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

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

Sweet answer. Thanks. I kind of knew with the flexibility I have across the whole project that my thinking was correct.
Thanks for reaffirming that.
I will post results here. I have a suspicion this just going to fall into place real simple like.

Well this got incredibly easier as I thought.
I found the GRBL hex for the Mega2560 and flashed it.
Then I used UGSplatform, loaded a gcode file, and watched it run on the laptop.
Next I connect the Arduino ports to the table and test a realtime run.
The only concern is the speed and distance parameters that might need to be entered to match the Arduino runtime to the table inputs.

Quote
Giantkiller
The only concern is the speed and distance parameters that might need to be entered to match the Arduino runtime to the table inputs.

The leading 32-bit firmwares have allowed those parameters (and many others) to be configured using a text file on the SD card for more than five years.

Some firmwares have a lot of catching up to do.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Thanks. I will look at this.
The Flashcut signal generator software that is currently being used has a lot of parameter panels for every conceivable parameter to match table motor gearing, speed, motors, motor drivers.
I am just going to run the hex file as is and delve into the code or parameters when I get an idea how close or far off the hex is.
The table has an emergency power down button. I will drag the head to the middle and go from there one axis at a time.

Any time a developer gets to leave his desk is a Godsend.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2019 04:09PM by Giantkiller.

... in respect to speed, microstep-resolution and travelling ranges an ArduinoDue is much more favorable than a Mega2560 -- 32Bit rulez!

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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 sent the Flashcut signal generator in for repair. Turns out the unit is fine, just noise in the environment. Am using a shielded D-sub 37 pin cable.
Will receive EMI reduction instructions with return.

In the mean time I have flashed the correct Arduino Mega2560 hex file to a Mega2560 processor. On the test desk the signals appear to be what they are supposed to be. The pinout images on the net are incorrect so I read down through through the CPUmap.h to identify the correct pinouts.
I will return here to post the image later.
Order is X, Y, Z.
Step pins are 24,25,26.
Direction pins are 30,31,32.
Limits are 10, 11, 12.
No code has to be changed.
I now need to test the limit inputs with jumpers.
I have downloaded and setup the Unversal Gcode Sender. This little charm works great.
The parameter settings to match the table with the milling project dimensions are in the que. This is different than the Flashcut interface.

The real treat was see the setup pulses and the direction levels pinouts changing value when the mega2560 is running.
I am using a Sainsmart itty bitty oscillocope:
[www.amazon.com]

Just right for the desktop and tight spot jobs. Worth the time to get to know how to use one. The A & B inputs are good to 40vac and the C & D are good to +5v. The down side is there is no dork stand. The device lays flat.

After Limit inputs are checked I connect to table.

This effort allows me to go totally opensource. All the software was free and the Mega2560 boards are $15.00. Buy a couple and stick them in inventory.
So I minimized the Warthog from the Flashcut $~1500.00 to Arduino $15.00 by 99%. Cost is 1% in open source compared to the proprietary avenue.
Now the UGS usage is a little different but for all intents and purposes it will work. A lot of users are using this for their 3d printers and cnc millers.
We have also migrated away from Enroute. There are just many more choices out there.

To convert to the Arduino Due at 3.3v is another path at the moment. There are a lot of satisfied users of Mega2560 with the resolution in the 3d printer realm. If it works for layers plastic it should work for this project.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2019 10:41PM by Giantkiller.