Raspberry Pi CNC Controller

[kf4zht]

Anyone here running a Pi as a CNC control interface? Getting tired of the POS tablet I am using for my Shapeoko and looking at building one for that. If anyone's done it and has advice it would be much appreciated. Especially around setup, linux distro and related details.

The shapoko runs GBRL. Several people say that Universal G Code Sender (UGS) is pretty easy to setup for it. The basic program kinda sucks, it works but for example most functions dont have a keyboard shortcut so I can't program keys on my xkeys that I use as a pendant

Looking at this Pi https://www.microcenter.com/product/609038/raspberry-pi-4-model-b---4gb-ddr4
with this monitor https://www.microcenter.com/product/613541/element-14-7-pi-touchscreen-lcd-display

Since it uses USB C for power I will probably get a battery pack inline with the charger - I've already seen a couple strange USB interference issues with the router spindle, its cheap insurance.

 

[bgaidan]

Since it sounds like you're already comfortable with linux, have you looked at linux CNC? You can pick up an old laptop for about the same price as pi4 and have quite a bit more horsepower. I've always been suspect that a pi can run a CNC control reliably.

 

[jpmassey]

There are tons of relatively cheap purpose made controllers that will suit your needs. I use UCCNC and it works great. <$400 with software and hardware.

 

[rockmup]

I use one for my 3D printer, zero issues.

 

[kf4zht]

Since it sounds like you're already comfortable with linux, have you looked at linux CNC? You can pick up an old laptop for about the same price as pi4 and have quite a bit more horsepower. I've always been suspect that a pi can run a CNC control reliably.

With this the GBRL board is doing the gcode-movement translation. So you don't need something that can address the drives directly like LinuxCNC or Mach3. You only need a program that breaks the gcode down into bite size chunks and sends to the gbrl, hence less power can do it. I have an old laptop running it now and am tired of vacuuming out the keyboard and windows stupidity.

The laptop is the most meh option - its too large and clunky, yet isn't big or powerful enough to run fusion directly and make changes. I need one end or the other, and I'm not in the mood to spend fusion laptop money

There are tons of relatively cheap purpose made controllers that will suit your needs. I use UCCNC and it works great. <$400 with software and hardware.

It has a GBRL controller, I just need a gcode sender. I have $120 now in this pi and touchscreen, well see how it works

I use one for my 3D printer, zero issues.

What distro are you running? Just the raspberrian one?

 

[Talon2006]

Since it sounds like you're already comfortable with linux, have you looked at linux CNC? You can pick up an old laptop for about the same price as pi4 and have quite a bit more horsepower. I've always been suspect that a pi can run a CNC control reliably.

I don't know your experience with Linux cnc... but most of mine points to that linux hates laptops.... Yes it can work... but there can be issues with various things.

My vote for a linux computer is a dell OptiPlex 780. They are super easy to find.

 

[bgaidan]

I don't know your experience with Linux cnc... but most of mine points to that linux hates laptops.... Yes it can work... but there can be issues with various things.

My vote for a linux computer is a dell OptiPlex 780. They are super easy to find.

The linux cnc forums have a good list of known good machines that play well. My setup uses Mesa cards, which needs a PCI slot, so laptops are out. I ended up going with a little micro ATX board that's just sitting loose in my cabinet and it's been working flawlessly.

 

[Talon2006]

The linux cnc forums have a good list of known good machines that play well. My setup uses Mesa cards, which needs a PCI slot, so laptops are out. I ended up going with a little micro ATX board that's just sitting loose in my cabinet and it's been working flawlessly.

I have the 7i96 ethernet card on my plasma.

Recently bought a mill that has the 5I25 and I think a 7I77? It is the pci slot you talk about. both seem to work fine, but the mill has been tempremental with the computer. I recently swap Hd and cards into another tower so we will see how it goes.

 

[bgaidan]

I have the 7i96 ethernet card on my plasma.

Recently bought a mill that has the 5I25 and I think a 7I77? It is the pci slot you talk about. both seem to work fine, but the mill has been tempremental with the computer. I recently swap Hd and cards into another tower so we will see how it goes.

Mine has a 5i25 and 7i76. I just moved to my new property/shop and have it set up and I've run a couple jobs on it. Last year, before I moved, I started having some issues with various input channels appearing to be dead or dying. I lost my axis selector knob, jog wheel and my RPM indicator (but the encoder is still working as linuxcnc is still "seeing" the speed while running a program). I bought the machine from a member on PBB so I'm not fully savy in the wiring so I really need to sit down and figure out if the car has actually lost channels or if I just have a wiring problem or something. I do most stuff via keyboard now so losing the jog wheel is annoying, but doesn't stop me from running the machine.

Hopefully I'll have time to start playing with it soon. I bought a 4th axis a an auction well over a year ago. I need to figure out what I'm going to use to drive it and get the damn thing set up. All kinds of stuff I could do with it once it's working...