This past weekend I had the terrible misfortune (and luck) to have to repack my study. At the same time I tried to put together some Gerber files for the making of a RAMPS 1.4, some Pololu drivers and ad hoc diverse items to get the electronics sorted.
Turns out that a PIC16F84A costs about just as much as an Allegro A4988 stepper driver chip, except that shipping is not included, and I just happen to have a hand full of the little PICs in a drawer. Add to that the fact that you could actually control two L298N drivers using only one PIC, and that with micro stepping (of your preferred type as well) included sold the idea to me hook line sinker.
Of course there is a price to pay. The code for it did not exist until earlier this afternoon.
Sorted.
In the next few days I will build a single stepper prototype, and extend it to the dual stepper controller by week’s end. I feel another thingiverse thing brewing in the wings…
Another great advantage is that my Arduino code can keep following the current Sprinter development, and will not have to be patched in order to be compatible to the strange XY axis drive that I wanted to experiment with.
Exciting times!
