CNC router goes xPRO with Atmel’s ATmega328

Spark Concepts has debuted the CNC xPRO on Kickstarter, a versatile platform powered by Atmel’s ATmega328 microcontroller (MCU).

The CNC xPRO can be used to drive:

• Four-axis CNC Mill
• Three-axis CNC Mill with dual drive motors
• Laser cutter with XY, auto focus and rotary attachment
• Plasma cutter
• Pick and place for SMD components
• Wireless robotics

The GRBL compatible CNC xPRO can be powered via an ATX PSU or a dedicated 12V/24V two wire power supply. The board is also capable of driving four motors with DRV8825 Stepper Drivers at 2.5A (peak) with 1.75A (RMS) and up to 1/32 microstepping.

“One driver is capable of cloning X,Y, or Z or being run as an independent axis, [with] hardware support offered for both USB and wireless operation (XBee, WiFly, or RN42-XV),” a Spark Concepts rep explained.

“In addition, there are 12V and 5V outputs for powering peripherals (fans, pumps, vacuums), [allowing Makers and engineers] to quickly connect Stepper Motors and limit switches with 3.5mm screw terminals.”

Meanwhile, an expansion port supports future upgrades, such as a handheld jog controller and integrated spindle speed control.

“The CNC xPRO ships fully assembled and ready to connect (except for those opting for the bare board). All you need to do is screw down your motor leads and limit switches, plug in your ATX supply (or 12V/24V supply) and computer. You can also add a kill, pause/stop, resume and abort switches,” the rep noted.

“To add Bluetooth wireless, simply plug the RN42-XV into the xPRO and pair it with your computers Bluetooth. When paired correctly, this creates a virtual serial port over Bluetooth linking the computer to the xPRO.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the CNC xPRO on Kickstarter here.

ATmega32u4 + Bluetooth = Blend Micro

RedBearLab has launched the Blend Micro, a mini development board targeted at the Internet of Things (IoT). Powered by Atmel’s popular ATmega32u4 microcontroller (MCU), the board is also equipped with a Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Energy chip.

Blend Micro is compatible with Nordic’s Bluetooth Smart SDK for Arduino, making software development easy via the official Arduino IDE.

So, how does the board work? 

According to the RedBearLab crew, the nRF8001 chip communicates with Atmel’s Atmega32u4 MCU via the ACI (Application Controller Interface). Although the ACI is similar to SPI, it does not actually function as SPI. Indeed, SPI consists of MOSI, MISO, SCK and SS, whereas ACI includes MOSI, MISO, SCK, REQN and RDYN.

“Since the nRF8001 chip may receive data anytime (even when not selected by SPI master) the SS line is not needed. For the ACI, data exchange [is routed] through MOSI and MISO, [while] SCK provides the clock generated by master,” a RedBearLab rep explained.

“When the master wants to request data from BLE Shield, it [shifts] the REQN to low until RDYN line is put to low by BLE Shield. The master then generates the clock to read out the data. After reading out the data, master will release the REQN and BLE Shield release the RDYN, putting them to high.”

The Blend Micro runs at 3.3V to reduce level shifting, since the nRF8001 chip only accepts 3.3V. As such, the onboard LDO converts 5V from the USB power source into 3.3V for the board.

“Normally, you should set Blend Micro to run at 8 MHz/3.3V. However, if you want to run faster and not concern about the reliability (we do not see any issue so far), you can run it as 16 MHz [for a] so-called ‘overclock,’ the rep added.

Interested in learning more? You can check out Blend Micro’s official page here.

ATmega328 MCU drives this LazerBlade

Designed by Darkly Labs, the LazerBlade is an entry-level laser cutter and engraver kit targeted at Makers, artists and DIY hobbyists.

“LazerBlade is a precision device that can both cut and engrave many materials. It’s compact, quiet, portable and handsome enough to sit on your desk while packing an amazing punch for its price,” a Darkly Labs rep wrote in a recent Kickstarter post.

“You will be able to cut or engrave with vector graphics, CAD designs or even photos. [You can] work with the LazerBlade ready software bundle offered as part of this campaign, or use your favorite program.”

The LazerBlade features a custom designed main-board (controller) and high-efficiency laser diode driver, with an Atmel ATmega328 MCU running modified GRBL software.

Additional key hardware specs and features include:

• Two watt, M140 5.6mm 445nm laser diode
• Three element glass laser lens
• Custom designed, fan assisted cooling system to protect laser diode, optics and eyes
• Available in A4 and A3 sizes
• Variable laser power control, 0% to 100% (not just on/off)
• Stores vertically when not in use, with included stand
• 110-240V AC Mains / 12V 2A DC Power Adaptor (included)
• Step-by-step illustrated assembly instructions
• A special anodized aluminium focus tool
• One pair of laser safety goggles
• 110-240V AC mains / 12V 2A DC power adapter
• USB cable

“To achieve its professional feel and performance, we chose to make the chassis from an industrial plastic that is very strong and will not be susceptible to warping from moisture.
 All the parts are designed and manufactured to fit together precisely, [so there is] no need for drilling or special tools [and it can be] easily assembled within two hours,” the rep explained.

“We used a combination of ‘off the shelf’ components along with a custom designed main board and laser driver. [Meaning], we keep the electronic’s cost down by tailoring features specifically for our requirements and design in expandability for the future.”

On the software side, the LazerBlade is fully compatible with industry standard Gcode, offering Makers easy access to numerous open-source and free packages to create cutting files, such as Inkscape.

In addition, Darkly Labs is supported by Vectric with Cut2D-Laser and John Champlain with PicLaser-Lite. Both packages – ready to use with the LazerBlade – are included at no charge to Kickstarter kit backers.

Interested in learning more? You can check out LazerBlade’s official Kickstarter page here.

ATM90E26 extends smart energy roadmap

Atmel has introduced the ATM90E26, a low-cost metering Analog Front End (AFE) IC. According to an Atmel engineering rep, the ATM90E26 is specifically designed for smart grid communications, electricity metering systems and energy measurement applications.

“The Atmel Smart Energy platform includes several System-on-Chip (SoC) devices built around a unique dual-core ARM Cortex M4-based architecture. The platform includes the SAM4C with advanced security, in addition to metrology-enabled versions for single- and poly-phase metering (SAM4CMx) and Power-Line Communications (PLC) enabled solution (SAM4CPx),” the Atmel engineering rep told Bits & Pieces.

“The new ATM90E26 is pin-to-pin compatible with the IDT 90E22/23/24/25 devices, featuring UART support and improved power measurement resolution. By providing the discrete metrology AFE ATM90E26 as well as various MCU/MPU and PLC/wireless solutions, our Smart Energy Platform offers designers multiple options and various levels of integration to address their smart metering designs. For example, the ATM90E26 can be bundled with the SAM4CPx for a complete smart metering architecture.”

Key ATM90E26 features include:

• Dynamic range of 5000:1 with 0.1% kWh accuracy and 0.2% kvarh accuracy.
• Temperature co-efficient of reference voltage 15ppm/ºC (typ.).
• Single-point calibration for active energy.
• Up to 24x PGA to support shunt sensing in L line current channel.
• Programmable startup and no-load power threshold.
• Measures Vrms, Irms, P(Q/S), frequency, power factor and phase angle. Enhanced resolution for RMS and mean power.
• Measurement accuracy better than 0.5%.
• Configurable high-pass filter (HPF) in each ADC channel.
• On-chip parameter diagnosis function and programmable interrupt output to reduce complexity and increase robustness of the meter.
• Standard four-wire, simplified three-wire SPI interface, or a UART interface.
• Dedicated voltage zero-crossing output pin (ZX); voltage sag detection.
• Software reset available.
• 3.3V single power supply; 5V compatible for digital input.

It should also be noted that Atmel’s ATM90E2x single-phase energy metering demo board can be used to evaluate and test ATM90E2x chips. More specifically, the board is capable of sampling single-phase voltage/current, meter active/reactive energy, output active/reactive energy pulses, as well as measure parameters such as voltage, current and power.

Interested in learning more about Atmel’s smart energy platform? You can check out our detailed deep dive here.

Drawing circuits with the Papilio Duo

The Papilio DUO – which recently made its Kickstarter debut – is equipped with both an FPGA and Atmel’s ATmega32U4 microcontroller (MCU).

According to Papilio rep Jack Gassett, the board allows Makers and devs to easily draw circuits, move pins, connect extra serial ports and even link a Bitcoin miner to the ATmega32U4.

“The Papilio DUO is much more than just a hardware project. In fact, the software is the secret sauce that sets the DUO apart from other FPGA boards. It lets you draw up circuits without investing time and energy in learning VHDL/Verilog,” Gassett explained.

“We start with the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and supercharge it by adding circuits into the mix. We bring all of the pieces needed to draw and debug your very own circuits in one place. It’s an easy and seamless user experience that we call Papilio DesignLab for use with both Windows and Linux.”

Aside from Atmel’s ATmega32U4 microcontroller, key hardware specs include:

• Spartan 6 LX9 FPGA
• High efficiency LTC3419 switching voltage regulator
• Dual channel FTDI FT2232H USB 2.0 interface
• 512KB or 2MB ISSI IS61WV5128 SRAM
• 64Mbit Macronix MX25L6445 SPI Flash
• 4 I/O pins arranged in an Arduino-compatible mega form factor
• Digital pins 0-16 connected to FPGA and ATmega32U4

It should be noted that the Papilio team is also offering a classic computing shield that provides the necessary hardware to recreate classic computing systems on the board, such as:

• socz80: Z80 Retro MicroComputer
• ZX Spectrum
• Commodore VIC20
• LadyBug Hardware
• Jet Set Willy on ZPUino
• Bomb Jack
• Sega Master System
• All Classic Arcade Games at Papilio Arcade

Interested in learning more? You can check out Papilio DUO’s official Kickstarter page here.

ATmega64 dev board surfaces on Electronics Lab

Radek Malina has introduced an ATmega64 development board on the Electronics Lab website.

Interestingly, the hardware was developed in the Czech Republic at a time when Arduino boards wasn’t locally available.

“It can be used to easily develop custom AVR firmware or as an introduction board to microproccessors and programming,” Malina explained.

“A development board is better to be used instead of a breadboard setup as it facilitates the connection of the different components using PCB headers.”

Key specs and features of the dev board include:

• Atmel ATmega64 MCU – all ports available via pins, a different crystal can be connected (optional frequency crystal)
• DS3231 RTC, real-time IC / I2C
• Temp. DS1820 1wire Temp. sensor
• EEPROM 24AA00SN / I2C EEPROM
• USB Port FT232RL USB/RS232 converter
• 
Buttons 8x -16x LED
• Connect LCD Display 16×2 
7segment-LED Display
• N-FET For PWM
• ISP Programming connector

“All module pins are labeled for easy connection with the processor and there are separate connectors and jumpers for all MCU ports so you can easily connect, test and debug your firmware. Also there is an ISP programming connector J2,” 

 Malina added.

“[Plus], the PCB can be powered via the USB connector, or with a voltage regulator through an external adapter.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here.

Video: Electronic dice go random with AVR

A Maker named Walter recently created an entropy library for Atmel AVR microcontrollers (MCUs) to ensure a reliable source of truly arbitrary numbers.

As HackADay’s Brian Benchoff reports, the electronic dice generate random numbers by taking advantage of the watchdog timer’s natural jitter.

“[This isn’t] fast by any means but most sources of entropy aren’t that fast anyway,” Benchoff explains. “By sampling a whole lot of AVR chips and doing a few statistical tests, it turns out this library is actually a pretty good source of randomness, at least as good as a pair of dice.”

According to Benchoff, the circuit itself employs a pair of 8×8 LED matrices from Adafruit, an Atmel-based Arduino board and a pair of buttons.

Supported modes (11 total)?

• 2d6
• 2d4
• 2d8
• 2d10
• 1d12
• 1d20
• Deck of cards
• Single hex number
• Single 8-bit binary number
• 8 character alphanumeric password

Interested in learning more? You can watch the video above or check out the project’s official page here.

Monitoring Bitcoins with Atmel’s ATmega328P-PU

A Maker by the name of MiCavaleri has created an inexpensive DIY prototype Bitcoin price ticker powered by Atmel’s ATmega328P-PU microcontroller (MCU).

The tracker – which updates every minute – displays the price of Bitcoins in three different currencies: USD, EUR and GBP.

Aside from Atmel’s ATmega328P-PU (or Arduino Uno), key project components include:

• 

5x 10k Ohm resistors
• 220 Ohm resistor
• 7805 Voltage Regulator 5V
• 2x 10uF capacitors
• 2x 22pF capacitors
• 16 MHz crystal
• LCD display 16×2
• 9V battery connector
• 4 switches (buttons) (I used tact switches)
• Wire (and quite a lot of it)
• Plastic box
• Prototyping board 120x80mm (I used 1½ in total)
• Adafruit CC3000 breakout board

“I suggest you build everything on a breadboard first using your Arduino. Then you will be able to test if the code works, and that you are able to connect to your WIFI,” MiCavaleri explained in a recent Instructables post.

“These images will show you how to set it up using the CC3000 shield, but it will work with the breakout as well.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out the project’s official page here.

Atmel powers Black & Decker Gyro Screwdriver

A recent teardown by the Hacked Gadgets crew confirms that Black & Decker’s Gryo Screwdriver is powered by Atmel’s ATxmega16D4 microcontroller (MCU).

“Opening the unit was very simple since there are just 5 phillips screws holding the unit together,” writes Alan Parekh of Hacked Gadgets.

“The battery and circuit board are press fit into one half of the housing and all connection on the PCB have are connectorized which is quite nice. Looks like they wanted to keep it as modular as possible so they could service it easily. The microcontroller is Atmel’s ATxmega16D4, it has 16K of flash and 34 IO pins.”

According to Parekh, the dual axis Invernsense ISZ-650 gyroscope is tasked with position sensing. Meanwhile, four devices at the bottom of the rear of the board by the battery jack turned out to be 4899NF Power Mosfets, which are likely configured as an H-Bridge to run the motor.

“I think this device would make for a great remote operated motor for some DIY projects like a wire winder,” Parekh added. “You could mount the motor to the winding drum and mount the drill to anything. I am thinking one of those old ship speed controls.”

Interested in learning more? You can check out a fullreview of the Black and Decker Gryo Screwdriver here and additional teardown information here.

Simple soldering – Arduino PID control

A proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID controller) is a control loop feedback mechanism (controller) widely used in industrial control systems. 

According to Wikipedia, a PID controller calculates an error value as the difference between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint.

Essentially, the controller attempts to minimize the error by adjusting the process through use of a manipulated variable.

Recently, a DangerousPrototypes forum member by the name of carlazar designed a simple soldering iron driver (SSID) with Arduino Uno (Atmel ATmega328 MCU) PID control.

Key features include:

• Minimal number of components.
• Additional control mode – on-off controller (+ PID PWM).
• External power supply.
• Fits into a 90mm x 110mm x 45mm (WxDxH) box.
• Easy assembly.

“The HQ soldering iron HQ20/HQ30 (24V, 48W) was used [for this project],” carlazar wrote in a recent DangerousPrototypes post.

“It has the E-type thermocouple built in (68uV/degC) but you can change that value in software according to the soldering iron that is used (for example K-type is 41uV/degC).”

In terms of actual use, the SSID features:

• UP and DOWN buttons, changes set-point temperature by 5 degC.
• Button SET cycle through set-point temperature presets: 0 – 150 – 280 320 -350 degC.
• Buttons UP and DOWN simultaneously, change the operating controller mode (PID control/on/off control).

Interested in learning more? You can check out carlazar’s original Dangerous Prototype page here.