Thread: Digital router lift - proof of concept

Originally Posted by Lappa

Mike,
How are you driving your touch display with the Nucleo Board?
The other thing I’ve noticed is that with any Arduino Shield or pin you use, you are now limited to 3.3v rather than the 5v for Arduino. Looks like I’ll have do do a little more “behind the scenes” circuitry work with the Nucleo.

A lot of the pins are 5v tolerant and are listed in the Data sheet for each processor. However everything I used in the router table is running from 3.3v so not a problem in my case.

One of the many reasons I use this 400 MHZ STM32H743ZI nucleo is the specially written Basic interpreter that has been ported over and supports a lot of hardware including various displays. Supported inbuilt Display device drivers are:

8-bit mode: RGB888: SSD1963_4, SSD1963_5, SSD1963_5A, SSD1963_7, SSD1963_7A, SSD1963_8
16-bit mode: RGB565: SSD1963_4_16, SSD1963_5_16, SSD1963_5A_16, SSD1963_7_16, SSD1963_7A_16, SSD1963_8_16

However a low cost touch 9" display has just been tested and runs perfectly as well.

The above is the definition name that is used to select the Display driver and mode that you wish to connect to the Nucleo, it's a one line OPTION statement that can include various orientation options. There is a second statement that defines the Resistive Touch Pins.

There is a Calibrate command that calibrates the touch screen in the typical way and your ready to go. Same with an SD card, lots of inbuilt graphics etc. Fastest way to develop something that I've found, and a big plus, plug in a USB keyboard and make code changes on the fly via its inbuilt code editor and the LCD screen while the Nucleo Microcontroller is installed in the table or system. A wireless keyboard is neat option.

There is a BackPack board that will soon be available (around $10) that should allow you to just plug in the display instead of wiring up a display connector. It also holds SD reader and Console port and RTC backup battery.

Not trying to convert you (or anyone) it's just the reason why I can get something very sophisticated up and running so dam quickly.

Final course assignments uploaded Friday - email today saying all passed - whoooooppppeeee.

Now I can get down and play with my new devices.

3C8472CD-A38A-4264-952E-C965F7907B9E.jpg

Gnc42,
had a look through you blog and pictures. I can’t read German but the photos were great - good system
My Triton has a micro adjustment that I could adapt a stepper to, but it’s only plastic threads so I’m not sure about the longevity of using that.
Maybe I’ll look at some other place I can use a thread?
Cheers

Congratulations!

Concerning the thread spindle, the Casals had already a metal one, however it was a bit rough-running for the stepper. Therefore, I replaced the original one with a
trapezoid DIN103 which runs much smoother now. Using the built-in spindle just makes the system very compact.

I used my system last weekend. I was using a flush trim router bit with an upper and lower bearing, and changed position often between both. Thus, the thing missing in my installation are some memory keys where I can store positions to easily toggle height - maybe the next extension.

Please keep us up to date with any modifications you make. It good to see different approaches.

My blog entry is not too much text, therefore I did a translation:Height adjustment router table

Thanks to gnc42 for translating his blog.
I really liked the concept of his router lift program because it involved no keypad, used hardware that was basically all in one bundle and the operation was simple and accurate.
He used a Moto Monster shield which has many functions such as the ability to read, then control driver current etc,
The problem is that they are expensive in OZ - $119+ so I thought I’d see if I could use his code (which he kindly supplied in his blog) and adapt it to my existing stepper driver and adapt the code to suit my screw lead.
Worked like a charm - thanks gnc42.

2EBEE6B4-3605-4624-AC9A-430C5E874519.jpg

I still liked the the idea of a shield driver but didn’t like the cost however, when working with my ST Nucleo Board, I came across a shield it uses that will also fit an Arduino Uno and it can handle up to 10A rms and also has similar features to the Moto Monster. Best if all it was only $22

F8761785-5B29-43F5-B7CF-3195E53080AC.jpeg
My next step is to integrate this shield into all my coding to I can do away with the separate driver boxes. That will make the whole lift hardware much more compact.

No idea why the monster shield seems so expensive for you... it's around 7€ in the bay - if you can wait for a while. And 10€ if sent from Germany.

By the way, I do not use the current control from the shield. Problem is that it's controlled by PWM. Since the stepper drivers turn on and off the power to turn the stepper, this may interfere with the PWM that controls the current. Both have more or less the same frequency, and this will not work out.

Instead, I control the current on the power supply from Meanwell, which was originally built to drive LED lights. That's much more convenient, and I get a clean current on my moto shield without those frequencies around 400Hz.

We get shafted over here re prices
https://core-electronics.com.au/sear...monster+shield


I have now got the Nucleo Board up and running but with limited commands, as the Arduino libraries to support the board are few and far between - I’ve found one.
I’m playing with another one designed for the ARM processors that is based on Mike McCauley’s excellent AccelStepper library. Hopefully I can modify it.

The board has some excellent features eg. You can actually set the max current in software and it will shut the board down if something nasty happens.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.