Estlcam with experimental Arduino Mega2560 / Ramps 1.4 support

Hi,

I got quite a few requests to add Arduino Mega 2560 / Ramps 1.4 support to Estlcam and finally found some time to port the firmware.
If anyone likes to give it a try it is version 9.016 on my homepage Estlcam.com.

  • At the moment it is "motion controller only" - so no limit switches and no spindle output.
  • Extruder 0 can be used as second X-axis.
  • And extruder 1 as second Y-axis.
  • Still highly experimental and may contain major bugs (but none that I'm aware of at the moment).
  • You should be able to restore the original sketch - the backup / restore function is not available for the Mega2560 at the moment.

Iā€™d be happy to get some feedback - if you have any questions please let me know.

Christian

3 Likes

NO WAY! You are an animal, Iā€™m trying it out right now. Thanks for your hard work, Again!

Looks good so far. The controller doesnā€™t seem to come to the front when I select it from the view menu. So I have to move my main window to control it. Not a huge deal.

I had to put the z axis into 1/4 stepping mode, jumpers shown in the attached picture.
Here are my settings also attached.

2 Likes

Great news Christian. Iā€™ll be purchasing from you once the beast is built 100%. Really good software youā€™ve got there, and such a great match up with the MPCNC, especially now youā€™re supporting the hardware directly.

Iā€™m still messing with the accelerations and inertia, but itā€™s pretty close with the settings in the screen shot.

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Christian you ROCK!! Thank you for working on this. I have to travel for work this next week so I will not be able to test and help out but I will be watching this like a hawk.

@Ryan
I think this is important enough to pin this to the top if at all possible.

Curt

Front page is more appropriate. Done!

2 Likes

Great work. Works flawless. Settings 1/16 A4988 5 stepper driver 2A motors at 0.9 Amps
3200 steps per round
32mm/Round
60mm/s x y
1.25 mm
8.0mm/s z
Same little bug with machine control moves to background. Did my first run of my new MPCNC with estlcam on ramps. Drawing came out pretty nice. However, will switch to Uno to use touchplate and surface scanning feature.

Many thanks for this great piece of software, will order a license for sure soon.

cool

Hm, grate work, but now Iā€™m a little bit confusedā€¦ I have finished the mechanics of my MPCNC and going to wire the steppers and end switchesā€¦ Iā€™ve had a look at the combination Marlin/Repetier-Host and I think, without having some additional plugins for CNC, like Z-probing, the capability of using a touch plate and zeroing of the axis, etc., this combination seem to be not the best solution. So I had a look on Estlcam, which looks much better for CNC control.
Now Iā€™m struggling, because I think using a Mega2560 with Ramps 1.4 will be a little bit of overkill compared to the Arduino Uno, if you donā€™t use the graphical interface and advanced features of the Ramps 1.4ā€¦ So I take a look on the CNC shield, I have in my lab, but I guess Estlcam is not compatible to use the CNC shield, which is GRBL compatible, without rewiringā€¦

Anyway, I think Iā€™ll go further with Estlcam, but Iā€™m confused nowā€¦ Shall I wait, until the Mega2560/Ramps 1.4 implementation gets stable and have at least all of the functions, the Uno provides or shall I take the lemon and use the Uno with an rewired CNC shield first and move on to the Ramps solution later on?
@Christian: do you have a time frame, when you think, this Ramps solution will provide the same functionality compared to the Uno version?
The other thing, Iā€™m a software engineer and living here in Germany near by Stuttgartā€¦ Iā€™m familiar with Arduino programming and a little bit with C# and .NET as well, Is there anything I can help with?

Cheers,
Juergen

Hi JĆ¼rgen,

if you have an UNO with GRBL compatible shield you can use the ā€œGRBLā€ pinout Estlcam offers.
The GRBL layout is fully functional including limit switches and probe input.

Be a bit careful though which GRBL version your shield is made for - the old one without PWM (use ā€œGRBLā€ pinout) or the new one with PWM (use ā€œGRBL PWMā€ pinout). If youā€™re not sure use ā€œGRBL safeā€ which is somewhat limited but without risk of messing up controller pins.

Christian

Sorry, seems Iā€™m having a long line this Monday morningā€¦ :wink: Havenā€™t seen that there are GRBL compatible pin assignments for selectionā€¦ Thanks for clarifyingā€¦ It might be good to add a comment in Estlcam, that those are compatible with CNC shieldsā€¦

Iā€™m having the CNC shield V3, which I guess doesnā€™t support the PMW for the spindle and pin 11 is assigned to the Z limit switchā€¦ But Iā€™ll checkā€¦

Thank you very much, Iā€™ll give it a tryā€¦

Cheers,
Juergen

old V3.00 shield GRBL or GRBL safe, if you use PWM Spindle you have to take care for Pins as described in Estlcam when you select pin config.

Yah, the GRBL should be the right one for CNC shield V3.00ā€¦ So the end stops are as printed on the board and the probe input can be found as SCL on the I2C connector, and spindle control is an SpnEnā€¦ :slight_smile:
Now, everything is clear for wiring the CNC shield to my MPCNCā€¦

Thanks,
Juergen

Just wanted to say thankā€™s Christian!! Our MPCNC will be used solely as a cnc and not a printer, and we (people in our makerspace) didnā€™t really understand the control side of things too well and bought the kit that has the MEGA in it. We are currently trying to use Repetier, but from what Iā€™ve read, your Estlcam is much more suited for our needs. We will be eagerly watching this thread and testing as best we can to give feedback that might help you make the best software possible.

Fredericton Makerspace, NB, Canada

Are you sure that A5 is wired to SCL? Just soldered additional pins on my Uno GBRL shield lolā€¦
Edit: yeah, saw it on the pinout. Goes to K5 connector, but labling on pinout is upside down. So A5 should be SCL. Now i have to find an old shielded cable and two alligator clips. Still tooking for a alu touchplate like shown in the video. Maybe i can find someone to mill that for me. Cant do it by myself.

Yes, Iā€™m sureā€¦ The schematics and my measurement has confirmed that SCL is connected with A5 of the Arduinoā€¦ But Iā€™ll test that, once Iā€™m finished wit wiringā€¦

Cheers,
Juergen

Christian,

I am in the middle of building my second ā€˜smallerā€™ mpcnc. First one works beautifully but its all PLA and slightly larger than I need (takes up too much room in the garage). So I am planning on giving this a go when I get things all thrown together! Thank you so much man!
Neil

Christian Knuell

Thank you could not asked for a better Birthday Present !!! Thank you for taking the time to listen to my request to Add the Arduino Mega2560

GOD Bless You
Marvin

1 Like

There is a button: ā€œProgram Arduinoā€. What happens then? Is it possible to Use Repetier sometimes and Estlcam at other times or does anything change that ā€œlocksā€ to Estlcam?