Let’s be 100% clear, I love my Nomad 883 CNC mill, it got me started with CNC. Now, I’d like to take it further by adding a 4th axis, however this is tricky as the Nomad’s controller, and standard grbl, doesn’t support it. Fortunately, Paul’s developed a brand new ‘Super Gerbil’ 5 axis CNC controller (now […]
The 3020, 3040, 6040 and 6090 are low cost no-brand CNC mills that come in various 3 or 4 axis versions, but suffer from underpowered electronics and poor software. So we’ve created the Super Gerbil controller as a high quality upgrade to the electronics and software tool chain. For a bit of fun, we’ve challenged ourselves […]
Hey all, I’ve been busy at work on a successor to the Gerbil, provisionally named the Super Gerbil. The goal is to create a high performance controller with all the features anyone could want, at an affordable price. It’s been a real journey to master the Super Gerbils brain (the STM32, its Datasheet has 4000 […]
Debugging the K40 controller set up consists of a few steps which are easy to follow. Comms Motion Limit stops Laser power You probably need: a small Philips screw driver for the screw terminals, a simple multi-meter and some gummy bears. First we need to test whether the board communicates with your computer. Best way […]
This is a list of useful sites for laser cutting and engraving: Looking to make slotted laser-cut templates from scratch? Here is the program for you! http://flatfab.com/ Here is a fun site to get some ideas. 52 projects has turned into 130 and counting! “52 Lasers is a collaboration between Pixelaser and Isette, showcasing one […]
Yes, we’ve got our exciting new toy, ah, I mean, serious prototyping tool: the Prusa i3 Mk3. First, there’s the unpacking at Paul’s robot room. Watch the IKEA style packaging! Then, the basic frame And the y axis and bed And the x axis Really coming together now, with the all important extruder assembly […]
Other lasers Other lasers can be connected via the x and y axis motor outputs on the shield as long they use stepper motors. You can feed the steppers with maximum of 35 Volt on the power connector on the K40 shield. The controller is fed via the same power connector via the 5V pin. The Power stepper […]
Introduction The biggest advantage of the GBRL controller based on the 328PB chip is it’s ability to produce 16 bits PWM at various frequencies. However to harness that feature you need to understand how to program it. The problem of understanding and programming the 328PB lays in it’s multiplexed structure. There are not enough registers […]
This page describes how you can get started with cutting and engraving. We assume you have installed the Gerbil hardware and are ready for your first project. The first project is cutting a circle out of acrylic or plywood. The second project is to engrave a picture on wood. The best way to get results […]
It has been a while that I wrote a blog about my K40 but many things were in train to fulfil the Kickstarter for my K40 Controller called Gerbil (after the firmware ‘Grbl’). The news is that the K40 shields are assembled and delivered to my fulfilment partner Skyzer Technologies and the remaining Gerbil controllers […]