Making your own powerful Controller on the cheap side

Here is my 1st and 2nd (current) iteration of my CNC-controller.

1x Arduino UNO
4x stepper drives, one for each stepper, two drivers share the Y input signal

DIY_CNC

(one driver is missing in this picture below)
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I recently completed my own version of the Phil style controller. Keeping the wiring from turning into a rats nest is a bit of a challenge and I’ve still got some upgrades in mind.

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Has anyone noticed increased noise problems with this style of controller?

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If anyone is looking to do their own controller, Phil is about to release a Demon Arduino Shield which will take a ton of the wiring out of the equation. Visit his website to get in on the pre-order.

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If someone is interested I posted a pcb design I’ve done for my controller :
Foxx Carve - #14 by FoxxFighter

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It looks like it’s just a grbl breakout board. Anything more to it than that? $38 seems a bit steep.

@FoxxFighter Looks like your version has low pass filters on the switches… How has it been working for you?

Hey
to be honest I never had any issues with noise. But I ran shielded cables. I throw the filters in because I read that so many people had problems and I didn’t want to run into this after upgrading.

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Just ordered the boards and components you listed. Looks promising.

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He’s releasing a shield in the next few weeks that gets rid of all the barrier strips and has built in active filters.

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Barrier strips are $12 (not needed with Demon shield)
Capacitors and resistors are sold in bulk sets, about $10 per set. (Not needed with the Demon shield)
I built a demon shield before I saw this. It took hours to wire. (The demon shield has far less wiring).
I had to jumper grounds all over the place for the drivers. (The Demon shield eliminates jumpers).

You say steep. I say $29.99 well spent. I might even buy one to simplify my setup. His accessory connections are super convenient.

Forgot about the screw shield too… that’s another $20 not needed.

So you are saving a bunch of money and time with his shield.

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It is a well designed product that will allow improvements by many users. Any negative comments will just be “sour grapes” comments IMO, made by those wishing they had thought of it first.

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My comment was part of a question about the board. I think $38 for an Arduino breakout shield, with no components, is steep. I see you clarified that some inputs include noise filters. Any info on those? Simple low pass filters or opto-isolated? Do you know the values of the filter components?
My questions are out of interest (unfortunately, I seem to need to explicitly say that :roll_eyes:). It looks like a well thought-out setup with his renders.

I only know that it is active, not passive. I believe that he announced that there are other options in the works including a switch to make adding a rotary easy. And other versions of different completions.

hello there, did you have one diagram to conec all those parts?