I ran into a challenge recently where I didn’t have enough spare pins that could PWM on ramps. I want to add LEDs for lighting and to signify certain events. To work around the issue, I decided to make an i2c-rgb led adapter. I2C lets me have up to 127 devices. I plan to make a similar one with a mosfet for a fan.
For my PCB Mill, I wanted to use something more portable than the SDTR-4C that I use for my Taig Mill and Sherline Lathe. I was originally planning to use a RAMPS setup, but for a few reasons I went a different way. I won’t go into it here, but may later. Below is a picture of the grblShield mounted on an Arduino Duemilanove. Its running the latest grbl firmware. I’m driving a nema17 taken off my old cupcake. I’m using a laptop power supply to make it lighter and more portable.
Because this Dell power supply uses a strange connector, I’ve rigged the remote wires to power up and and connected the wires manually. I’ll find a molex connector that I can make work soon.
Lastly, here is a video of one stepper running.
I took some pictures of the inside of some arcade games that I’ve been maintaining for awhile. I thought folks might be interested to see what they look like. The components are actually quite simple!
Ms Pac-Man
Pinball Machine
So one of my goals in getting into CNC was to be able to prototype my own PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). I’ve gotten some special equipment to do it, but this isn’t an easy thing to figure out how to do. Its taken me some time, but here is my first attempt. I’m using the hold downs that I put on the v90 with some steel bars to help hold it flat. This isn’t ideal. More on that to come …
Below is the etched result. I’m pretty pleased with the result.
