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DCC Controlled (PECO) Turntable Project using a Arduino Uno

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zendesigner

zendesigner

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Hi Ian, 

 

To print the thing that doesn't cost so much. in plastic this might be 2€.  It took 28 hours to print though :-).

And it took over 100 hours to build and calibrate my 3d printer. but once it's done it just plug and play kinda. 

 

In Designing time however this is some hours work.  Everything needs to be designed in a cad package before you can print it.
I do it in Fusion 360. Which is one of the more intuitive ones. And it's free for hobbyists with a makers license.

 

You can also use Scetchup from google etc. So designing it to your specific table , and to your axle and table height takes a lot of measuring and thinking. 

You can then print it locally or print it through a 3d printing company like shapeways.com 

 

Bart

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ianjeffery

ianjeffery

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Hi Ian, 

 

To print the thing that doesn't cost so much. in plastic this might be 2€.  It took 28 hours to print though :-).

And it took over 100 hours to build and calibrate my 3d printer. but once it's done it just plug and play kinda. 

 

In Designing time however this is some hours work.  Everything needs to be designed in a cad package before you can print it.

I do it in Fusion 360. Which is one of the more intuitive ones. And it's free for hobbyists with a makers license.

 

You can also use Scetchup from google etc. So designing it to your specific table , and to your axle and table height takes a lot of measuring and thinking. 

You can then print it locally or print it through a 3d printing company like shapeways.com 

 

Bart

 

how did you build your own 3d printer??????

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zendesigner

zendesigner

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:-)  You buy a 3d printer kit. i went for a difficult but a good one.   I actually have two of them now. 

 

You just follow the instructions and build it ;-) 

I have two printers of https://www.blueeaglelabs.com/ These are delta printers meaning they don't have linear axes.

It gives them better speed, but they are much harder to calibrate then a linear one. 

 

It's just like a stepper setup here.  It's an arduino mega with a ramps board and 4 stepper drivers.  

Software is free and downloadable, you can Use Marlin or repetier versions. 

 

If you can build a turntable you can buid a 3d printer :-)

 

Bart

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ianjeffery

ianjeffery

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:-)  You buy a 3d printer kit. i went for a difficult but a good one.   I actually have two of them now. 

 

You just follow the instructions and build it ;-) 

I have two printers of https://www.blueeaglelabs.com/ These are delta printers meaning they don't have linear axes.

It gives them better speed, but they are much harder to calibrate then a linear one. 

 

It's just like a stepper setup here.  It's an arduino mega with a ramps board and 4 stepper drivers.  

Software is free and downloadable, you can Use Marlin or repetier versions. 

 

If you can build a turntable you can buid a 3d printer :-)

 

Bart

Hi Bart,

 

How much did it cost you?

 

It looks like a kickstarter project, but do they sell them yet ?

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tender

tender

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What might be a silly question but would this TT setup be controllable by TrainController, iTrain, RocRail or similar?

Yes, I'm using Train Controller Silver edition, I've not used iTrain, but dabbled with RocRail a few years ago.

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zendesigner

zendesigner

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Hi Bart,

 

How much did it cost you?

 

It looks like a kickstarter project, but do they sell them yet ?

 

 

Yeah they still sell them. the first one was around 900$.   the second one i just payed the parts on factory price as i was a member of their Beta test building team. 

 

Don't know if you can see this as it was a closed group before here's my build project for the 3d printer.  

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/bel-v2-beta-testers/aTIcO_ZiOTE

 

 

 

Maybe i should say that i also have an upgraded Laser cutter with a smoothieboard setup, and a CNC router also running on smoothieboard an external drivers.    It's all playing with steppers  :sungum:

 

Bart

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Simond

Simond

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Hi Bart,

 

I’ve been trying to get the Smoothieboard working on my laser but haven’t sorted it yet, it’s on the back burner with all the other stuff going on. (Tre Pol & Pen, Garratt, big lathe drive packed up, redecorating bedroom, new VMC at work, etc, etc.).

 

Need to get back on on it, one day, one day...

 

Which software are you running?

Cheers

Simon

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  • 2 weeks later...
zendesigner

zendesigner

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All,

 

I was messing about with my board and the A4988 driver and discovered something very interesting...

 

The website for Pololu has a datasheet that describes the microstepping..

 

https://www.pololu.com/file/0J450/A4988.pdf

 

however, I have discovered 2 more hidden resolutions...

 

1/32 and 1/64

 

I left the details at home, but for 1/64 you set MS2 and MS3 to HIGH, and MS1 to LOW.

 

This gives 12800 steps per revolution!

Hoy Ian, 

 

Thanks for this cause i was actually wondering why i there was a discrepancy with the text in the INO file. And the behaviour of the disc

 

/ home location
#define entryStation 5604
// for a 1.8 deg stepper, there are 200 full steps
// or 3200 1/2 steps
// or 6400 for 1/4 steps
// or 12800 for 1/8 steps
#define stepsInCompleteTurn 6400
 
I have all jumpers on and i only get 6400 steps per revolution. If i put it higher in the code it just turns twice around ;-)
 
I actually ordered some DRv8825 drivers to see if this would change. 
 
I'll play around with the 1/64th setting tonight.
 
Bart
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  • 1 month later...
HVT Dave

HVT Dave

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Help needed to modify the sketch.

 

Ray, et al,

 

Would someone help me modify Ray's Seven Road Turntable sketch Part 7, message #48, page 2, so that it will run from 8 push switches connected to pins 4-11 rather than controlled by DCC?

 

The bridge rotates successfully using Part 5 but I would prefer it to be controlled from a local panel rather than by DCC.  Cambriancoaster provided a sketch in message #194, page 8 that used push button input, but it went a specified distance from last position rather than to an absolute position.  The bridge needs 8 distinct positions, 4 ray tracks and each end of the bridge.

 

I understand the 'switch...case' concept but have not been able to successfully replace the DCC/address code with digital pin inputs.

 

Your help will be deeply appreciated.

 

Warmest Regards,

Dave

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tender

tender

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Help needed to modify the sketch.

 

Ray, et al,

 

Would someone help me modify Ray's Seven Road Turntable sketch Part 7, message #48, page 2, so that it will run from 8 push switches connected to pins 4-11 rather than controlled by DCC?

 

The bridge rotates successfully using Part 5 but I would prefer it to be controlled from a local panel rather than by DCC.  Cambriancoaster provided a sketch in message #194, page 8 that used push button input, but it went a specified distance from last position rather than to an absolute position.  The bridge needs 8 distinct positions, 4 ray tracks and each end of the bridge.

 

I understand the 'switch...case' concept but have not been able to successfully replace the DCC/address code with digital pin inputs.

 

Your help will be deeply appreciated.

 

Warmest Regards,

Dave

 

Hi Dave.

If you want to use Cambriancoasters Sketch try taking out all occurrences of Astepper1.setCurrentPosition(0); in the void loop() section.

That should make each pushbutton position an absolute number of steps from the reference position.

I've not tried this as i don't have push buttons on my turntable, but get back if it doesn't work and i'll have another look.

 

Ray.

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HVT Dave

HVT Dave

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Hi Dave.

If you want to use Cambriancoasters Sketch try taking out all occurrences of Astepper1.setCurrentPosition(0); in the void loop() section.

That should make each pushbutton position and absolute number of steps from the reference position.

I've not tried this as i don't have push buttons on my turntable, but get back if it doesn't work and i'll have another look.

 

Ray.

Ray,

 

Thanks for the prompt response.  Yes, the Cambriancoasters sketch works correctly when setCurrentPosition(0) is commented out.  Thank you.  I missed understanding that when reading the sketch.  Now I need to add back in the auto-align on startup.  I have a CUI absolute encoder attached and working, will need to add that code to the sketch as well.

 

One interesting thing, the motor I am using is a bipolar 0.9° stepper and it has 6,400 positions per revolution when microstepping.  I do have it set to AFMStop.getStepper(400, 2).  That is some pretty fine resolution.

 

Again, Ray, I want to thank you for sharing your talents with the code and support that you have provided.

 

@ ianjeffery, thanks for the link to the keypad.  However, I am using a Mega so plenty of pins available, and I want to use a red switch for the head and black for the tail with the two switches placed on the respective ray track on the local panel.  Simple and intuitive is my objective.  (control booth has a red metal roof)

 

Warmest Regards,

Dave

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ianjeffery

ianjeffery

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Ray,

 

Thanks for the prompt response.  Yes, the Cambriancoasters sketch works correctly when setCurrentPosition(0) is commented out.  Thank you.  I missed understanding that when reading the sketch.  Now I need to add back in the auto-align on startup.  I have a CUI absolute encoder attached and working, will need to add that code to the sketch as well.

 

One interesting thing, the motor I am using is a bipolar 0.9° stepper and it has 6,400 positions per revolution when microstepping.  I do have it set to AFMStop.getStepper(400, 2).  That is some pretty fine resolution.

 

Again, Ray, I want to thank you for sharing your talents with the code and support that you have provided.

 

@ ianjeffery, thanks for the link to the keypad.  However, I am using a Mega so plenty of pins available, and I want to use a red switch for the head and black for the tail with the two switches placed on the respective ray track on the local panel.  Simple and intuitive is my objective.  (control booth has a red metal roof)

 

Warmest Regards,

Dave

 

 :-)

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tender

tender

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One interesting thing, the motor I am using is a bipolar 0.9° stepper and it has 6,400 positions per revolution when microstepping.  I do have it set to AFMStop.getStepper(400, 2).  That is some pretty fine resolution.

 

 

 

Hi Dave, can you post details of your stepper, sounds interesting.

Ray.

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