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Rod , I noticed you have a version 11 now . Does it more then add support for the dfrobotshield ? I made my buttons with the right 2K resistor , so it's compatible with the original .

Here we are , the arduino controlled indexer has made it's first chips . A simple hex for a bolt , nothing fancy . There are a few details left to take care of , and I still need to make that set of hook spanners , and once finished I will make a decent wooden box for it .

This is how it looks when finished . The enclosure had two rectangular holes on the left side and two round ones . So I added three gauges . Not really needed but I did need a way to cover those holes . The top gauge diplay's the stepper voltage , the middle one the current and the lower one...

A couple of pictures of the inside of the enclosure . Many electronic projects fail due to poor wiring . I know , been there done that got the t shirt . It's understandable , the project is nearly finished , one is eager to use it and the wiring is done hastly . Sooner or later something...

Rod , I think it's cool that you make this software available for free . There are some issues with the nano , but I'll get to those later . Stepper motors . At first I had a beefier stepper in mind . It fits the planetary gearbox , and it still , altough barely , clears the table when the...

I did put an external 7805 voltage regulator on the pcb I made . It is rated at maximum 35 V input so I could have hooked it up directly to the 24V supply . I perefer not to push things to their limits and used an external 9 Volt supply for the logic instead . That way the regulator has to...

Power supply anyone ? :) These are industrial power supply 12V / 24V /48V in various amperages . Quite often they fail and the company that does the maintenance of the machines they are used in simply replaces them . The reason they fail is bad capacitors . Some have two like this one ...

For the stepper driver I had an A3977 based driver board . It has never been used . The A3977 is a single chip micro step driver with several features integrated in the chip . Full half 1/4 and 1/8 step . 35Volt max , 2Amp . Normally I don't really like single chip solutions , but this one is...

At first I thought to make a single pcb holding all the components thus reducing the external wires to a minimum . That was pretty hard to do mostly because display and swithches needed to be at an exact height from each other to fit the enclosure . I settled for two pcb , one with all the...

Most people , if not all , use an arduino uno and a button shield . Like the sainsmart , df robot and many many others . I did to , initially , to see if I was able to upload the software and get it running . I use the sketch written by rodw . The uploading and use of the sketch has been...

I had to carefully plan and design the layout of all the components to match the existing holes in the enclosure . That is more or less the downside of using parts that have been used before . I first made a drawing of the existing layout . Then I drew the outline of the new parts and tried...

My son walked in just as I was watching the video when the engine cranked and started . He said what's that , are you watching harley davidsons . He didn't see the video , he just heard the sound . Great job Terry

For the electronics I found this enclosure . I kinda liked it and put it aside for when ever I would make the arduino indexer . Gutted the internals and kept only the box . Some nice parts among them , but all quite obsolete now . I did keep the varable transformer .

I removed the mechanical indexing pin and plugged the hole to avoid swarf getting into it . Nothing damaged , nothing irreversible . It can be put back should I ever want to return to manual indexing . That's it as far as the mechanical side of things is concerned . I need to make a...

As for smaller pulleys , I had several choices . I more or less arbitrary choose the 15T wich also came from the test tube shaker . 72/15 gives a 4.8 ratio . Multiplied by the 10:1 from the planetary gearbox , that results in an overall ratio of 48 . I think , with the stepper and a...

About the timing belt pulleys . I've never been able to find a cutter to machine them . Various module and DP cutters can be obtained from almost every source . But as for timing belt cutters there seem to be none . I did find some hobs though . Small pulleys are not worth the effort as they...

Time to put it all together . The hooked part was also made on the rotary table and is used to tension the belt . When the dividinh head is not needed and in storage , I can easily release the tension wich I hope will preserve belt life . Don't really know , but it can't hurt for sure ...

Then I made the moveable part of the hinge . This is a casting from a cnc project I've been building for some time now . I goofed up this casting , but it has enough material left to carve out the motor mount with hinge I need . Unless you go to fast , try to eat away to much material...

Then I started thinking about the motor mount itself . Any belt driven system needs some kind of tensioning device . Started thinking about spring's and idler pulleys . And as the device can turn both cc and ccw , the tensioner would have to be symmetrical . Then I came to my senses and...

Cogsy that is good advice , I will certainly give it a try . I would prefer a plastic gear to engage a plastic gear over an aluminium one , so if this works I will probably stick with the 3D printed gears . Here are a couple of more pictures of the planetary gearbox . What I like most about it...