Shapeoko CNC Router
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 22:01 — awesly
MeshCAM Tutorials
- Day 1 - STL Machining - http://www.grzsoftware.com/tut/stl/
- Day 2 - Image Machining - http://www.grzsoftware.com/tut/image/
- Day 3 - 2D Machining - http://www.grzsoftware.com/tut/2d/
--Archived Version by cjackson on 2014-03-27 21:07:26 -0500--
This guide is a work in progress, mostly to keep track of what I've learned while getting the machine up and running.
An important first step is determining what 'port' the arduino shows up as on the PC it is connected to. On Windows, open the device manager and look under the 'Ports (COM & LPT)' header. If you have the Arduino plugged in via USB (it is powered over USB, it doesn't need any other power source), it will show up as "Arduino Uno (COMx)", x being a number that you'll want to remember later.
To control the machine, you'll want the stepper driver (the circuitboard stacked on top of the Arduino) to be powered. Follow the wires from the emergency-stop button: you'll have black and red wires coming from the circuitboard into a plug. Make sure that's plugged in - a blue LED will come on. If it doesn't, make sure the emergency-stop switch is disengaged by twisting it as the arrows indicate.
Once the stepper driver and the arduino is powered (this can be confirmed by looking between the circuitboards and looking for a green LED on the arduino), you can connect to it via a controller. The software installed on the machine next to the Shapeoko is called "Grbl Controller."
Grbl is open source software hosted on GitHub here: https://github.com/grbl/grbl
Here's one website that details how Grbl works: http://onehossshay.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/grbl-how-it-works-and-other-thoughts/
Testing an imbed:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ShapeokoTutorial.pdf | 2.72 MB |