Thread: Digital router lift - proof of concept

Wow, that's awesome, I want one.

Looks good

Why not standardise on and program it to move in 0.1 mm steps?
ie 101 = 10.1mm
The screen should be programmable to display it as 10.1 mm.

Instead of measuring with a a ruler try measuring it with digital callipers coming from both directions and this will give you an indication of the back lash

Originally Posted by BobL

Looks good

Why not standardise on and program it to move in 0.1 mm steps?
ie 101 = 10.1mm
The screen should be programmable to display it as 10.1 mm.

Instead of measuring with a a ruler try measuring it with digital callipers coming from both directions and this will give you an indication of the back lash

Thanks.

This was just a rough build to check the concept. The new one will be aluminium and condensed.

- i said that I would use 0.1mm increments and my example in the text would infer that 101 was 10.1 when programmed in 0.1 increments.

- I have another keypad on the way as I want to have more keys for eg. setting a zero when fitting different router bits etc. so the decimal point shouldn’t be a problem.

- the weight tends to minimise any backlash but to prevent any “climb” movement when routing I used anti backlash fittings.

- I would have preferred to use a dial indicator but I didn’t have one on hand today so just used what I had on hand.

It was a fun build and kept me off the street

That is awesome Lappa!

Love it! Can't wait to see this refined
What size motor did you use?

Thanks. I’m using a Nema 23 at the moment. It puts out the minimum torque recommended for a largish “hobby” CNC (1000x1500mm).
I can go higher if needed - just more costly - so i’ll see how this handles it.

Just an update. I’ve added two new routines to the router lift.

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One is a simple Raise and Lower so you can move it relatively quickly to a new position. I am still playing with the speed settings.
The second routine is a Zero Height Set so you can add a new router bit and Zero it to the table. I’ve also added Limit Switches.
Link to a quick Youtube video

https://youtu.be/-KZDtdFxnF0

After a rather busy two weeks with end-of-years at work and a bereavement in the family, I’m finally able to get back the the router table build and the Igageing DRO I bought a couple of weeks ago.
First order of the day was to put together an interface board so I could access the cable pins to analyse signals with the oscilloscope, allow me to connect to the Arduino Board and disconnect individual circuits.

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The first interesting observation was that the unit runs at 3v. It has two 3v button batteries but they are connected in parallel to raise capacity, not voltage. It has a plug-in power pin at the side and the specs for that are 5v. Now whether the scales will run at 5v or whether there is a regulator to drop the 5v to 3v I don’t know, so I ran everything on 3v just in case.

There’s been a lot of work on the WEB using digital calipers. Mitutoyu micrometers, Igaging micrometers etc. connected to Arduinos.

They can divided into two groups Clock In or Clock Out. Most are Clock In and relate to the data port that is now on the side of the latest DROs using the head units Clock signal - more about that later.

Using only the scales means you have to supply a Clock signal from the Arduino so its Clock Out.
Rather than reinvent the wheel I copied a number of sketches down from the WEB and ran them. Only one showed any form of changing values and it was nowhere near what the DRO said.

So some recoding and fun with HEX to binary and success

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On a side note, you can buy an interface kit for Mitutoyo and Igaging units (look the same but maybe different?) to connect to a PC so you can record data. The Igageing unit is about $135.

i have ordered a Mitutoyo Data cable by itself for the DRO so I can have a look at the info from the Data port. From what I have read, it should give me all the output Data I require as well as being able to utilise the buttons on the head unit, without interfacing in the cables between the scales and head unit

One of the reasons for going down this path is to come up with a cheap build that is fully functional utilising the gear I already have ie. Arduino nano, cheap LCD screen, cheap keypad and the DRO head which I have already paid for

There is a regulator in the unit. From memory 5V in gives 3V at the paralleled batteries (I think I just pulled the batteries after powering it and measured the voltage), the electronics and slide run interfaced to the normal 3.3v IO voltage supplied by 3.3v micros.

I haven’t pulled mine apart - yet
The Arduino has a 3.3v supply pin which I used to supply the scales but I had to use a voltage divider circuit for the Clock Out signal as the Arduino output pins are 5v.

I see, I have the opposite problem where all mine are 3.3v IO, although a few of the IO pins are 5V tolerant.

BTW The current consumption for the DRO is around 0.00008A (80uA) when powered on, when switched off (soft off) they draw around 50uA. If you want to be safe you could feed them with a 5k or 10k resistor. That current is for the head and slide, the slide by itself would draw less obviously. In my current table I'm powering the complete unit via a 5.6K 1/4 watt resistor so that any cable faults can't cause a problem sometime down the track , it also allows me to use a bypass capacitor with the resistor and the combination acts as an extra supply line filter to the unit.

Another carefully delivered package by Australia Post

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Seriously - they are just getting worse with every passing minute.