Arduino based Electronic leadscrew - First threads

Update: • Electronic Leadscrew v...
This is an entirely non-invasive setup on my Warco wm-180 lathe
Using an arduino nano as the brains. I was curious to see how low cost and simple I could get away with and still achieve a system capable of threading
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[@RB-yq7qv]

There never a failure it's a step to learning more for a better outcome.

[@aaronveale6402]

Awesome, having just got a minilathe for a steal I've been considering a project similar to yours. Cloughs' source code was confusing to a simpleton like me. Hearing your explanation and seeing your success makes me feel more confident in trying it on my own.

[@MakerGeek]

I've used this a lot more in the year. I upgraded the motor to a 'servo' type but the arduino does a great job and I've cut a bunch of perfect threads on it. But also just a ton of useful surfacing at different controlled rates which is really nice. if you're interested I have some extra PCBs for my design.

[@Festivejelly]

Check out the Nano ELS H4. ive got one on my WM180 and it works really well. You can use it on the Z and X axis. In fact I can now run CNC jobs on it.

[@ChidleyEngineering]

I've just come from your V2 video - where I wondered why you did this project. For the fun of it seems like a good answer.

[@MakerGeek]

Pretty much for the fun, I was interested in the challenge and learning what was needed. I did also want to see if I could make a fairly cheap option, I thought the arduino could handle the processing load (and it can) but the memory is too limited. my latest version is now an esp32 which I'm messing with.

[@ChidleyEngineering]

@@MakerGeek Excellent. Have you looked at the Raspberry Pi Pico (Pico 2 has just been released!). That has multiple state machines (running at over 100 MHz) and a lot more memory.

[@MakerGeek]

@@ChidleyEngineering I've not had a chance to check out the pi Pico. I've used the nano and fill sized in various places. These days the esp32 has been my go to for more power and electronics integrations. Though it's a bit of a pain with it's 3.3v logic, is the pico 5v?

[@ChidleyEngineering]

@@MakerGeek 3.3V. It's all going 3.3V these days.

[@MakerGeek]

@@ChidleyEngineering yeah, and if makes sense. But all my stepper controllers need 5v signals so it means adding stuff to the circuit where with the trusty Arduino you could just pulse it direct.

[@wizrom3046]

I have been coding industrial firmware for about 25 years, including a lot of pulse reading, pulse generating encoder type stuff. I think your issue with getting incorrect number of pulses at low spindle RPM would be completely fixed by using quadrature encoding, ie 2 inputs from the encoder and not just 1. Simple quadrature decoding should still be very quick in firmware, and you dont even need full quad you can do a half quad decoding where if input A goes hi or low you just add or subtract a count (when input B is lo), and you subtract or add a count on the A edge (opposite) when input B is hi. With a full quad or half quad system you will always get a perfect count of 800 per rev (or whatever). Great video! Thanks for sharing. 🙂👍

[@MakerGeek]

Thank you. I actually started using the second pulse to give me direction detection, but it's a good point that I could use that to improve pulse counting generally. however i believe I have finally run up against the limits of the arduino nano which seems to start becoming quite erratic as you consume more of it's limited memory with program code. when i get time I'm going to experiment with identical code setup but switch out for an esp32 to see how it compares.

[@wizrom3046]

@@MakerGeek thanks for the reply! ESP32 has quite a bit of difference in processing power compared to the nano 😎

[@MaximKachurovskiy]

Surprised how quietly your lathe runs with the encoder.

[@MakerGeek]

ha, funnily one thing that annoys me slightly is that the motor sometimes 'whines' when just holding torque and powered on. but overall yeah, pretty quiet. and the electronic leadscrew is a fantastic addition. I use it all the time

[@MattOckendon]

Hey, you won't regret it - I built the nanoELS (and now feel totally out-done by the way 😝) and it has never skipped a beat. Is it just me or is the audio broken on this video?

[@MakerGeek]

broken how? it is a bit warbly at the start I think because of where I had the mic. sadly not much I could do about it once I noticed...

[@MattOckendon]

@@MakerGeek I've worked it out: There is nothing on the right channel! My laptop has a dodgy left speaker so I have the balance all the way to the right. Your left channel is normal the right is just a bit of background noise! Conclusion - it IS just me but you are in mono 🤓

[@MakerGeek]

@@MattOckendon ah! That's interesting I totally didn't notice but it makes sense. I'll try to remember that for next time. Thanks

[@cncsphere]

Were you disengaging the half nut between passes? I didn't see you do it but the carriage was stopped and I thought I heard you say you could rejoin at any mark on the dial. I'm guessing you have a metric pitch lead screw. At any rate, nice job.

[@MakerGeek]

in this video I was just like a normal threading operation with a gearbox. Since this I've made quite a few improvements and now I can digitally stop/move/restart never disengaging the leadscrew. just pulling together a video on the updates now

[@cncsphere]

@@MakerGeek great, thanks.

[@philip_fletcher]

I often wondered why @Clough42 didn't use a Teensy 4.x - 120khz+ interrupt frequency would cover you up to 7,000+ rpm even at 1,000 pulses per revolution.

[@MakerGeek]

indeed, though at 4000ppr he does have a lot to handle. possibly the board he used was just cheap/available at the time.

[@bme-uk]

When you have a satisfactory working unit will you be offering them for sale ? I would be interested!!

[@MakerGeek]

Potentially. Not least because to order a PCB you have to buy 5 minimum. So one way or another I'll end up with spares.

[@bme-uk]

@@MakerGeek please keep me in mind if you do kind regards David.

[@lesthompson5907]

@@MakerGeek will you be posting your sketch so we can copy it les .

[@jameskrippner4974]

Would you consider sharing the code for this? I'm interested in different approaches to programmign the ELS on arduinos

[@MakerGeek]

I've been working on refining it, making it more general purpose and configurable etc. my intention is to make the control box available to buy at a reasonable price. I have considered sharing the code but have decided against it at this time. in my experience open sourcing code leads to a lot of requests for support and changes and not a lot of contribution.