Stepper !!!

[watzmann]

Hi All ,

i have an idea and really like to do it ,

i have agood combination of stepepr motors , and i can use them well with microcontrollers ,

my idea is i need to send any drawing from AutoCAD to the microcontroller and then using a the 3 Axis mechainsm i can draw this one using this three stepper motors ,

the same idea of CNC router machine , as for the mecahism i have no problem with it , my problem is how to this connection between Autocad and the microcontroler

 

[HarveyH42]

You know how when you install some new hardware, there is a disk included... and you have to install a 'DRIVER'. Or when you downgrade your system with a 'new' version of Windowz, and you can't get your scanner, printer, or most anything else to work, because you need to spend half a day searching the internet for updated drivers...

You'll need to write a custom driver, for your custom hardware. Not sure this is very common. Maybe something on CNCZone.com... But if it's Windows. it can't be easy...

 

[blueroomelectronics]

You could try to emulate HPGL (a plotter language)

 

[picbits]

Export the files as a gerber or similar text readable file, write a visual basic front end which takes the co-ordinates and translates them into paths/pen up and downs then uses the parallel port to output pulses to the stepper motor drivers.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

There are loads of sites about doing this on the net, here's one I've always thought pretty useful?