Arduinos and Microcontrollers ref: Rotary Table Mew 249

Carl - Your inspiring MEW article arrived the same day as my Arduino for idiots starter kit. Just the beginning of a long journey for me. But seeing something practical like your table gave me hope beyond my normal attention span. If I graduate it would be interesting to have a go at a fourth axis conversion perhaps.

Carl,

No mystery you say, but as soon as you access the Arduino site it throws all kinds of options and boards at you without any hint of where and with what to start (from scratch).

Kwil,

Whilst I was off work sick for eight months I picked up an Arduino Uno off of the internet, Amazon, downloaded the IDE from the Arduino website and just followed the websites training pages, I've also bought project books. I have uno's that are genuine boards and copies but they all work the same, I'm also still playing with it and learning the programming as I go. There are other Arduino boards which are less useful or more powerful than the uno but the uno seems the most popular.

You can get most of the hardware, books and shields from Maplins, its not expensive either.

Martin P

Hi Kwil

You could have downloaded the Arduino software whilst there, versions to suit the device you use.

I haven't read either of the articles described on these pages but have a version from Chuck on the HMEM site, will be trying the program (sketch) out from the DM article soon, it operates on the electronic gear I already have, that's an Arduino UNO R3 board, a TB6560 3A 1 axis stepper driver controller and a 16x2 Shield LCD screen/keypad, I already had a 12v DC PSU and a suitable stepper motor, cost of purchased parts inc pp was £16

Makes a very useful addition to a div head or rotary table.

Emgee

A thumbs up for the Arduino Uno Beginners Kit. (if that is what you are) Very good guide book and project components for the unelectrical. - If you are Cad/Cam minded, Estlecam have very interesting free programme for the Uno, to run a router. With 3D scanning, tool setting and auto leveling.

.

Rod,

Google keeps pushing me to Estlcam [without the second 'e'] **LINK**

http://www.estlcam.com/index.php

... is that the right one ?

Thanks

MichaelG.

You're lucky in that case. Most of the Chinese copies won't work with the standard Arduino USB driver for programming. (There is a driver, that works, available but you have to know and dig it up).

Michael - Yes thats the one. Worth getting into more deeply.

Thanks, Rod

MichaelG.

Hi Carl

after reading your project in MEW 249 I'm having a look at the arduino

it could be an alternative to hard wired logic in my own projects

now I see the Atmel chip with the Arduino boot loader is available from Farnell

http://uk.farnell.com/arduino-org/a000048/mcu-8bit-atmega-20mhz-dip-28/dp/1848694

with your project being based on a old design

the one change I would consider making is to replace the "TB6560" stepper driver with the later THB6064AH drivers that survive being run at their published limits unlike the TB6560

John

PS

I see you adapting Gary Liming's design no different to the likes of the British Radio Corporation (HMV, Ferguson ,Marconi, Fidelity) building radios and TV's based on Mullard's application design examples with minimal alteration

Edited By john swift 1 on 04/12/2016 20:19:22

Is there some advantage to this rather than the pro mini which I have been using? With the pro mini you need another programmer board, but that is a one off and cheap, and the pro mini has its own resonator and voltage regulator. It even has a built in reset button and a LED you can make flash. Useful at times. I've just bought 10 off pro mini for £22 from UK supplier, so cheaper than the Farnell item

Can you also point me in the right direction for the enhanced stepper driver?

Hi Duncan

I was thinking if I don't need the USB port , I can replace several 5V logic IC's with the Atmel chip + crystal and save the space taken by the Arduino uno board

I expect I can either use a Atmel in circuit programmer or Arduino uno board to program the Atmel chip

John

PS

the THB6064 driver can either be bought as a kit to assemble your self

http://www.massmind.org/Techref/io/stepper/THB6064/index.htm

or

ebay , amazon etc

first web search result -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-THB6064AH-JP-6445A-Single-Axis-Stepper-Motor-Driver-/121384856405

PPS

Atmel programmer for Arduino

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USBASP-USBISP-ISP-Programmer-Cable-Adapter-KK2-0-KK2-1-Atmel-AVR-ATMega-ARDUINO-/131241223483?var=&hash=item1e8e96253b:m:my5ajIyIlNHKV-vZffc0xBg

Edited By john swift 1 on 05/12/2016 01:13:45

Very good project, Carl!

Could you give the spec of the stepper motor please?

Thanks, Bert

Anyone wanting to get deeply into AVR (or get eth most out of arduino) should visit teh atmel website and download Atmel Studio 6 which includes a library of datasheets.

John

The pro mini is very much smaller than the uno (0.6" * 1.1", although still bigger than a single chip

There are sooooo many Arduino versions available - plus numerous Arduino-compatible boards and other single board computers. Of course, many of them will fall by the wayside but it's fantastic to see so much innovation and development happening out there.

Like most of our generation, I've been messing with micros for much of my career but the upcoming generation has been born into this wave of technology, which is so much more powerful, cost effective and user friendly than what we were used to. It's fascinating to think where this is leading...

Murray

Too true. Lots of recent progress around the world towards making quantum computing a practical proposition, plus advances in very high density fast storage.

A working quantum computer will be the bees knees, orders of magnitude more capable than existing technology. There is a risk that it will make humanity redundant, which is OK as long as I still get my pension!

Dave