Open Source Ecology Torch Table, 19 Jun 2012

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From YouTube: Inverter + Torch Table Firmware

Description

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A

Hey so we got Darren in the house here. We've got issues on the firmware for the CNC stepper driver. This is van from New Orleans he's been here, he's he's a programmer he's a coder he's, looking good as ever in New Orleans, so I man.

B

A

So Darren tell us so tell us the problem statement on the firmware for the so right.

B

Now we have re you're familiar with Arduino right, okay, so there's three pins that are used for home XYZ and we have limit switches for home and the extent of travel and we have those going through an and gate. So we have one interrupt and all we need is an interrupt routine so that when it hits any limit, when it's not supposed to it, sends a signal back.

C

B

Not gonna have time to put in the code, okay, so if anyone else can help out with that, if not you that's awesome, it.

D

Probably could be me: yeah I'll look into.

C

That and I'll be up there probably good week, I'm guessing but you're taking off soon.

B

Yeah I'm leaving tomorrow morning, okay, but you have the code that you've read all the hardware's they're, all the hardware's there and I haven't done any firmware here, we're using gr BL and it's rock stock. Tell me what gr BL, ok.

C

And it's rock star. Ok, I know that is no.

B

It's just its stock. We haven't made any amount of modifications. Okay,.

A

Okay, so explain to them the gerbil and g ctrl and arduino, like that. I.

B

Don't I'm not really familiar with the toolchain? I just came down here for hardware.

A

You and so knows the stuff, the toolchain there, ok, so firmware means. So what do we programming something we're going to flash on to the Arduino exactly.

B

Yeah, ok, it's just one function for interrupting and it's.

A

In what language see and see you do some see I've.

C

Done see since I was 17 15 actually well.

A

I'll put you the advantage to just do this thing see.

C

His thoughts, easy as it gets out.

A

C

All right, yeah I'll, take a look at it's.

A

Like what can you describe right now, yeah.

C

B

Can write up like the prototypes.

A

B

Function, it's just it's extremely simple, mmhmm yeah.

C

So you just you, just have some way to input your coordinates. You have some some other way to reset the thing to this.

B

Is a hardware limit? It's your. What the Arduino is going to see is one of theirs to interrupt pins and one of them is going to go low and if it goes low, that means there's a problem. Okay, so stop yep, okay, okay,.

D

Yeah I'll look into it and she'll be either call famous last words.

A

Who he's talking like you got it all right? You can do need to write up some stuff. A little more like you.

B

Can call me I mean it'sit's if you've done any kind of firmware, it's not going to be an issue for you have.

A

You done that you decide you should ever do some firmware. Yet, yes,.

C

Yeah my hard work classic cow.

D

Yeah yeah 20 years ago, it's all just programming man, it's you know the first, the first 20 computer languages, programming languages are hard. After that it gets easy.

A

Okay, that sounds good, so we're going to solve them, basically add the limit switches to the Arduino control yeah. This is going to be good, all open source, we're going to mill those things out ourselves with a CNC circuit mail. So that's going to be nice at a cost of. What's the cost per channel, a dollar.

B

A

Eight dollar per channel, so four channels, 32 bucks for step full step or controller- can handle our torch table plus then closure and fan and power supply. But that's pretty good sign me up. Okay, you got it. Oh.

B

Okay, keep an eye out because we're moving it tonight, you'll probably be able to see a video yeah.

A

Keep-Keep on our youtube, video stream, what we've got powering.

C

It up, you mean yeah.

B

We've stepped all the axes individually, we're going to do them all together now, right.

D

C

A

C

Some a minute mark yeah.

A

We got it going on, it's lots of things are going. So if you come here and do that part on an inverter, how much do you know about inverters asked you that before Darren I'm designing one.

B

Well, look at that tell me more about it's going to be a while. It's not a high priority, but I live on a sailboat and anything that goes on a sailboat costs ten times what it should. Inverters are already extremely expensive for what they are so I'm making one for my vote. What.

A

Scale: five kilowatt about five: what's the bo, I'm costs, 100.

B

A

Look at that 100 bucks plus enclosures as heat sinks fans, but just the electronic. The.

B

Complicated parts on our box, including.

A

The board itself hundred bucks man so yeah, that's what we're doing it's gonna be like 10 times less expensive to do it ourselves. That's really good! It's going to decrease the bootstrapping replication costs of all this stuff, how much fun! How much do you know about it? I mean deed. Can you read.

B

My last job I was research and development for power engineering at Intel. huh A lot.

A

Can you discuss tom till the basic concept when you look up inverter on Wikipedia? What else do you need to know all.

B

You're doing is you're, taking a DC signal and there's two ways of doing it. Traditionally, you would take a DC signal and.

B

Chop it up so that it would go through a huge transformer just to get the AC the new way of doing it is with high frequency, much smaller transformers and that's where the cost savings come in. Mm-Hmm old school stuff is expensive because there's 15 pounds of copper in it mm-hmm.

A

Now the deal is right now we're going to use a dedicated ship that does all these punk, like the chopping like. Oh no, is there going to be like an invert, integrated power module with the trapping and power and probably.

B

Use the TI that my favorite microcontroller I've been using it for a while. It's fast and more than capable of doing TI de piccolo is that product line they have t.I.

A

Piccolo yeah and that's a control, that's a is that a particularly a pwm controller or like.

B

It's made for another.

A

B

And inverters and everything uh-huh.

A

So that's that's the one. We should look up. Okay van. Are you finding it.

C

A

Pickle LTI put.

B

2806 nine, if you're a coder, you want floating point because it's easy. It's floating point.

C

A

Document that man yeah so you'd recommend that is that what they do is that pure sine wave or yeah it's.

B

A lot bigger than what you guys are using now, they call it pure.

A

Sine wave, it's.

B

Just it's better, nothing as a pure sine wave! That's coming out of this so and.

A

Would you be able to do three phase as well sure no.

B

I'm, I would direct someone else because I don't need it and it's not useful for my applications, so I would want some help if I wanted to do three phase.

A

Do we know any other subject matter experts on power inverters I.

B

A

You hook us up to him I'm.

B

A

We got it, we don't need to go to China anymore sounds.

D

Like you might want Jeremy the project we got this, you.

A

You're pretty busy, though, after this, what are you, what are you up to after you? Do this open.

B

Capitalists, marsha and I are kind of competitors in a way. Oh, no, it's a good thing with.

C

D

B

Open source, it's an entirely different paradigm, even though we're competitors I'm still out here, helping them out, which I think is kind of interesting yeah.

A

Look at so open capitals. What are you going to do on that? Exactly tell us I'm.

B

Not concerned about ecology as much as I am about economics, so I am making products to sell and I want to sell the people who don't care, they're, not buying it because of their ideals, they're buying it because they want the cheapest and best. And we can do that with open source.

A

But the ecology part I mean that's I mean we don't have a choice for ecology on it ourselves right round. Right I mean that's.

B

Your thing yeah gonna, have to figure that out: mm-hmm telefon sailboat, I'm already self-contained.

A

So what was I mean you're going to develop that platform? Are you going to put up a website and all that and your product line so far is going to be what stepper.

B

Nugs, the first one, what.

A

Do you call it stepper, nug.

B

Stepper nug, that's just a little bored for the stepper driver, I.

A

Have this individual one yeah, okay, so you're, trying to make yourself fully self supported by doing that.

B

I'm self-supported for a while, just by myself, talk about programming or do participating. I was planning to take two years off, but whoever I have.