P4AC 4 axis controller by ljyang

P4AC 4 axis controller

ljyang

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Published on November 22, 2010

Description

This is a drop in replacement for all of the stepper controllers for reprap/makerbot. It uses four Pololu 1201 stepper control modules so you can select your microstepping level from full step thorugh 1/16 step for each axis. It uses a 40-pin connector on the stepper board and 10-pin IDCs on the other end so it will work with gen3 motherboards. 6-pin IDC connectors are an option to use it with Gen4 motherboards in the future. Endstops are supported with CDROM style connectors for all four axis so you can use mechanical endstops when they become available. The fourth axis has a 4-pin header (GND/Ena/Step/Dir) breakout for easy connections to the Extruder Controller for stepper extruder use. It can be mounted using the same holes as current stepper controllers on a makerbot.

It is all through hole soldering for easy assembly.

Instructions

Full assembly instructions are available at johnyang.com/p4ac

A BOM is also available at the above link

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feilen on April 1, 2011 said:

This may or may not be a stupid question, but does the kit come with the stepper drivers?

feilen on April 1, 2011 said:

Er... and how much do the kits cost? I couldn't find it anywhere on the linked tutorials or kit info.

brnrd on March 21, 2011 said:

I got it running with the Techzone Gen 3 Remix motherboard and extruder controller on my Mendel and it's working great! Much quiter. I have set 1/16 steps on X and Y, 1/4 steps on Z and 1/2 steps on the extruder. I noticed that with 1/16 steps on the extruder, the maximum speed was being limited probably by the firmware or maybe by the Sanguino so that SF 040 retract didn't work well. The retract speed of 15 mm/s was noticeably slower with 1/16 steps than with 1/2 steps.

Thanks!

Reversity on February 15, 2011 said:

Showed up in the mail today. Thanks!

Anonymous on February 9, 2011 said:

Anyone gotten one of these kits lately? Looks great.

brnrd on March 5, 2011 said:

The board looks great! I hope a kit or assembled board is still available. :-D

Zydac on February 13, 2011 said:

The kit is easy to assemble, and the instructions were clear. This has really helped with pesky X-axis shifts on dense complicated objects. I plan to add a stepper extruder to the fourth Pololu.

ZNahum on December 11, 2010 said:

Could you make a version of this without the end stops and uses only the 4th gen connectors (with the reset pin connected to them)? I've been trying to do this in Eagle but I am completely new to it and I keep running into problems :'(

ljyang on December 11, 2010 said:

The reset line is not connected to anything on the gen4 motherboard. So if this is for use with a gen4 mobo you can use it as is today. My kit includes a cable that I have terminated with the 40 pin IDC on one end and with 4x 10 pin IDC AND 4x 6 pin IDC for gen4 use. So you can use it today with your gen3 and as soon as mbi starts to sell the gen4 electronics by themselves you could replace the mobo and use the 6 pin connectors on the cable instead of the 10 pin ones and be set. So it is in a way futureproofed for gen3 or gen4 use.

ZNahum on December 11, 2010 said:

Since each Pololu driver draws a max of 2A; isn't that a bit much for the wire if it is drawing 8A through a single 12V connector? *DONT_KNOW*

ljyang on December 11, 2010 said:

The connector is rated to 10A. In actuality the chip is unlikely to deliver the full 2A per stepper. You'll likely have issues with driving the chip that high due to the thermal cutout of the chip. This is typically not a problem with the makerbot or mendel reprap applications. Using this board to drive a cnc mill or cnc router with more power hungry motors may raise these issues, but the typical makerbot/reprap application should be fine.

ZNahum on November 30, 2010 said:

8-) Now you just have to create a extruder controller and make it work with the Mega. Then you will be my hero. 8-)

rbisping on November 23, 2010 said:

note: having this as a -NC license means it cant be used for any kind of production printer. i.e. making repraps and selling them or anything printed with it.