After building and changing my A2 Plotter, I had the knowledge to create a table for light routing. The idea was to create routed circuit boards and plates. All for the creation of tools in the future.
Using drawer guides and multiplex made it very easy to mount all the parts together. Using M10 threaded axial’s was not the most ideal way for the displacement, but it worked.
The stepper motors used in the picture above, didn’t have the power I needed. Using newer motors and needed drivers I enhanced the DOS program. The controlling of the drivers is done by a 8 bits PIO on the printerport. The video below shows that configuration.
The only needed improvement seemed to be a USB interface. After the fun I had creating it for the Plotter, I made a second one for the CNC4 table, using a PIC18F4550. The MPU firmware core was enhanced with 4 axes.
PC software written in Visual Basic 6 was used for sending instuctions to the router. The software can handle:
– PLT files for 2D drilling and routing
– NC files for 3D milling soft surfaces
– GCODE files for 3D printing
Changing the MPU for controlling a small TFT display with SDcard interface, it was possible to make a complete autonomous working router table.
I started researching Routed Circuit Boards using a Dremel with triangular bits.
Finally the M10 axles where changed to trapezium ones, 8mm diameter and displacement per rotation. The table is faster and fully controllable.