Woodworking router with BulldogXL Extruder [Build]

[Bx3mE]

I have a XZeroCNC 36x48 RaptorXL heading my way mid/end Januari...
Daytime i will use it as a Cnc router for MDF routing and detailed smaller aluminium work. But as soon as people come home from work it will go silent mode and melt some serious amounts of plastic.

So hardware mechanics are REALLY rigid but also heavier than a normal 3d printer would be. A quick mount for the spindle is being built so that it is easy to remove weight from gantry before using it for printing.

I will Equip this baby with an BulldogXL Extruder and hot-end TBD.

The Extruder actually ended up on my doorstep just 3 days (58 hours to be exact - lol) after ordering it from RRD campaign site! so I have it on my desk. :P

First thing i did was to put 0.05mm shims on each side of the ballbearing (which is spring loaded against the pulley on the NEMA17 mounted 5:1 gearbox output. also a very small ammount of lube made for alu-alu was placed on the ballbearing mount. These small mods made the BulldogXL feel babysmooth when moving PLA manually i also tried to strip the fillament - but it snapped! Lol...

Now i want to drive the NEMA17 stepper using 1/32 microstepping.
I have ordered a polulu driver but If i got things right it will only drive full steps?! HELP WANTED!

Next thing to get is a hot end. I have looked at merlin and it looks really promising!
How do i hook up the hot end to the PC?

The router will be hooked up to the PC using smoothstepper Ethernet and recieve G-Code using Mach3 and a plugin.
Help Wanted!

[Bx3mE]

Yesterbay i did some reading... It seems like the Smoothstepper Ethernet CNC Controller is introducing delays because it has some internal buffers making it hard to control extruder, hot end temperature and bed temperature. Im going to do some more reading on this.

I have read up on the smootieboard but need more info.

The most common way to go seems to be with separate temperature control, hot-end on off and bed heat and extruder as 4:th axis.

I was hoping not to go this way as i wanted everything integrated in the control software. Mach3 was the most promising option - but now i might have to rethink this. Tonight im going to explore the option hooking the paralell cable from the breakout board to smoothboard Ethernet for routing and into an arduino board for 3d printing.

Now im off to X-Mas gift shopping for the kids

[Bx3mE]

My solution for driving the NEMA17 extruder stepper will be DRV8825 Thhis makes it simple to hook up to the paralell interface.

For controlling temperature I was thinking...

Could I use Mach 3 to send 5th axis and 6:th axis commands reading them using an arduino board and converting them into temperature set commands for example step+dir(+) would mean raise temp by one degree? And also temperature feedback would not be that hard for monitoring. The Arduino would use this to set target temperature and by it self power the heaters to hold the set temperature.

[3DPFadmin]

Sounds like you're going in the right direct keep us posted and post up some pics.

[Bx3mE]

The machine frame will be in the mail before mid-next-week. Electronics setup currently concidered is Leadshine em705 driver and 57hs22 NEMA23 steppers. For 3d printing purposes the gantry is on the VERY heavy side which i am trying to compensate with good acceleration steppers. First off i will try these stepers but drivers should be up for the task of driving some fast NEMA34 steppers with better acceleration while carrying the heavy gantry. I still have not decided if I want to go with a separate controller for printing or if I will handle temp/heating manually. Drivers will be controlled by pc/ethernet using smoothstepper (not smoothieboard).

The heavy gantry creates several issues which need attension. One is the current generated during break operation. This is my next area which i will read into.

[DesertFabworks]

I'm interested in this build you have going. I have a BullDog Router/Mill no relation to the Extruder you have but I want to be able to have a dual purpose machine but there does not seem to be a lot of info out there on making that happen. I like to document my builds via websites I make for each project. I did a cnc plasma cutter build at: http://cncplasmabuild.com/ and my current build is on my router at: http://www.cncrouterbuild.com/

Once I figure out the 3d printer add on I will add it to my build. Look forward to watching yours for ideas.

[Bx3mE]

Change of electronics... After some long hours of reading I descided to not go on the Leadshine route but instead do a full powerup and go for well known working steppers and also proven reliable drivers.

3x NEMA23 381oz/in 3.5A Dual Shaft Stepper Motor KL23H2100-35-4B
1x Ethernet SmoothStepper Motion Control Board
3x Gecko Stepper Driver G203V 80V,7A Aka. Vampires
1x Unregulated Linear 1120W, Max 56VDC/20A Toroidal PSU (KL-5620) with 5V/1A
some 4 conductor 18GA Shielded Motor wire
7x pmdx MOTOR CABLE CONNECTOR 5 pin
5x pmdx MOTOR CABLE CONNECTOR 4 pin
1x pmdx Spindle Control pmdx-107
1x pmdx display pmdx-179
1x pmdx bob pmdx-126
1x pmdx gecko motherboard pmdx-134
1x PMDX-EStop-Std

DFw: Once Im done I will most likely document my findings in a Tube Video - but I still have a long way to go.

[Bx3mE]

First a small problem: How do i power the Bulldog XL stepper? I intend to drive it using a drv8825 but have a hard time to find info on the stepper. I know that the drv8825 takes 8.2 - 45volt and 2.2 amp with heatsink (1.5 w/o) BUT what is the best powersupply for the stepper? If i have read correct so far the RAMPS, RAMBo and others are using 12v. Can anyone enlighten me?

Now i start the hard part of the project (for me anyways)...

Heat and Temperature:

What i want to do is to have Mach3 Output some signals for on/off for heat system, Set temperature for nossle and heated bed and some ready signal back to Mach3. Readyflag would be set when temp reached 1:st time and would be reset with on/off.

So the other day i bought myself an arduino board to experiment with. Since im totally new in designing circuits i will most likely need a lot of help. And worst case the little puff of magic smoke will teach me right from wrong On the other hand I am quite comfortable programming several languages... First step is to make the board say hello world and second I will try to control the heated bed and nossle temperature using fixed variables. Communicating with mach3 is rumored to be a pain with arduino (I dont get why) but I want to start printing as soon as possible which is why i start with the static version.

My idea on electronics for the bed will be a temp sensor, heated bed with resistor built in, and some Voltage regulator to avoid problems like large fluctuation in temperature an on/off solution would bring. Also maybe a Optocoupler to protect the 'shield'. LCD for current temp readout will be some 2x16 laying around.
For the nossle i will use what is provided and some v-reg there to. How does Ramps do it?

Now another (silly) question. Why is every design contain all these 10k resistors everywhere? is it just for protection? why 10k?

[Bx3mE]

My first non guided electronics build It has analog backlight and contrast control... Arduino is running and coding it is simple! I also tried to read temp from a termistor but i have no specs on it so it will have to wait until i get my nossle... Tomorrow I willtry some real coding... basically the core stuff i will need.

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[Bx3mE]

Now the first Communications test between Mach3 and arduino heated bed solution is done. In video: Mach3 sets value for target temp using modbus. I think I will need a better solution because the machine will be connected using Ethernet Smooth Stepper. As soon as i have an eESS I will be able to connect using the paralell port pins... more to come soon



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