Design, development and construction of an electronic controller for a CNC machine. The controller controls up to 3 stepper motors (up to 3 axes), has home and limit switches, and is optically isolated from the computer.
Computer Aided Design (CAD) Model of the Circuit
Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
Technical Specifications
- Supports 3 axis in Step\Direction method
- Supports UniPolar Step Motors
- Can work in either Full-Steps or Half-Steps for higher precision
- Connects to the computer using the parallel port (LPT)
- Complete optical isolation from the computer – protects the computer from possible CNC malfunctions.
- Home and limit switches support for the 3 axes.
- Header access to every free LPT input\output (can be used to enhance the CNC control by adding vacuum cleaner, lubricant
- Maximal voltage: 55v
- Maximal current (for each motor): 10A
- Seperate control for each motor!
- Maximum of 35,000 steps per second for each axis
- Heat-Sink ready
- Actively Ventilated package (fan)
- Firmware upgradable
- Supports 5,6,8 wired motors
- Supported by Linux CNC (EMC2), Mach3, Kcam
CNC Controller Case
- 3 “one way” connectors for easily connecting the stepper motors while preventing mistakes
- DB-9 (“serial”) connector for limit-switches input.
- Emergency Stop Button (the red button in the corner) that completely shuts down the electricity. The button is lit (using a bright led) while the machine is ON.
- Well ventilated case using a 60mm brushless fan.
- DC (12v) connector
- General bench-top power supply connectors for the motor’s electricity.