MY HobbyCNCPro Package Step by Step

[toneV8]

diarmaid: Can you take picture of heat sink and can you scan instructions.

[toneV8]

Unfortunately I can not join Yahoo group for HobbyCNC customers so I can not see ''step by step instructions''.

[HayTay]

Originally Posted by hobbycnc Idle current reduction after 10 seconds of no movement for each axis. Can be changed with a simple resistor value substitution. 99% less stepper hiss. Chips have built in protection from open or shorted steppers. This alone should aleviate 90% of the blown chips. Not impossible, just harder to do.

Those features alone, would make it worthwhile to replace someone's existing unipolar driver board to the new HobbyCNC Pro driver board. Good work, Dave and everyone at HobbyCNC. This solution sounds like just what I need to "put under the hood" of the 2nd CNC router I'm building.

I can't wait to hear diarmaid's reaction when he gets his HobbyCNC Pro board completed and spins his motors for the first time. WhooHoo!!!

Doing a great job documenting the HobbyCNC Pro board, diarmaid, keep up the good work.

Thanks for the details Dave.

[HobbyCNC]

Originally Posted by toneV8 diarmaid: Can you take picture of heat sink and can you scan instructions.

Scanning the instructions is a violation of our copyrights. Please do not do this.

[Bertram]

Hi all, I have been a long time browser here, about to dive head first into a cnc router project.
Regarding the suggested transformer to power the hcncpro board, (Hammond, I believe), can anyone point out the difference between the Hammond and this one? http://www.mpja.com/productview.asp?product=7846+TR
Apart from the $40 price difference and the apparent R0HS compliance of the Hammond.

[diarmaid]

Hi all,

1: I will not post scans or copies of any documentation which I received. Dave and HobbyCNC have obviously put a huge amount of time and effort into what I am now thinking is their excellent product (See why in Post No. 27 below!), and I won't de-value that in any way so please don't ask again. ToneV8, you were not to know . I will take a pic of the heat sink and post it up. Im sure I'll have to install it at some point anyway.

2: Dave, thanks a million for the very prompt reply to my e-mail. I figured out the parts as shown by the now edited previous post, when I started putting it together. They only fit into one hole, hence foolproof! I can't find my resistor, but I can buy them locally for 15c and I probably did drop it and lose it myself so I dont want you to offer to send one or anything like that, but I might have to email you with my local .1uF choices to see which fits the bill best. If I post anything which infringes your intellectual property rights, or just that you would prefer not to be posted on moral grounds because you spent 6 months finding a part or whatever, pm me. I'm only trying to help people out.

3: Now back to business!!

[diarmaid]

I inserted the first 6 resistors in the slots indicated in the instructions and numbered on the PCB. Easy to find. Just stick the resistors in hole for example '1,2,3,4,5, & 6', and the hole number is also printed beside the hole on the PCB. You have to just bend the ends as shown in the one thats not inserted yet. You can see them sticking through at the back. And the third pic shows that like a good noobie I checked the resistance before soldering anything.

[diarmaid]

My first solder deserves its own post! Here Im pointing at it

This isn't just my first solder on this board, its my first real solder EVER (Kinda)! They said I should practise first so I melted one glob of solder on a piece of paper, but that seemed kinda pointless so I dove straight in.

[diarmaid]

After putting in the resistors, and after each step I cut off the ends on the back. In the instructions I think this is what they mean by 'trim the leads' (If not then I didn't trim the leads yet...oops! ) I put in all the other resistors. Here you see a pic of where I was after Step Five (5) in the instructions and all the resistors were in.

Also shown is a pic of the 'leads' after being cut off. Be careful doing this. I just clipped them carelessly initially and eventually one flew up and hit me on the eyebrow, lucky it wasn't a half inch lower.

[diarmaid]

I suppose this is as good a time to put this in as any. Take this with a pinch of salt keeping in mind my huge lack of experience!

I found by about half way through the instructions that I dont actually solder with the soldering iron. If you simply sit the soldering iron on the PCB beside the protruding lead you want to solder and dont move it at all. Then feed the length of solder into the iron still without moving the iron, the solder flows down the tip of the iron into the little hole and ends up nice and neat.

I don't know if this is how to solder, but it worked well for me. Wish I figured it out at the start.

Im not sure but I figured I was supposed to solder on the back of the PCB. This seems to have worked ok, and I figure if I soldered the front I'd be burning components by accident.

Also, I bought the set of 6 soldering aids. You can see them at the start of the thread on top of the box beside the soldering station. I didn't use them once and they were a waste of money IMHO. I also bought a brass shavings soldering iron cleaner, shown in the same pic at the start of the thread, I used this a lot and it was a good investment.

[diarmaid]

Next I had to install some Resistor networks, Mosfets, Hex Inverters, and capacitors.

In the 'Action Shot' you can see my yellow capacitors being installed.

The 'side on' shot just represents how the parts easily and simply slip through the holes in the board before soldering them. There's no drilling or anything like that.

The final shot shows them installed. Also you can see in the bottom right hand corner hole number 'C7' where Im supposed to put my missing 6th capacitor.

Incidentially, I still don't know what a 'Mosfet' does, or what it's made of etc. The same for most of the other components, but I didn't need to, in order to put the square block in the square hole.

[diarmaid]

I had to install the 'black and grey' 10uF and 100uF capacitors. You can see them in the pic. They are round and there's 6 of them. See my excellent soldering on the back!

I also installed the Mosfets. There is six of them beside the large black squares (Which are the Hex Inverters). These were a right pain. They are so small and the legs are so close together I kept bridging between the legs. (I kept soldering the legs together with globs of solder by accident.) You have to stretch out the legs anyway to put them in, so maybe in the next model PCB the holes can be just a bit further apart.

As edited in the post above, I figured out what the potentiometers were. They have 3 legs and a blue top as shown here and cant fit into any other slots. They are shown installed in the 4th pic below.

After installing the potentiometers I had to install the Header Pins (Discussed in Next Post) and the male connector. Soldering the male connector I figured out how to solder...I think!