Meet Sam-Bo

So how many actual connections from the arduino to the Gecko?

Is there a diagram somewhere?

Thanks for the info.

Looks like seven plus ground.

No arduino, no gshield. No serial port. Just computer to Gecko via parallel port. You can put a parallel port card into your computer or use its existing parallel port if it is an old computer.

plus software to drive it.

Plus limit switch, spindle on/off, aux on/off, etc etc

How are these other items controlled by a standalone PC with a serial port? I have several old pcs that are in decent shape.

I assume the lower seven pins on the right side, all get jumpers to the gecko and the rest of the wires will be plugged in accordingly.

How many volts of the 24volt power supply does the gecko consume? G-Shield? Arduino itself?

I assume if one complete system can run on a 24V power supply, that if I had a 48 volt power supply, then I could run two systems on the larger power supply?

The Arduino and gShield logic are powered by the USB port. I measured the current on my machine at 50mA for the pair.

The 24 volt power supply just runs the fan, blue LEDs, green LEDs (via motor wiring) and the motors (also the 24 volt spindle if you have it).

You can use the 24 volt power supply with the G540. If you upgrade your stepper motors you have to make sure whatever power supply you use can deliver the current required.

Lower seven pins on the right and ground.

Theyā€™re not. Itā€™s a parallel port and you use a program like LinuxCNC or Mach3/4 to control the G540 and other signals through the parallel port.

LinuxCNC

Mach3

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A few details about my X-Carve set-up with a G540.
It has a 48V power supply (50V is the maximum that the G540 will support) and is connected to an (old) HP computer via a parallel port. I use Linuxcnc as the control software but Mach 3 will do if you prefer a Windows based solution.
Thereā€™s no tuning to select the correct current for the motors, thatā€™s done via a single, fixed value resistor for each driver. The only adjustment is for mid-band resonance which shows up as a ā€˜growlingā€™ at low speeds. With the motors running at low speed, you adjust a pot until the noise goes away, no guesswork or measurement.
It runs very well, quiet, fast - much faster than the X-Carve is mechanically capable of.
As far as running the G540 from Arduino/grbl, all you need, as suggested previouasly, it to connect the right pins from the Aduino to the Gecko.
Iā€™m currently building a very simple interface box to do this, see this thread. Running the X-Carve via grbl with a Gecko G540 controller
Not tested as yet, still working on a new spoil board setup.

EDIT: Just saw @LarryMā€™s latest post with the parallel port wiring. Hereā€™s the connections the G540 expects. Manual available here.

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Great information Gentlemen, much appreciated. I have downloaded these photos for further reference. :+1:t4::+1:t4:

So Iā€™m not a real computer literate guy but Iā€™m learning as I go. Since I have several windows computers sitting around, I can most likely install a parallel port on them, if they donā€™t already have one, then Install Mach 3/4 on the PC and control the machine this away, correct?

Can a Windows based PC be reconfigured to run LinuxCNC?

These computers will only be used for CNC purposes and that is it. My daily computer is a Mac and I wonā€™t be giving that up. Not a fan of Windows but if I have to use it to run on an old PC to control the CNC, then I can manage that.

Thanks again guys.

Edit: thanks for the correction.

Parallel Port not serial port.

Most PCs can run a flavor of Linux. You could either install it native, or if you have a powerful PC you could run Linux in a virtual machine.

Can you tell me how many volts a Nema23 uses?

You need a parallel port, not serial.
Parallel ports are getting rare on curent machines but you can buy an add on port for a few $$.
Mach 3 does support USB connected controllers such as the Smoothstepper but this is an extra $200 or so. Not supported by Linuxcnc.
Easiest way to use the G540 is via grbl is a simple interface as Iā€™ve described.

The primary concern for stepper motors is current. Since the voltage is turned on and off rapidly to limit the current through the stepper motor windings you can operate a stepper motor over a wide range of voltages.

What you need to know is the current limit for the stepper motor and make sure that you have your stepper motor driver set up to provide the correct current.

The NEMA 23s that Inventables sells can work up to 2.8 amps per phase.

Thanks again guys. Gonna have to do some homework now. Great food for thought.

Yes.

Looks like @LarryM types faster than I do :grinning:
Motors are rated more by current than volts. The main thing is to make sure that the controlller you use (gshield, G540, etc) can provide the right current.
The current rating is listed on the motor. The maximum voltage that you use with a stepper is a lot higher than the voltage listed on the motor spec. The operating voltage is anywhere from 4 to 20 times the listed voltage.
Lots of technical detail here.

Thanks. Iā€™ll look into this as well.

as to the voltage questions, Iā€™m trying to figure out future power supply needs and what I can possibly siphon off of my current PSU.

Iā€™m planning on building a larger machine with larger motors for cutting sheet goods. This will have a full size router motor or spindle that can handle an ER20 collet. Will be setting up a laser cutter and a 3D printer.

My current machine will get the laser added on it, which shouldnā€™t require any more of the current power supply. This machine will be dual purpose as a spindle or a laser.

This leaves me with a 3D printer in addition to the new CNC. I am assuming a 48V power supply should suffice for the both of them as long as the motors are not too large. I assume Nema 17/23s should suffice for a decent 3D printer?

Are you planning to have a single controller that you use for all of these machines?
The power supply needs to provide:

  1. the highest voltage your motors/controller can use
  2. enough current to drive all the motors

As far as a 3d printer goes, NEMA 17 are more than enough as youā€™re not moving a lot of mass around. A G540 would be overkill for a 3D printer.

each machine will have its own independent controller. I have two arduinos on hand and three PCs. Hoping to use what I Already have here

The Gecko will be on the larger machine. I may use it on the current machine, but thatā€™s only bc of the Dewalt spindle, the laser will just piggy back on the current set up. This will be an upgrade that I can immediately use even though I donā€™t have the laser yet. This would allow me to repurpose the G-shield for the 3D printer with the second
Arduino.

What can I say, I like building stuff. Lol.