README

This project contains software to control a 3-axis CNC Machine. It consists of two components: A C++ project designed to be compiled and run on Arduino (located at arduino_scripts/Motor_Shield_Controller), and a Python 3 GUI to interface with the Arduino from a desktop (located at ardupy_gui/motor_text_gui). The GUI can be run from either Linux or Windows, but has only been tested extensively on Linux.

Arduino Software

This program reads integers as ASCII from the serial port, then moves stepper motors along the x/y/z axes using a gShield.

Program Structure

The following steps are perfomed during each loop() of the program:

1. Read a byte from serial. If it froms a complete integer, push that integer to a stack (Handled by SerialInts.cpp)
2. Step motors 1 step towards their destination, if needed (handled by TripleMotors.cpp)
3. Update the current instruction if a complete instruction has been passed (i.e. 3 complete ascii integers have been passed in).
4. Perform an action based on the current instruction (see the next section for details)
   • Some instructions (eg Move) create temporary states, these are not currently documented

Serial Communication

Instructions to be sent over serial are formed from 3 null zero (indicated by \0) - separated ASCII integers.
1 \0 X \0 Y \0: Move to X,Y
2 \0 MS \0 0 \0: Wait MS milliseconds after each subsequent move
3 \0 dX \0 dY \0: Move dX,dY relative to current position
(don't wait)
4 \0 Z \0 0 \0: Move vertical axis to Z
5 \0 dZ \0 0 \0: Move vertical dZ relative to current position
6 \0 Spd \0 0 \0: Set stepper speed to Spd cm/s.
Messages returned by the program over serial:
Steppers Ready. at the beginning of the program.
Arrived at X, Y whenever both axes arrive at a new destination (such that they're both stopped)
Delay set to MS whenever a new delay is set

Requirements

All required packages for the Arduino software are contained within the repository.

Installation

The progam should be ready to compile and upload in the Arduino IDE. Instructions can be found here.

Desktop Software

This program provides a graphical interface for control of the CNC machine.

Requirements

The graphical interface depends on two external Python packages, both of which can be obtained from PyPI:

1. PySerial
2. CefPython

Installation

1. Download and install the latest version of Python 3, or install it from a package manager.
2. Clone this package, or download it as a zip and extract it.
3. Run the commands pip install cefpython3 and pip install pySerial from a command prompt.
4. cd into this package's directory from the command prompt.
5. Run the command python setup.py install.
6. To invoke the GUI, run the run_ardupy.cmd batch file, or the run_ardupy.sh shell script.