Makerbot redone with '430s

[ozymandias 7]

I've had a Makerbot Cupcake CNC for a while now and have been wanting to convert it from the current arduino-bobino-fee-fi-sanguino controller to lightweight and modular MSP430 subsystems that would be useful in other control and robotics projects.

 

currently i have beta software that takes in UART data from a computer (i'm using GTKterm in linux) to the launchpad, where a G2231 controls chip select bits and resends the byte to (currently 3) other 2231's.

 

What i'm planning to do soon is modify the Makerbot to "close the loop" as far as control. Currently, you only theorectically know what state (where each bit is) by knowing what you've told it to do already; the "open loop" control (usually bad).

 

I've put up beta code in the code vault and i should :!: have proof of concept up and running by the end of the week.

[bluehash 1,581]

This should be interesting. Keep us posted.

[Fred 453]

I'll been interested to see what you come up with. I've got a CNC converted milling machine that's currently being controlled via the standard route of a PC with a parallel port running Mach3 - a solution that's definitely stuck in the 90s.

 

I'd be keen to ditch the PC and use the MSP430 for control. I'd ideally want to be interpreting the gcode from an SD card. It may not happen in a hurry though.

[Rickta59 589]

Are you planning on implementing an ASCII G-Code interpreter or will you try to conform to the ReplicatorG protocol?

 

-rick

[ozymandias 7]

Indeed that is the plan, Rick. Once the structure of the data is nailed down, i'll start on using lex-yacc/flex-bison to make a compiler that will take in g-code and spit out a ascii file of characters to transmit.