5 Axis setup where are the outputs?

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  • March 28, 2019 at 11:19 am #11348
    ericschimel
    Member

    Hey all, I’m building a 5 axis machine and I’m looking to use a Tiny G v8. It says it can do 6 axes, but looking at the diagram I only see 4 outputs.

    I’m planning on doing all external stepper drives so I realize I’ll have to solder in some header pins, but I don’t see anywhere for the additional two step and direction outputs for the 5th and 6th axes… I don’t see any wiring examples anywhere either… Can anyone help?

    • This topic was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by ericschimel.
    March 28, 2019 at 2:33 pm #11350
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    The tinyG Wiki is here https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki
    Lots of information, but in fact no answers to your specific questions.
    One tinyG V8 board can decode 4 axis of movement from a menu of 6 axis definitions, 3 linear, three rotational

    Since you are already se on external drivers, I suggest you also take a look at G2Core. Start here https://github.com/synthetos/g2/wiki. G2core is now extended to 9 axis decoding ( 6 linear, 3 rotational.). A custom 5 axis “V8-like” board with 5 on-board drivers is in the works, but a DUE driving your external devices sounds like a match

    March 30, 2019 at 4:28 pm #11352
    ericschimel
    Member

    Ahh, that makes a lot more sense. The website description is a little misleading… I’m sure not intentionally but I figured I’d be able to run all 5 axes off of a TinyG V8.. I’ll take a look at the DUE. Thanks for the help!

    April 11, 2019 at 9:58 am #11378
    ericschimel
    Member

    Alright, as a little bit of an update I have a DUE now and a bench setup with 5 external drivers, 5 steppers and some home/limit switches for testing.

    I’m struggling a little bit with how to get started… To give a little background.. I’ve converted a couple of CNC machines’s control systems before, and I just did a GRBL setup on a smaller machine. I’m no expert, but I’ve got some idea of what I’m doing. GRBL was pretty straightforward. I was able to get a nice pinout diagram, and configure the board’s parameters and flash it pretty easily.

    I’m not exactly sure how to get started with the DUE. The pinout diagrams are a little vague in that it sounds like they’re being updated a lot, and it also sounds like from what I’ve read that you can essentially assign any pin to any I/O you want (which is super cool).

    Also, it looks like you need to compile a build of G2 Core for a DUE if you want to use it with a non standard setup…

    So here’s the question: How do I get started here? At this point I really just want to get a DUE up and running on this bench setup with steppers not connected to a machine so I can experiment and learn, but the path to get there isn’t entirely clear.

    I’m sure someone here as done this before, can anyone help?

    April 12, 2019 at 10:11 pm #11379
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    G2 Wiki pretty good on how to install G2. https://github.com/synthetos/g2/wiki
    If you anticipate tweaking, clone the Edge branch to you PC and build it’I suggest this because you will likely find tweaks you want to make in header files or perhaps even some code

    Download the binary to DUE and connect up your external drivers using https://github.com/synthetos/g2/wiki/Arduino-DUE-Pinout-for-g2core as a guide. Since the gSheild has not changed, Motors 1-4 should probably be good and Motor 5 as well.

    If you want to skip the build phase for now, download and install https://github.com/synthetos/g2/releases/download/101.03/g2core-gShield-101.03.bin

    You should be able to move motors with that build.

    If Pinout definition sounds tentative, well it is. If you don’t have access to the right pins for your 5 motor interface, you can move some around with Motate changes, a whole nother layer of complexity.

    Numerous folks are experimenting with G2 on various hardware platforms.

    • This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by cmcgrath5035.
    April 13, 2019 at 9:21 am #11381
    ericschimel
    Member

    Thanks for the info and links!

    I had looked at the wiki pretty closely, the part that’s light on details is the build part… Is this similar to a GRBL build in that I can alter the setup, and then upload it to the board? It looks so…

    What’s light on info is what I need to do to alter the build… Are there different settings I can build to match the pinouts/motor speeds that I want? Do I do that in X Code, compile and upload to the board?

    April 16, 2019 at 7:37 pm #11382
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    I’m not a GRBL user, so cannot comment there.
    After the build, all the settable parameters ($$ list) can be modified to tweak the behavior of gcode that you then run.They are all defined in https://github.com/synthetos/g2/wiki/Configuring-Version-0.99.

    I think the answer is you need to generate Gcode that moves linear and rotational axes to achieve your goal.

    April 17, 2019 at 10:11 pm #11386
    cncfurqan
    Member

    Hello

    I am aiming for same 5 axis setup but there are only 4 outputs on driver board
    Please clarify, does it mean i will have to use external driver instead of this board, with TinyG as CNC-driver and Due as hardware board?

    My setup will be like:
    – TinyG
    – Arduino DUO
    – 5 External Driver
    – 5 Stepper motors for each axis

    Thankyou in advance!

    April 18, 2019 at 9:28 pm #11388
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    Hmmm, we have a disconnect here.

    Think of G2 as the next generation of tinyG firmware.
    It started life as tinyG2, is now officially know as G2core.

    G2core needs more memory and performance than can be provided by the tinyGV8 hardware.
    So your setup could be :

    – G2core, running on
    – Arduino DUO
    – 5 External Driver
    – 5 Stepper motors, one for each axis

    The build of G2core compatible with the Gshield, g2core-gShield-101.03.bin
    Will output signals for 6 external drivers, chosen from 6 linear axis definitions (x,y,z,u,v,w) and three rotational axes (a,b,c). So you build with the Gshield definitions but you don’t use the Gshield hardware.

    There are not eonough pins on a DUE to support the full I/O space define for G2core.

    So re-read the G2wiki with this info and see if things make more sense.

    April 19, 2019 at 7:44 pm #11389
    ericschimel
    Member

    From the looks of the pinouts there’s enough IO on a DUE to run a 5 axis machine?

    So are you saying that I have to flash a Gshield build to a Due even though I’m not using a GShield?

    Not to bring this to another forum, but I think this sums up where I’m at:

    https://github.com/synthetos/g2/issues/412

    And perhaps cncfurgan too?

    April 19, 2019 at 10:15 pm #11390
    cncfurqan
    Member

    Thankyou very much for help

    As “cmcgrath5035” said;
    “So you build with the Gshield definitions but you don’t use the Gshield hardware”

    Does it mean?:

    1. Instead of G Shield hardware I should use the external motor controllers
    2. and connect motor controllers to Due-board as per the connection configuration of G-Shield

    April 20, 2019 at 9:39 am #11391
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    Yes. I suggested you investigate this path because you were looking for a full 5 axis solution and had already mentioned using some external drivers.
    gShield is great for small projects. It is not a great thermal design for a machine that will run several hours at a time at high stepper currents

    You might find this page useful https://github.com/synthetos/g2/wiki/G2core-on-DUE—External-Interfaces
    I actually used the schematics from this product to jumpstart that wiki page
    https://www.djuke.nl/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=1&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=406&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=8

    I tend to prefer well defined and isolated interfaces between boards like DUE (or Uno, or Pis) and external boards.
    Many consider that unnecessarily conservative, so you can prototype directly wiring between DUE and external driver devices and decide for yourself.
    If things don’t go well, you have some other ideas in hand.

    Good luck with your build.

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