[Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Scott Hasse]

All-

I am starting in with some experiments using the RepRap RAMPS board (
http://reprap.org/wiki/Arduino_Mega_Pololu_Shield) (basically a 3-5 axis
small stepper driver board with additional heater outputs and temperature
inputs), but instead of using an Arduino with firmware like sprinter for
controlling it, I plan to use LinuxCNC with a parallel port.  To that end
I've acquired an Intel 525MW board and am so far very pleased with it.  To
adapt a parallel port to drive the RAMPS board, I plan to make a small
circuit board with the same footprint as the Arduino shield that would
normally drive the RAMPS board, but route the parallel port pins instead to
the shield headers.

I am expecting this will generally be fairly straightforward, and there is
just barely enough parallel I/O to be workable, but I have a few questions
that I thought I would run by you all:

1) Many of the output pins are step/dir which of course will require real
time control, but others things like heater outputs, etc, that would not
suffer too much from increased latency.  Has anyone used a latching shift
register for extending parallel port output for cases where latency is less
of a concern?

2) I've gotten some basic encoder-based frequency-based analog input
working in other scenarios (
http://code.google.com/p/sector67-sandbox/wiki/FrequencyBasedAnalogInput)
and plan to use that for the analog temperature inputs on the parallel port
if feasible.  Does that seem reasonable?

3) Has anyone else done anything similar to this?  I've followed the
http://reprap.org/wiki/EMCRepRap effort, but that doesn't use the RAMPS
board.  I expect the user interface and gcode translation tools from that
project to be quite useful.

Thanks,

Scott
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[Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Scott Hasse]

All-

I am starting in with some experiments using the RepRap RAMPS board (
http://reprap.org/wiki/Arduino_Mega_Pololu_Shield) (basically a 3-5 axis
small stepper driver board with additional heater outputs and temperature
inputs), but instead of using an Arduino with firmware like sprinter for
controlling it, I plan to use LinuxCNC with a parallel port.  To that end
I've acquired an Intel 525MW board and am so far very pleased with it.  To
adapt a parallel port to drive the RAMPS board, I plan to make a small
circuit board with the same footprint as the Arduino shield that would
normally driver the RAMPS board, but route the parallel port pins instead.

I am expecting this will generally be fairly straightforward, and there is
just barely enough parallel I/O to be workable, but I have a few questions
that I thought I would run by you all:

1) Many of the output pins are step/dir which of course will require real
time control, but others things like heater outputs, etc, that would not
suffer too much from latency.  Has anyone used a latching shift register
for extending parallel port output when latency is less of a concern?

2) I've gotten some basic encoder-based frequency-based analog input
working in other scenarios (
http://code.google.com/p/sector67-sandbox/wiki/FrequencyBasedAnalogInput)
and plan to use that for the analog temperature inputs on the parallel port
if feasible.  Does that seem reasonable?

3) Has anyone else done anything similar to this?  I've followed the
http://reprap.org/wiki/EMCRepRap effort, but that doesn't use the RAMPS
board.  I expect the user interface and gcode translation tools from that
project to be useful.

Thanks,

Scott
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Re: [Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Charles Steinkuehler]

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On 6/13/2012 8:42 PM, Scott Hasse wrote:
> 1) Many of the output pins are step/dir which of course will
> require real time control, but others things like heater outputs,
> etc, that would not suffer too much from increased latency.  Has
> anyone used a latching shift register for extending parallel port
> output for cases where latency is less of a concern?

I'm not aware of anything specifically like this.  The Mesa folks (and
others) use the parallel port in EPP mode and get something like what
you're talking about.  I've considered taking the AVR and using it as
a "poor-man's" Mesa, but I'm not sure it's going to be worth the hassle.

It would provide a fairly easy way to expand the I/O, and get full
support for multiple analog channels via the A/D.

> 2) I've gotten some basic encoder-based frequency-based analog
> input working in other scenarios ( 
> http://code.google.com/p/sector67-sandbox/wiki/FrequencyBasedAnalogInput)
>
> 
and plan to use that for the analog temperature inputs on the parallel port
> if feasible.  Does that seem reasonable?

It seems perfectly reasonable.  I am planning on just using something
like a 555 timer to convert the thermistor resistance into a frequency
that can be sampled by the HAL parallel port or (if I need more
resolution) using the analog audio input and something like aubiopitch.

> 3) Has anyone else done anything similar to this?  I've followed
> the http://reprap.org/wiki/EMCRepRap effort, but that doesn't use
> the RAMPS board.  I expect the user interface and gcode translation
> tools from that project to be quite useful.

I think I'm heading down pretty much exactly the same path you are,
although I've been recently side-tracked actually trying to assemble
my MendelMax 3D printer.

I picked up some proto-shield boards cheap off eBay (see item
280871493314), which I plan on using to replace the Arduino by tying
directly to the parallel port.

...but first I have to finish the 3D printer, which is *ALMOST* done.

*wanders off to work on the wiring harness*

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Re: [Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Kip]

Scott,
   I am working to add a latching shift register to my parallel port in 
LinuxCNC to expand the number of bits available where latency is less of 
a concern.

My original thought was to use an Arduino nano to control these functions, 
as I have several laying around.  But I quickly ran out of pins.  Then I was
going to use shift registers to expand the Arduino.  Finally I realized that 
the arduino wasn't at all necessary, as I could directly drive the shift
registers with the parallel port.  This has the added bonus that I no 
longer have to run a USB cable to my machine, along side the parallel port.

My plan is to shift data in and out simultaneously by using the same clock and 
latch pins for Serial-In Parallel-Out (SIPO) and Parallel-In Serial Out (PISO) 
shift registers.  This will consume 3 output pins and 1 input pin on the 
parallel port.  I'll be using it it drive 16 output pins and read 16 input pins 
in my machine.

If this sounds useful, I'll keep you posted with my progress.
-Kip





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Re: [Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Gene Heskett]

On Monday 26 November 2012 11:07:02 Kip did opine:

> Scott,
>I am working to add a latching shift register to my parallel port in
> LinuxCNC to expand the number of bits available where latency is less of
> a concern.
> 
> My original thought was to use an Arduino nano to control these
> functions, as I have several laying around.  But I quickly ran out of
> pins.  Then I was going to use shift registers to expand the Arduino. 
> Finally I realized that the arduino wasn't at all necessary, as I could
> directly drive the shift registers with the parallel port.  This has
> the added bonus that I no longer have to run a USB cable to my machine,
> along side the parallel port.
> 
> My plan is to shift data in and out simultaneously by using the same
> clock and latch pins for Serial-In Parallel-Out (SIPO) and Parallel-In
> Serial Out (PISO) shift registers.  This will consume 3 output pins and
> 1 input pin on the parallel port.  I'll be using it it drive 16 output
> pins and read 16 input pins in my machine.
> 
> If this sounds useful, I'll keep you posted with my progress.
> -Kip
> 
It does sound interesting Kip, for controlling such as tool turrets, 
coolant floods, air sweeps, etc.  So please do keep us in the loop.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Cheers, Gene
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Re: [Emc-users] RepRap RAMPS stepper controller board with LinuxCNC?

[Charles Steinkuehler]

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On 11/26/2012 8:18 AM, Kip wrote:
> Scott, I am working to add a latching shift register to my parallel
> port in LinuxCNC to expand the number of bits available where
> latency is less of a concern.
> 
> My original thought was to use an Arduino nano to control these
> functions, as I have several laying around.  But I quickly ran out
> of pins.  Then I was going to use shift registers to expand the
> Arduino.  Finally I realized that the arduino wasn't at all
> necessary, as I could directly drive the shift registers with the
> parallel port.  This has the added bonus that I no longer have to
> run a USB cable to my machine, along side the parallel port.
> 
> My plan is to shift data in and out simultaneously by using the
> same clock and latch pins for Serial-In Parallel-Out (SIPO) and
> Parallel-In Serial Out (PISO) shift registers.  This will consume 3
> output pins and 1 input pin on the parallel port.  I'll be using it
> it drive 16 output pins and read 16 input pins in my machine.

With 2 output pins and one input, you can implement an I2C bus and use
assorted I/O expanders, ADC/DAC chips, etc.  The bit-banging I2C
component I wrote might also be of some use as an example for coding a
HAL component to talk to your shift-register/SPI bus.  Configs, HAL
code, and an interface board to hook LinuxCNC to a RAMPS board can be
found here:

https://github.com/cdsteinkuehler/LinuxCNC-RepRap

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