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polargraph_server_a1

Modified for MarkBs Eggbot/Polargraph v2.2 or newer Arduino Nano control board. See www.sub-design.co.uk or http://www.makebournemouth.com/?p=340 or github.com/markjb for details.

Update (14/02/2016): Tested extensivley with the v2.2 boards and it is rock solid. Note: This code will not work with boards prior to v2.2 as the pinout was extensivley modified.

Note: Firmware compiles with SD card but not tested... Yeah - SD card support is looking pretty pointless as the code to do Norwegian Pixel makes the firmware about 50k which aint gonna fit in the 328... So its either use a Mega or port to Teensy and given the cost of a Mega clone vs a Teensy, the only benifit of a Teensy would be the small size.

====================

Polargraph Server for Arduino UNO and MEGA compatible boards using Adafruit motorshields, serial stepper drivers (eg Easy Drivers, stepsticks etc) or signal amplifiers (eg ULN2003s).

It is called _a1 because it is the version for the first arduino (ie Uno, or Duemilanove).
Bit obtuse that, I know.

For convenience, I have pre-compiled and included two hex files:

  1. polargraph_server_a1_adafruit_v1.cpp.hex - Is for motorshield v1.
  2. polargraph_server_a1_adafruit_v2.cpp.hex - Is for the new motorshield v2.

Motor driver:

This firmware works for:

  1. Adafruit Motorshield v1 that uses AFMotor as it's software driver
  2. Adafruit Motorshield v2 that uses Adafruit_MotorShield as it's software driver
  3. Generic serial stepper drivers, eg Stepsticks or Easy Drivers
  4. Four-wire signal amplifier, eg UNL2003

To switch between the different drivers, and to configure a few other bits and pieces, comment out some lines near the beginning of polargraph_server_a1.ino.

There are five config sections:

  1. Specify what kind of controller board you are using
  2. Add some libraries if you have a MEGA
  3. Specify what kind of motor driver you are using:
  4. Adafruit Motorshield v1
  5. Adafruit Motorshield v2
  6. Discrete stepper drivers (eg EasyDriver, stepstick, Pololu gear).*
  7. Signal amplifier like a UNL2003*
  8. Turn on some debugging code
  9. Disable program features if you need to free up space
  • For motor drivers iii and iv, you will need to change the values in configuration.ino to set the exact pins the drivers are wired up to.

The program has a core part that consists of the following files that are common to all Polargraph Server versions:

  • comms.ino
  • configuration.ino
  • eeprom.ino
  • exec.ino
  • penlift.ino
  • pixel.ino
  • util.ino

and

  • polargraph_server_a1.ino

which is named for the project.

Polargraph

Polargraph is the name of the project, and is a portmanteau word invented by the writer solely for this purpose. Any machine that runs the Polargraph software is technically a polargraph machine. I usually reserve the big-P "Polargraph" for things made by The Polargraph Company, including the Polargraph software and PolargraphSD machine.

Other hanging-v plotters are probably compatible with Polargraph software, but unless they run it, they are not even polargraphs with a small P.

Project and software written by Sandy Noble.

Released under GNU License version 3.

http://www.polargraph.co.uk

https://github.com/euphy/polargraph_server_a1