Hello,
I'm working on a "smart" power feed for my mini mill.
The skinny is: I wanted a stepper-driven power feed that can be set to a "home" position and then stop once it reaches it. With parts from eBay and Mouser my cost is roughly $90-$100 (plus some aluminum for the enclosure); Arduino will add $20-$35. The newest version (two revs newer than the one on the blog) displays feed rate in inches/minute and five color leds indicate relative distance to the home position.
More gruesome details are posted on my blog here: http://www.yuriystoys.com/2012/01/mini-mill-power-feed.html. I started building the project with MSP430 microcontroller using a custom board I designed for myself (a basic breakout for MSP430F2132). It looks like there is no readily available equivalent... I have a spare Arduino Pro Mini and Nano boards, so if it there is any interest in the project, I will stick with Arduino to make it more accessible.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated
Thank you
Yuriy
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