Home

Updated 18/08/2006
News
Machine Details
Controller Box
Fully Built Units
Kits and Accessories What the desktop CNC market has been waiting for!

Kit Assembly Instructions We show you what other people do not show you, how it works in real life and how your machine looks
Power Board assembly with oil and bolt on's after you have been using it a while.
Processor Board assembly We take the shine out of CNC and try to get down to the nitty gritty!!
LCD Board assembly
Ribbon Cable assembly NEW for 2006, Bare Frame Kits Semi Built starting from £580.00
Controller Box assembly Please note:
Motor Kit assembly We are now supplying the kits below from a new company that is not VAT registered.
Breakout Box assembly So in other words the prices you see will be the prices you pay with no extra charge to be added.
Shipping will still be added to final price.
Control Software
Printer Port Software
Free USB SoftwareV1.7
18 August 2006 Update
Development
Processor Board
Well we have been away for a couple of months now and due to working on other projects
Firmware Ver 1.0
Firmware Ver 3.1 I am sorry to say that we do not have plans to start re-selling the machines or kits till at
Firmware Uploading least October.

Other information I would love to be back out in the workshop again, but as this is a hobby, the work that
CNC Basics pays the bills comes first :(
Gcodes
Future Plans Please bear with us regards emails and quotes being answered.

Free DIY Projects

Remote Jog Controller
USB-Parallel Interface
We hope to bring you pictures of the new BIG machine we are prototyping that has a X and
CNCDuDeZ Examples Y Travel of 840mm and a Z-Travel 0f 200mm.
Added 09/04/2006
When finished we also plan to offer this in Kit format to keep the price down.
Engraving Plaques
Added 09/04/2006
Vacuum Table
Vacuum Breakout Box
Kress Aluminium Holder
Cutting Polystyrene
Laminate Control Panel
Cutting Xmas CD's
PCB Milling
Carving Old Wood
Level your bed

Customers Examples
PCB Milling
Engraving

Other
FAQ
Support Forums
Order
Contact
The Cake

Last updated
18/08/2006

I have been looking for a Low Priced CNC Machine for over a year and all of the manufacturers I came across
wanted between £4000 to £6000 for just a simple Desktop CNC Machine.
Even looking on places like EBAY, small Desktop machines that have seen better days and are not really man
enough are selling for up to £1000 !

As well as supplying a low cost machine I am also going to offer support and share the information I have came
across or learned.
The Hobby CNC area seems so hard to break into because no one offers simple straight forward information.
On these pages I will address this and give clear simple information that will get you up and playing with your
CNC machine as soon as it arrives.
And you did not think you could afford your own Home CNC Machine, think again!
This machine is suitable for milling, drilling, PCB routing, solder paste dispensing, surface mount placement and
anything else you can think of using a small XYZ table for. We will be updating these pages and showing
examples of each one of these and more!.

If you wish to be informed via email of site updates then please complete the form below.

● Please provide the following contact information:

First Name

Last Name

Organization

E-mail

Submit Form Reset Form

Contact: info@cncdudez.com

If you were looking for another site that used to be on this URL then click here.

The Hobby Machinists WebRing

[ Join Now | Ring Hub | Random | << Prev | Next
>> ]
FREE USB-Parallel Port Interface

Released 08/03/2006 - Updated 12/03/2006.

Do you drive your Motor Controller usually via the Printer Port?
Well now you can convert it to USB with this very simple Circuit below.

We supply the PCB design FREE, the Firmware FREE and the Windows Application FREE.
You just build it, use it and let us know of any improvements we can make.

To compliment our new FREE Beta USB Application (Shown Below) along with new Firmware, we are going
to release a very simple circuit that people can build themselves that will let you control any parallel port
stepper motor controller via USB.
With this simple circuit and our Firmware you will be able to simply plug it into your existing Controller box
and using our software, run your Gcode via the USB Port.

The reason this will work with any existing Controller box that uses the parallel port to control the Clock and
Signal lines is because we will release standard Firmware that will cover different pin configurations as
needed.
If your controller has a different configuration then just email us and we will customise the Firmware to suit
your needs and release it on this site. In doing this we hope to build up different configurations to suit all
different kinds of controllers out there.

Find below the first picture of version 1.0

As you can see, this is not going to cost you a lot of money to make!!!!!!!!!
PCB and Components.

Please find below the PCB layout.

Size of PCB is 75MM * 75MM
Click here to download the Hi Resolution images.
These are 600DPI JPG and need to be viewed and printed in Adobe Photoshop for an exact scale.
Also included are postscript files as well.

We are also releasing the PCB Layout in Gcode for people wanting to mill their own.

Milling PCB below with 0.2mm engraving bit.

Drilling PCB below with 0.8MM drill bit.

Click here to download the Gcodes.

Inside this file are two Gcodes, one for the Milling and the other for the drilling.

Components:

1 * 25pin socket
1 * 18F4550 Chip
1 * 40 pin Dip Socket.
1 * USB Socket
1 * 20mhz Xtal (the Pic internally clocks this upto 48mhz)
2 * 22pf ceramics
1 * 4k7 resistor
1 * 1k resistor
1 * LED
1 * 0.1uf ceramic decoupling cap.
1 * 0.1uf electrolytic capacitor
1 * 22uf electrolytic capacitor
1 * little tactile push switch for resetting Pic, not really needed.

And a PCB about 75mm * 75MM

Firmware Version 1.2 released 12/03/2006:

Click here to download the Firmware Version 1.2 Type1.

This code is for use with the 18F4550 Pic Chip.
You will need a suitable Pic Chip programmer that supports the 18F4550.
The fuses have all been set in the hex file, so simply load up, Program and Verify.

Type 1 is configured for the following Pin Configuration:

Pin2: Step X-Axis

Pin3: Direction X-Axis
Pin4: Step Y-Axis
Pin5: Direction Y-Axis
Pin6: Step Z-Axis
Pin7: Direction Z-Axis
Pin10: Z-Limit Switch
Pin11: Emergency-Stop Switch
Pin12: Y-Limit Switch
Pin13: X-Limit Switch

As we have said before, if you need the firmware customised to suit your controller then please email us and
we will re-compile and release here.

Command Structure for Firmware:

Command Structure Ver 1.2 upwards:

Commands are sent 11 bytes at a time.

This first byte gets broken down into 8 bits and they do the following:
bit0= X Axis Direction
bit1= Y Axis Direction
bit2= Z Axis Direction
bit3= Travel kind, this is for the firmware to tell it to use different routines for G00 travelling or G01 cutting,
1=Travelling 0=Cutting
If you set this bit to 1 then the firmware will not care about how it gets to this position and it will just clock
each Axis until it gets there.
If you set it to 0 then it will move the X and Y axis at even pulses to get to it's destination giving the correct
line needed. This option takes more processing time, so speed pauses may have to be adjusted.
bit4= Tells Firmware to ignore limit switches 1=ignore 0=do not ignore
bit5= always 0
bit6= always 0
bit7= always 0

The next 3 bytes control how many pulses you wish to send to the X-Axis.
On our machine 533.333 pulses =1mm so to tell it to travel we first have to round up and break to binary int
(533.333)=533

533 binary= 00000000 00000010 00010101

now we get our 3 bytes from this

1st byte 00000000 = 00

2nd byte 00000010 = 02
3rd byte 00010101 = 21

By doing it this way we can send a max 16777215 pulses which = 31457MM (103 feet!) Travel

The next 3 bytes control how many pulses you wish to send to the Y-Axis.
This is the same as the X-Axis

The next 2 bytes control how many pulses you wish to send to the Z-Axis.
Same as the X-Axis but this time only 2 bytes(16bits)

Final 2 bytes is Pulse Width Delay

0050 = Pulse delay in Microseconds for speed.
This will differ depending on the Step Mode that the controller box is set to.
Find some examples below, obviously we round up because we only send 4 digits to the controller.

Eighth Step Timings:

A 2250 Microsecond pause gives 25.4mm or 1 Inch Travel per minute.
A 1125 Microsecond pause gives 50.8mm or 2 Inch Travel per minute.
A 0562.5 Microsecond pause gives 101.6mm or 4 Inch Travel per minute
A 0281.25 Microsecond pause gives 203.2mm or 8 Inch Travel per minute
A 0140.625 Microsecond pause gives 406.4mm or 16 Inch Travel per minute
A 0070.3125 Microsecond pause gives 812.8mm or 32 Inch Travel per minute
A 0035.15625 Microsecond pause gives 1625.6mm or 64 Inch Travel per minute
A 0017.578125 Microsecond pause gives 3251.2mm or 128 Inch Travel per minute

So to work out what pause we needed for say 45IPM we would use 2250/45 which gives us 0050
To work backwards and see what a pause of 50 would get, we would take 2250/50 which would give us
45IPM.
The motors we use on the CNCDuDeZ Frame max out at about 50 Microsecond pause, which gives us a
respectable approx 45IPM!

Quarter Step Timings:

A 4500 Microsecond pause gives 25.4mm or 1 Inch Travel per minute.
A 2250 Microsecond pause gives 50.8mm or 2 Inch Travel per minute.
A 1125 Microsecond pause gives 101.6mm or 4 Inch Travel per minute
A 0562.5 Microsecond pause gives 203.2mm or 8 Inch Travel per minute
A 0281.25 Microsecond pause gives 406.4mm or 16 Inch Travel per minute
A 0140.625 Microsecond pause gives 812.8mm or 32 Inch Travel per minute
A 0070.3125 Microsecond pause gives 1625.6mm or 64 Inch Travel per minute
A 0035.15625 Microsecond pause gives 3251.2mm or 128 Inch Travel per minute

Half Step Timings:

A 9000 Microsecond pause gives 25.4mm or 1 Inch Travel per minute.
A 4500 Microsecond pause gives 50.8mm or 2 Inch Travel per minute.
A 2250 Microsecond pause gives 101.6mm or 4 Inch Travel per minute
A 1125 Microsecond pause gives 203.2mm or 8 Inch Travel per minute
A 0562.5 Microsecond pause gives 406.4mm or 16 Inch Travel per minute
A 0281.25 Microsecond pause gives 812.8mm or 32 Inch Travel per minute
A 0140.625 Microsecond pause gives 1625.6mm or 64 Inch Travel per minute
A 0070.3125 Microsecond pause gives 3251.2mm or 128 Inch Travel per minute

Full Step Timings:

Use below full step for speed of 25.4mm or 1 Inch Travel per minute.
A 9000 Microsecond pause gives 50.8mm or 2 Inch Travel per minute.
A 4500 Microsecond pause gives 101.6mm or 4 Inch Travel per minute
A 2250 Microsecond pause gives 203.2mm or 8 Inch Travel per minute
A 1125 Microsecond pause gives 406.4mm or 16 Inch Travel per minute
A 0562.5 Microsecond pause gives 812.8mm or 32 Inch Travel per minute
A 0281.25 Microsecond pause gives 1625.6mm or 64 Inch Travel per minute
A 0140.625 Microsecond pause gives 3251.2mm or 128 Inch Travel per minute

Every time you send a 11byte command you will get 2 bytes back from the controller that will give you in
ASCII the answer OK. This is the same whether sending Serial or USB.

You will also get a 2 byte ASCII code sent back for AUX1 inputs which are triggered:

XL X-Axis Limit Reached

YL Y-Axis Limit Reached
ZL Z-Axis Limit Reached
XY X-Axis and Y-Axis Limits Reached
XZ X-Axis and Z-Axis Limits Reached
YZ Y-Axis and Z-Axis Limits Reached
XA X-Axis, Y-Axis and Z-Axis Limits Reached
ES Emergency Stop Activated.

Application:

Please Check the USB-Software link to download our Beta Application.

Setting up and testing:

After you have assembled your new Interface, simply plug in a USB lead and Windows XP will automatically
detect the Interface as a USB Hid Device.
You can confirm this by checking in device manager of your machine.

Now connect your Printer Port cable from the Interface to your controller box and you are ready to go.

Run up the software, set up the pulses per MM parameter and try out the Jog.

Please make sure you read the HELP File first.

FREE USB Gcode Interpreter Software

12/03/2006 Ver1.7 Released.

This Version must be used with Version 3.1 Firmware
for Processor or V1.2 for USB-Parallel Interface.
Find some details below on our new USB Gcode Interpreter Application.
This will allow you to run your machine via the USB port using either the processor board or the USB-
Parallel Port Interface.

Please note: This software is still in development and BETA stages, so please give us as much feedback as
you can. If it misses steps or is not accurate in anyway, then let us know as that way we can only improve it!.

Please Click Here to Download V1.7

CNCDuDeZ Gcode USB Test BetaV1.7 2006

Release Date 12/03/2006

http://www.cncdudez.com
info@cncdudez.com
Bug Fixes in this version.
Jog was updating position display incorrectly, now fixed.
Load compile and simulate looses original position , now fixed.
Fixed Inverse check boxes bug, they now only change motor direction and not display.
Added some smoothing routines.

Introduction
This is a Beta release of the USB Gcode Interpreter that has been written to work in conjunction with the
processor board that we sell at www.cncdudez.com. The processor board can control any 3-Axis Controller
out there that uses the normal Step and Direction pulse method. Some popular ones at the time of writing this
are the Xylotex, Geckos and our own 3-Axis controller board that we hope to release soon.

We use this Processor Board in our CNCDuDeZ Controller box which means the motors on our CNC
machine can be driven not only with the usual Parallel port, but also via the Serial or USB port.

The main aim of this software is demonstrate how to control your CNC machine via the USB port.

Important Points

Firmware

You must be Running Firmware Version 3.1 on your Processor Board for this software to work and will
find the latest version of Firmware in the same directory where you installed this software FILENAME:
LOADER-cncusb4550V30-1.hex
Please check out the Firmware link at www.cncdudez.com for the correct way to upload the firmware.

The Firmware will still support the old Version 1.0 Protocol as well as this new one. You will find both
protocols on the site.

Firmware to use this application with the new USB-Parallel Port Interface can be found at the site.

Gcode Support

On this first release we have only placed support of G00 and G01 codes, all other M or G codes will be
ignored when loading the file.
We plan on adding the other codes in newer releases of the software.

If you have Arcs in your Artwork that produce G02 codes when a toolpath is created, then simply spline
these to vector points in your Cad software before creating your toolpath and you should get the desired
G01 codes instead.

Maximum workpiece

The maximum work piece for the moment is based on our machine which is 235mm X-Travel, 235mm Y-
Travel and 75mm Z-Travel.
I know this can be a bit annoying to people using the Processor board on a bigger bed; we will increase
the size in the future releases.

Zero start position

The software presumes that your start position of X-Zero and Y-Zero is the bottom left hand corner of the
workpiece.
This restriction is only for the plot window and should not effect the running of the code if your preferred
method is to have the X-Zero and Y-Zero in the center of the workpiece. If using this method to center
your work then you know why the plot window does not display the workpiece correctly. We plan to
update the plot routines in future versions.

Software Stop Button Latency

Because we are using the USB port you must be aware of the latency or delay that can occur when you
wish to stop the software in an emergency.

If you click the STOP button within the software it will stop when it has finished processing the movement
of the current Gcode command.

This does NOT affect the manual Emergency Stop button or the limit switches. If these are triggered then
the software will halt immediately.

Setting up and using the software

Place your Processor Board into USB Mode.

You can do this by holding in the Mode button until the LCD Display shows USB.
Now launch this software and you are ready to go.

Overview

Plot Window Frame

This frame contains a small picture of your CNC machine bed and is sized to 235MM * 235MM.
When you load your Gcode this window will compile and plot the outline of the design you are about to
cut.
If you choose the "scale to fit box" option then the design will be zoomed and fitted to its extents.

When running the travel movements will be shown in Blue the cutting will been shown in Black and Red
depending on the depth being cut.

Gcode Frame

When you load your Gcode it will be loaded into this frame and formatted for the software.
When in run mode each line of the Gcode will be displayed with a Red background to show status of
progress.

Status Frame

When the workpiece is loaded the software calculates the extents of the X and Y positions and displays
them here.
Lines loaded is the amount of Gcode lines that are in memory and ready to be ran.
Processing Line shows progress of each Gcode command that is being executed.

The USB Packet Out shows each packet being sent out to the USB Port. There are a total of 11bytes per
move sent out and this information is more for people wishing to write their own applications. Please
check the development link at www.cncdudez.com for more information on this.

The Help button displays this help document.

Position Frame
In this frame you have the coordinates of each Axis or rather where the software thinks your Axis's are.
These coordinates will change as you jog or run the Gcode loaded.
You can Zero individual coordinates by pressing the button for the Axis needed.

The Goto button when pressed will read the X, Y and Z values that are entered in the boxes to the left of
it and will move the machine to the desired position. The travelling speed will be whatever is set under
the Feed Rates frame.

Run Control Frame

The Load button will allow you to browse and load up a Gcode file of your choice.

If the Scale to Fit box is checked with a tick in it, then the design once loaded, will be zoomed and fitted
to its extents within the plot window.
Clicking on run will start the loading of the code and execution of each line of Gcode loaded, this will then
be sent out to the USB port and move your machine.
By putting a tick in the Simulate box, the software will run the same as before but will not send the
commands out to the USB port. This feature will allow you to do a trial run on your design first to make
sure the software has compiled it correctly and also to check you have no mistakes in your design.

The STOP button will halt execution of the next Gcode command, once the one that is already running
has completed.

Please read the beginning of this help file the section named Software Stop Button Latency for more
information.

Jog Control Frame

The 10 arrows shown in this frame will jog each axis in the direction of the arrow.
Please check that the jog buttons are in moving each Axis in the correct direction before you try to run
any Gcode.
If you find the direction is incorrect then simply tick the Inverse box for the Axis you wish to change.

Each click of the jog buttons move the Axis's 0000.010 MM at a time. If you hold down any of the jog
buttons then the speed will increase with the movement going upto 0002.00 MM at a time for rapid
movement.

You can smooth out the jogging noise by tweaking the Jogging Delay box in the Feed Rates Frame.

Feed Rate Frame

The first box is the Jogging speed based on MM per Minute.

The second box is Travelling Speed based on MM Per Minute.
The third box is Cutting Speed based on MM Per Minute.

If your Gcode has feed commands in it then the software will take these values and use them for the
speed settings to run your machine.

If there are no Feed commands in the Gcode then the software will use the values entered in the
Travelling speed box and the Cutting speed box.

If you wish to override the settings in the Gcode you can tick the Override box and the software will use
the feed rates you have set in the Travelling Box and Cutting Box.
G00 is the travelling speed and G01 is the cutting speed in your Gcode.
The simulator speed is the pause between each Gcode command that is being executed. If you increase
the pause then the simulator speed will slow down or to increase the simulator speed lower this value.

Setting the Pulses Per MM Travel will depend on your machine.

For the CNCDuDeZ Frame you just need to enter the following values depending what step mode you
are using:
Eight Step Mode: 533.333 pulses
Quarter Step Mode: 266.666 pulses
Half Step Mode: 133.333 pulses
Full Step Mode: 66.666 pulses

For people that want a more technical explanation, please read below.

Each machine is different and there are a combination of factors that need to be taken into consideration
when working out the correct travel speeds and accuracy.

1.) Motor Pulses.

The first one is your motors and how many pulses make it turn 1 revolution.
The most popular motors are 1.8 Degree that takes 200 pulses to turn them 1 revolution.

2.) Thread.

Next we have the thread pitch size on the Axis's. Our machine has a 3mm Pitch, which means for every
full revolution of the motor our machine will move 3MM.
So now we divide this down to suit our motors.

We know it takes 200 pulses sent to our motor to make it turn 3MM so to turn it 1MM we would calculate
200/3 = 66.666 pulses. So every time we send 66.666 pulses our machine will travel 1MM

3.) Micro Stepping.

Most modern controllers now have micro stepping mode, which basically divides the pulses down to give
a better resolution and accuracy on your motors.

Our Controller Board we use has Full step, Half Step, Quarter Step and Eighth Step mode. We
recommend using Eight Step mode for better smoothness and accuracy.

So breaking this down again for 1MM travel we would need to increase the pulses depending on what
Mode we are going to use:

Eight Step Mode: 533.333 pulses= 1MM travel

Quarter Step Mode: 266.666 pulses= 1MM travel
Half Step Mode: 133.333 pulses= 1MM travel for
Full Step Mode: 66.666 pulses= 1MM travel for

4.) Speed.

Speed is the next factor we need to work out and the way we do that using the Processor Board is by
placing a pause between each step.

Some examples for travelling 1MM distance at a speed of 1MM a Minute

A 57150 microsecond Pause = 1mm a minute speed with 533.333 pulses 1/8 mode giving 1MM travel
A 114300 microsecond Pause = 1mm a minute speed with 266.666 pulses 1/4 mode giving 1MM travel
A 228600 microsecond Pause = 1mm a minute speed with 133.333 pulses 1/2 mode giving 1MM travel
A 457200 microsecond Pause = 1mm a minute speed with 66.666 pulses 1.0 mode giving 1MM travel

From here you can work out the base numbers needed to calculate the pause for any travel length at any
travel speed. First lets take this down to the lowest resolution.

A 58521600 microsecond Pause = 1mm a minute speed with 0.5208330078125 pulses giving 1MM travel

5.) Putting it all together

So we now have all the factors needed to calculate what needs to be sent to the processor.
And best way is to show an example, we have set our pulses for 1MM travel to 533.333.

Example1:
So say we want to travel at a speed of 100MM A Minute we would use the following calculation:

Divide the pulses down to the lowest resolution

533.33/0.5208330078125 = 1024

Next get the Pause needed to Travel 1MM at 1MM Per minute Speed

58521600/1024 = 57150

Now Divide this down to get our required speed, so in this case 100MM travel a Minute

57150/100 = 571.50

Result is we would need a Pulse Delay of 571.50

Example 2:
We want to Travel 50MM a Minute 533.333 pulses set for 1mm travel:

533.33/0.5208330078125 = 1024
58521600/1024 = 57150
57150/50 = 1143 Pulse delay needed.

Example 3:
We want to Travel 50MM With 66.666 pulses set for 1mm travel

66.666/0.5208330078125 = 127.99879999924999953124970703107
58521600/127.99879999924999953124970703107 = 457204
457204/50 = 9144 Pulse delay needed.

The notes above are more relevant if you plan on writing your own routines for the processor board.