How do the controller boards etc work?

[Hack]

Can anyone point me to some good reading on how a controller board works and how the designs of these boards come about? I am sitting here staring at my board from Automation Direct and wondering how it works and what all the little things on there are.

I've also noticed some of you people designing your own boards as well as power supplies. Are you guys electrical engineers or something, or is this info easily found on the net?

Just curious.

thanks all.

[jfong]

We have 55volt 3amp microstepping stepper driver based on a PIC microcontroller. Schematics and source code are availiable on the site if you want to see how it works. The bare PC board is $10.

www.embeddedtronics.com

Jim

[unterhaus]

Originally Posted by jfong We have 55volt 3amp microstepping stepper driver based on a PIC microcontroller. Schematics and source code are availiable on the site if you want to see how it works. The bare PC board is $10. www.embeddedtronics.com Jim

When are you going to start selling the optoisolated bob? Looks nice.
Eric

[ViperTX]

Originally Posted by Hack Can anyone point me to some good reading on how a controller board works and how the designs of these boards come about? I am sitting here staring at my board from Automation Direct and wondering how it works and what all the little things on there are. I've also noticed some of you people designing your own boards as well as power supplies. Are you guys electrical engineers or something, or is this info easily found on the net? Just curious. thanks all.

Hack, It kinda depends on what you want to do....mill wood/metal or build electronics. Building from a schematic is an experience, but without an oscilloscope and some basic knowledge, it can be rather frustrating. I'm a EE and have opted for Geckos, while I design my own at a leisurely pace (which probably means that it won't get finished, unless I start burning up Geckos...). It just all kinda depends on what you want to experience.