Basic GRBL Arduino Shield wiring, etc

Hello,

I am ‘very’ new and bought an identical kit to this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNC-V3-Shield-for-Mill-Router-Engraver-4x-DRV8825-UNO-R3-Arduino-Compatible-/261865186324?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3cf861a414 . I was able to flash GRBL, install correct port driver, and check in Arduino Serial Port window.

Unfortunately, I looked around many pages to find as much direct info on exactly what I needed to know, but still had to just guess, and probably damaged something when powering the shield.

The shield plugs on the board one way, the drivers, I believe were correct. The power allows 12-36 V DC. I plugged 24 V DC, correct polarity. And, when powered up, with everything already connected, something made a quick spark. The UNO now heats up at the chip with just USB and the port will not show.

The point, at this point, is to try to find out… what do I need to find out instead of just guessing for this type of controller set up, which seems to be fairly standard and basic. I have looked over the protoneer site info and many others.

There seems to be, as with so many things, a lot of assumed info that is not easy to find. There seems to be so much I’m not even sure where to start connecting loose ends some times.

Any help will not just be for me… eventually.

I’ve never seen that board before. Do you know who makes it?

It has links to the Arduino CNC Shield – 100% GRBL Compatable | Protoneer.co.nz site, and as much as I’ve seen is, though not ‘genuine’ Arduino, etc. is very much the same and in numerous use, with, again, identical pin set ups to… something. I suppose the point being, that the board and shield are matched, and used commonly. If it seems like what I did shouldn’t cause any issue, then I’m as confused as that, as well.

Again, I know not ‘genuine’ (Arduino, etc.) but I’m just trying to find why I wasn’t supposed to just hook up the basic things I did, without checking more.

I assure I’ll get to the bottom of as much as I can… eventually. I’m just trying to be able to do so without having to spend more than necessary to start, and then go from there. I hate finding out basic stuff that was excluded because everyone assumed it… after the fact. And, I’d have to say I’ve found a lot of that in my time.

Thanks for your response.

In case it was not clear, I am not sure if I read something relative to this, but I did not have motors wired to the drivers.

I don’t mind speculation, but am trying to avoid that as a complete explanation if that is all there will be to know.

I suppose either way, I may have to pick up another board, or more ‘beginner friendly’ or inclusive of drivers, etc.

Well, cheers now… life isn’t meant to be worried about.

I started with that board in an effort to go cheap but also I liked the fact that the drivers were replaceable. I went thru 2 of them, one from Protoneer that you solder yourself and one Chinese copy that was prebuilt. I was unsuccessful in getting either one to work correctly. My solution was to buy a gshield from here and was able to get predictable movement with it. Sounds like you will likely need to replace your UNO as well.

I agree and think I will probably be getting a gShield and another Uno.

But, I was really trying a bit to go more basic than just cheap. To have that happen for what was connected, it would be nice to find out what else should have been done, or that what was done should probably not have caused it to blow the Uno board.

It seems like without more articulated information, or until I can find or understand what happened, the most I can do is guess at possibilities, and of course try to make sure I have everything correct with the next board and shield I use.

Either way, thanks for your input.

I bought one of these UNO & shields as well as 3 motors. I used them to try and figure things out while waiting for my XCarve to arrive.
I used the Universal GCode Sender to connect to the UGS and with it I could manually control the motors as well as send GCode files. It was helpful and is a good starting point.

Was there anything you did differently besides plugging the shield into the board, drivers into shield, jumpers for micro stepping, motors into drivers, and correct polarity DC voltage into the shield ?

No it really was that easy. From memory I started with an Arduino, did some coding with it using their install and drivers. I then got the Arduino & Shield combo and literally just plugged it in. I am using UGS version 1.04, not sure if that is relevant. I am on windows 8.1 as well.
If there is anything you would like to compare with my setup just let me know.

No. My issue was when powering the hardware with the external DC voltage, after everything was connected as roughly described, rather than with software driver, Arduino, etc.