Rigid Collision

Wow. You guys are still plugging away at this. Well done. I have returned to see what's occuring!

What is this post? Has anyone used y boards yet? Really interested on how people are getting on with them.

I'm looking at my next board using the Arduino Pro Mini as it has more than two interrupts (I think). My code uses the 2 interrupt pins on the Nano. Have a look at my GitHub page for the code.https://github.com/RigidCollision/Turntable

Just added a speed harmonics and vibration test for steppers on my GitHub site. It allows you to specify a lower and upper limit to step through sequentially, automatically running the motor at each speed in turn. It kinda helps 'dial in' the best combination of microstepping / speed / motor to limit the potential of running the motor at a frequency that results in it vibrating. Put the basic code for use with the turntable for getting it to work with DCC and a Hall sensor. It's basically Tenders code from page 1 or 2 of this thread with some minor adjustments for homing using an interrupt rather than sensing high or low on a digital I/O. Allows a little more flexibility for using the code WITHOUT accelstepper if you want to drive it that way. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that accelstepper is simply not worth the overhead and hassle for problems it has been causing me with slow running issues and the inflexibility of some of it's 'features'. I am torn between abject laziness and writing my own slightly leaner library tailored for the turntable project with the actual functionality I need. Looking forward to testing TMC2100 drivers...

I am using win 10. It will be fine. Just watch out for subtle library name changes on more recent releases of Arduino stuff.

Now looking at TMC2100 compatibility with 256 microsteps... it fits the board. How will it perform?!?

Hiya, I used ALLPCB www.allpcb.com. These guys were GREAT. Good communication fast production and despatch; just 5 days from submission online to receipt via DHL! You are brave using EAGLE I tried to get to grips with it and found it mind blowingly buggy and awful. Having said that, my experience of delving into the world of PCB production was like turning the clock back 15 years software-wise. The world of PCB design seems to be populated with buggy and troublesome products that are hard to use and don't always deliver. Considering my 20 years designing 3d software (which is far mare complicated) I don't think it was my lack of ability and I was left totallyunderwhelmed. In the end I used DipTrace, I ditched the idea of circuit diagrams and adding components in favour of just using DiptTace rather like a glorified version of Illustrator. It allowed me to simply draw a board and add pads and traces whilst snapping to a grid. It allowed me to add silk screen details easily and it exported flawlessly into Gerber files with a drilling file. All-in-all much less hassle that 'designing' a board and specifying components and circuits! Regards

That was easier than I thought. I have uploaded my accelstepper, DCC libraries and other useful stuff onto Github: https://github.com/RigidCollision/Turntable Code examples and utility code on it's way soon.

I am currently trying to navigate GitHub in order to publish my accelstepper libraries and code.

In other news... I have been testing other Stepper drivers and can confirm the DRV8825 and DRV8824 seem to work nicely. The DRV8824 is a really good driver board if you have low amp stepper motors. I have tested it with 0.4a and 0.6a motors and it performs really well. It seems to eliminate microstepping inaccuracies that can be found with the A4988 (which manifest themselves as uneven microsteps). Fortunately the Polulu boards are all interchangeable (whew!).

Hi, Apologies, been in and out of hospital rather a lot and on heavy medication (morphine). Busted my leg up real fine! I have put two boards in the post to you, one blank PCB and one fully made up.

Been looking to play with some DRV8880 driver boards. Can't find any outside of USA or France (both at ridiculous prices!) Anyone got a supply?

Hi guys, Been away. Alessandro. I got your message and have replied

I have had a fair bit of interest in the board I made. Pricing is as follows: Bare board - £20 Incl. P&P Complete kit (less Nano but including A4988) unassembled - £30 Incl. P&P Complete kit (less Nano but including A4988) assembled and tested- £40 Incl. P&P Comparable pricing with Uno and Adafruit shield pricing but in a neater package with a DCC interface. I have a few boards/kits left and if there is interest I will get some more in. I may start using the Micro Pro board as it has more interrupts (the Nano and UNO only have 2 I/O ports capable of interrupt!). It will require some minor design changes but it is possible to hook up some of the I/O to pins to enable them to be user configured. If anyone has any requests I might look at doing other DCC Arduino project PCB boards for lights or signalling? Where is the best/most convenient place to upload my AccelStepper libraries with 'setBacklash'? Regards,

Thanks Randy, No point doing half a job