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uddy of mine mentioned he wanted a record cutting lathe. It got me thinking about a possible application for the 4 axis motor controller and decided to sketch what I envision a record cutting lathe to be.
My main interest is finding more uses for the motor controller, but I am also intrigued by what would be possible when redesigning this with new methods.
Some updates in this design vs older designs:
In order to reduce the cost of the Pick and Place machine a new 4-Axis Stepper Motor Controller has been designed.
Hardware Features:
USB Interface
7 general purpose 12v relay drivers.
16 General Purpose I/O
Over Current/ Over Temperature protection
Step/Direction Inputs for use with other control methods.(emc2)
Can be run standalone without USB input.
Based on a Silabs Controller, and Toshiba stepper drivers.
Firmware Features:
As a subset of the Electronic Manufacturing line the main function is controlling the pick and place machine. The software is pretty far along but still needs some polishing. Here are the main functions:
The main input is the BOM generated by the layout software. Currently it is only set up for Cadence Allegro, but this is relatively trivial to provide additional formats. I am committed to providing support for any file system required. This is easy to adapt and our main target market doesn't use Allegro.
This is the subproject for the mechanical aspects of the pick-and-place machine. I have very little details thus far as this is the portion of the project that needs the most work. I will update this with the design files of what I have so far after I figure out how to upload.
This is the focal point of the Open Source Manufacturing Line. Most of it is pretty standard XYZ manipulator with a focus on speed, therefore mass has been kept as low as possible. Another consideration is cost, we have every indication it can be manufactured and sold for under $400.
The goal is to create an open source manufacturing line for printed circuit boards. Here are the reasons for why this is important:
Currently an open source hardware designer faces a very high cost of production due to the low quantities involved. This will greatly reduce the cost of manufacturing to the point where the end product is competitively priced with the commercial equivalent.
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