Thread: Yet another Router table build.

A few teasers, this is a 7" Touch LCD, I stick a protective plastic film over it when I'm working on it like this so Pictures are not as clear as they really are. The camera has trouble with reflection so no flash, sorry for slightly blurred images.









EDIT The micro controller board is mounted behind the LCD and is a lot smaller than the Display.

In the third photo you can see the Scale slide in front of the screen.

Router Table, shake hands with your electronics future and welcome to the 21st century.

Much nicer display than the one on my digital router lift. Must get one

Mike, would it be useful or even possible to put metric and imperial into the display? A lot of nice plans are in imperial and rather than convert I just switch to whatever is written on the plan. I really am looking forward to building this more and more.

Hi Chris, if you mean mm to inches then the last picture, third button is mm/in.

BTW I have just added Virtual Key Pad entry for entering a position instead of just using the encoders.

Just to give you an idea, this shown the keypad that allows you to enter a position that you want the fence or height to move to. I'm just working through the best way to make this as simple as possible with just 2 or 3 screens and the main one shown will have the major functions in one screen. This should almost be in the electronics section but it really is part of this Router table build.

Pressing the button with the "0" in it, the one next to the Position readout, opens the Keypad.

BTW, USB PCB mount Micro B sockets are $2.95 at Jaycar, I'll grab one just to make 100% sure that they fit the Lead supplied with the DRO. If so, the DRO Scale slide does not have to be opened at all, just unplug the scale cable from the socket on the side of the head unit and plug the cable into the MicroController and that's it.

To add to post #142 above, After you enter a value in the Virtual keypad and press enter, a dialogue box will popup with 3 buttons, asking if the valued is (1) An absolute position to move to, (2) An offset from the current position, (3) Cancel.

Thought or better ideas welcome.

I call it amazing and thanks for all your efforts Mike you are a very clever person.

The BIT button will set the Spindle motor / Router to the position you select for changing the Router bit.

I have this because I will be using intelligent acceleration of the steppers motors (pushing them to the limit) in order to move the motor as fast as possible to the correct position for Bit changes. This will apply for all distant movement, Stepper motor skipping is obviously irrelevant in this setup.

HOME: (Fence) will zero the Fence to the centre of the COLLET. Or your chosen ZERO stop (need to test a few SIMPLE low cost (less than $10) ideas for that.

HOME: (Spindle) will be used in conjunction with a simple sensor plate to set the highest point of the bit to the table top.

ZERO: Sets the relevant SCALE reading to ZERO.

0: The buttons with "0" are for Keypad entry of either an absolute position to move to or an offset from the Current position to move to, IE 3.21 mm or something like 2.345 in Inches. Touching the button opens a Virtual Key Pad, the value entered is shown on the button in place of 0.

I Just need to code the SETUP and JOBS screens and I'm ready to sort out the hardware (funds permitting) although I have some old steppers I can test with I still need to decide on the lowest cost stepper Driver that will do what we want. Most expensive is around $75 but good lower cost units around $20. Unfortunately if you decide to drive the fence and the spindle with steppers then you need two of these stepper control boards.

My plan is to fit the Fence to the Bearing guide slides and automate that first.

BTW The instant you power on the Micro this screen instantly appears - NO load time or lag in ANYTHING in this system.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the Micro and screen are running the full code for reading and displaying the two Scale slides, the on Screen update speed is way faster that the OEM Head units could update each one, and I'm actually slowing the read update cycles with a delay at the moment.

Mike has done a fantastic job in moving the display from the heads to a touch screen and it will be fantastic when it’s connected to a fence and router It interesting that we are using different micros to achieve the same thing so it’s a great thread.
While my screen display is not as nice and my build is in “blocks” in my videos, my Arduino program will do similar to Mike’s and has actually been up and running and actually moving a router accurately for some time, as can be seen in the “proof of concept thread”.
I can set a zero position at any point (including the router bit tip), move to an absolute position from that zero point or any zero point which can be set at any position, or move from the existing position to any position required ie. if it’s at 32.5mm I can move to eg 35mm or 27.1mm by typing that figure in.
To use the program to move a fence would be similar except the zero to the collet centre would need to be applied.
While Mike is using digital scales to measure and is likely to use them to position the router, I’m using the lead on my thread divided by the 3200 steps of the stepper motor that I am able to control down to. While this is may not be as accurate as Mike’s method, it’s still theortecally accurate to 0.0025mm but more realistically down to a minimum of 0.1mm and possibly 0.05mm if my dial indicator is correct. I have purchased an igage unit so it will be interesting to see if the actual movement of the router matches the igage readout.
I’m currently working on tablet control of some automotive test gear i’m building and may incorporate this in the router lift build.

I have a driver that i wont use....you can have it if you want.

driver2.jpgdriver1.jpg

Originally Posted by ericks2

I have a driver that i wont use....you can have it if you want.

driver2.jpgdriver1.jpg

That would be of great help (lots of medical bills) have hindered me greatly.

You can PM me and I'm happy to give my Phone number and email address, Postage should not be to much for something like that so please let me know.

Thanks

Mike.

Lappa I'm so glad you are also writing this for that platform, The cost of freight has pushed my Micro units up a bit in price, I will purchase another down the track, so when this is all up and running, I'll see if anyone is interested and we may be able to get two or three and reduce the freight. I'll have a total cost for these Micros controllers and 7" LCD as I get closer to the finish. Lappas units may come in at a lower price, so which ever way anyone wants to go is just fine, it's the fun of doing this and sharing with others who want to try something like this that counts.

BTW Yes I'm also using a DRO scale for the Router / Spindle and well as the fence, both are being used in the current table at the moment.

Cheers

Mike.

pm sent...