Stepper Motors:
The stepper motors that I have used are Nema 23 stepper motors. But the same rules apply to all the different sizes of the stepper motors. Mostly they all work with 12v power and required different amperes. So its the amperes that you have to concentrate. In my case the power requirement is 3.0amps. And the angle of rotation is 1.8 degree which is very common.
Once you’ve opened the page containing the download for universal G-code sender scroll down “stable builds” and select version 1.0.9 to be downloaded. Opening the file: If you are using chrome as your browser the zip file will appear at the bottom of the page. Thank you for downloading Universal Gcode Sender para Mac from our software portal. The version of the Mac application you are about to download is 1.0.9. The contents of the download are original and were not modified in any way. The download was scanned for viruses by our system. We also recommend you check the files before installation.
We will be using these values in the stepper motor driver.
Stepper Motor Driver:
Since the power requirement of the stepper motor is around 3.0amps we need a stepper motor driver that can give at least 5amps. So the TB6600 stepper motor driver is perfect for this purpose.
This stepper motor driver has 6 switches on the sides and a tabular column printed on it. The first three switches manage the micro stepping and the last three switch manage the different current delivered. It may vary with the model of TB6600 stepper motor driver that you have. Because these come in different shapes and sizes. So please check before you use one.
In my case I went for the 16 micro stepping and set the driver to deliver around 3.0 – 3.2 amps of current.
Arduino Uno:
I prefer to use Arduino Uno because it comes with a lot of safety features. But you can use a Arduino Nano too if you have one. With Arduino Uno it is very easy to switch pins and get started with testing.
Power Supply:
A power supply that can deliver a voltage between 12v and 24v is ideal. The version of TB6600 stepper motor drivers demanded that I used just 12v so I went with that. Please check if your driver allows a wider range.
If we do the math for three stepper motors we need about 9amps. So a 10amp or a 15amp power supply would be enough for a CNC machine of this size.
The rest of the components used are a not absolutely necessary but its good if we could use them. So I have added links to them in the list above.
Overview
Universal-G-Code-Sender is a cross platform port by Will Winder of Otto Hermansson GcodeSender.
Improvements over the original GcodeSender:
- Duration timer while sending a file.
- Pause / Resume while sending a file.
- Table view linking the GRBL response to each command as run.
- Cross platform - use the same GUI application on OSX / Windows / Linux.
- Faster - tracks GRBL's internal buffer to send multiple commands at a time.
- G-code utility features:
- Truncate decimal point precision to a configurable amount
- Remove whitespace
- Remove comments
- Override speed rates
- Arc to line conversion
- More features planned.
Downloading
Download from github https://github.com/winder/Universal-G-Code-Sender by Will Winder
Installation and configuration
More information on the Universal-G-Code-Sender project home page on Github.
May require an update to Java 7 or later.[1]
Patched version to trim 70, rather than 50 lines: https://github.com/kbradsha/Universal-G-Code-Sender (or just change the setting in the preferences)
Startup options to change memory and garbage collection: http://www.shapeoko.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7051&p=55613
Macros
Notes
Universal Gcode Sender Platform Download
Universal G-code Sender synch at each M8 or M9 command.[2]
Download Universal Gcode Sender
Sends a G20 or G21 when jogging in the appropriate unit --- if using files with a different measure than one uses to jog, one must include the appropriate unit designation command (which is good working practice).