Tindie
Bart Dring
Overall Rating:
All Reviews
Damian | Feb. 6, 2019
Great CNC Board - ESP32 is a perfect fit for GRBL
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
This is a great board - being able to use Bluetooth/Telnet instead of having to have a PC tethered to an Arduino is fantastic. I made some changes to the GRBL_ESP32 code in order to support XY wall plotters that deal in Polar co-ordinates and everything is working perfectly. Grab one yourself, you won't be disappointed.
Owen | Dec. 15, 2018
Fantastic CNC controller,
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
Well made and good looking board; exactly as described. Arrived fast and well packed.
I have installed an AliExpress ESP32S and LV7829 stepper drivers, they simply plugged in and worked; initial software load went horribly awry due to me shortcutting stuff and corrupting the index file I uploaded then fighting that instead of going to sleep. Following morning I started by erasing the flash on the ESP32 using esptool; and then following the instructions linked above from scratch I arrived at a working box with a local access point half an hr later.. :-)
Software is still evolving, plenty usable right now, with more to come of course. Only thing I miss is 'Go To Zero' buttons for the axes; but these are normally done via macros so it's not an issue. Connectivity via the serial/USB works as normal for GRBL, and I even telnetted to it successfully. I have not tried the bluetooth features; I left them disabled in source since it's not in my roadmap.
Youtube video review and demo of it in action is here:
https://youtu.be/jcl5qk3Hnro
I have installed an AliExpress ESP32S and LV7829 stepper drivers, they simply plugged in and worked; initial software load went horribly awry due to me shortcutting stuff and corrupting the index file I uploaded then fighting that instead of going to sleep. Following morning I started by erasing the flash on the ESP32 using esptool; and then following the instructions linked above from scratch I arrived at a working box with a local access point half an hr later.. :-)
Software is still evolving, plenty usable right now, with more to come of course. Only thing I miss is 'Go To Zero' buttons for the axes; but these are normally done via macros so it's not an issue. Connectivity via the serial/USB works as normal for GRBL, and I even telnetted to it successfully. I have not tried the bluetooth features; I left them disabled in source since it's not in my roadmap.
Youtube video review and demo of it in action is here:
https://youtu.be/jcl5qk3Hnro
Matthew | Oct. 2, 2018
Best thing since sliced bread
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
Fantastic quality board and soldering. It includes all the headers for any future 3 axis CNC routing application, including door switch, start and hold, probe, and both flood and mist cooling in the same setup.
The future support for uSD cards on a grbl board is awesome, no more tether needed, and the development pace on adding features such as control over WiFi and Bluetooth is pretty incredible.
Support for 24v steppers is appreciated, and so is the included barrel jack for power. The buck converter was included with the board though it isn't listed as an included item, an appreciated addition.
Even if this was a finished product with no more software updates, it is a awesome deal for such a good quality grbl board. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone in the market for a desktop CNC controller.
The future support for uSD cards on a grbl board is awesome, no more tether needed, and the development pace on adding features such as control over WiFi and Bluetooth is pretty incredible.
Support for 24v steppers is appreciated, and so is the included barrel jack for power. The buck converter was included with the board though it isn't listed as an included item, an appreciated addition.
Even if this was a finished product with no more software updates, it is a awesome deal for such a good quality grbl board. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone in the market for a desktop CNC controller.
Dave | Sept. 24, 2018
An excellent board , that's now being used full time.
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
An excellent board for prototyping , that has made it as a permanent resident for my DIY CNC Router.
I bought this board as I was keen to tryout an alternative hardware platform to the mega, as I felt I was reaching the "speed limit" of the Mega2560.
Having purchased an ESP32 , which isn't very breadboard friendly, I was pleased to find this board , It even came with PCB standoffs which is a good idea to prevent shorts. I quickly cobbled up some fairly long leads to run my CNC Router to try it out , I've also added a RS485 link to control VFD Spindle and It seems to work very well.( it took a little time to add the software to control the VFD )
The patch leads were shortened and It is now resident at the heart of my CNC router.
The board has been well thought out , it contains additional pads, which I ended up using as my ESP32 board was 0.1" wider than the vendor's.
Its nice that all of the pins have an associated ground with them , making it easier to connect up. I've also asked for a power supply for each of the limit switch pins, as I use opto switches for these, though it was quite easy to add.
I'm also using off board stepper drivers , but these were quite easy to connect to with a few pin headers.
Many thanks for an excellent product and great support.
I bought this board as I was keen to tryout an alternative hardware platform to the mega, as I felt I was reaching the "speed limit" of the Mega2560.
Having purchased an ESP32 , which isn't very breadboard friendly, I was pleased to find this board , It even came with PCB standoffs which is a good idea to prevent shorts. I quickly cobbled up some fairly long leads to run my CNC Router to try it out , I've also added a RS485 link to control VFD Spindle and It seems to work very well.( it took a little time to add the software to control the VFD )
The patch leads were shortened and It is now resident at the heart of my CNC router.
The board has been well thought out , it contains additional pads, which I ended up using as my ESP32 board was 0.1" wider than the vendor's.
Its nice that all of the pins have an associated ground with them , making it easier to connect up. I've also asked for a power supply for each of the limit switch pins, as I use opto switches for these, though it was quite easy to add.
I'm also using off board stepper drivers , but these were quite easy to connect to with a few pin headers.
Many thanks for an excellent product and great support.
James | Sept. 23, 2018
Perfect for testing!
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
This board works perfect and is great for testing out the features of GRBL_ESP32. It is a good jumping off point to learn from before I design and make a custom PCB for my laser cutter. My custom board will certainly be influenced by what I learn from this one. Thanks for all the work you've done, Bart, and I'm glad I was able to support this awesome project!
Response from Bart Dring | Sept. 23, 2018
Thanks James,
God luck with your design. We have a Slack channel where we collaborate on designs. Let me know if you want an invite.
God luck with your design. We have a Slack channel where we collaborate on designs. Let me know if you want an invite.
Douglas | Sept. 20, 2018
ESP32 is being used solely as an alternative MCU
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
The expectation was that there would be built in wifi support. It might be there with alternate software but there appears to be no example of using it. The SD card use requires the sacrifice of CNC features. It looks WiFi feature rich but offers little over the dirt cheap Arduino UNO approach.
Response from Bart Dring | Sept. 20, 2018
Douglas, I am sorry you are disappointed. This is the first I am hearing about that.
- The wifi support is currently available as a branch of the master version. It is downloadable at Github. You can also see the WiFi features in action on this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vtWNn9jyDs&t=4s
- The state of the SD features were explained in the description of this product. With that said, SD features are now fully functional and in the master branch of the code. As stated in the product description, you do need to sacrifice some features to use it, but those are very seldomly used features on DIY CNC of spindle reverse and spindle enable.
I am happy to refund your purchase if you like.
- The wifi support is currently available as a branch of the master version. It is downloadable at Github. You can also see the WiFi features in action on this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vtWNn9jyDs&t=4s
- The state of the SD features were explained in the description of this product. With that said, SD features are now fully functional and in the master branch of the code. As stated in the product description, you do need to sacrifice some features to use it, but those are very seldomly used features on DIY CNC of spindle reverse and spindle enable.
I am happy to refund your purchase if you like.
Mukunda | Sept. 18, 2018
Really well designed board, works flawlessly.
For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V3.5
This board is exactly what I have been looking for. grbl on the esp32 is the ultimate low-cost cnc controller. I hope to get it working with the wrover module to take advantage of 4MB psram.
Brian | Feb. 15, 2018
Stop thinking about it, BUY THIS KIT NOW! Tremendous FUN!
For TWANG Shield Kit
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Bart!!!! I received my TWANG kit today and just finished building my first unit using the kit and instructions. Perfection! Everything went together and works smoothly, and is much better than expected! Thanks so much. Sure, I could have tried to build this without the kit, but that would have been much more time consuming, this made it super easy, everything works perfectly, and I can't believe how much fun it is to play TWANG. I'm using the APA-102 144 LEDs / m from Amazon that cost $29.99 each, which is pricey but worth it. Already thinking about adding a second strip. I'm using an inexpensive 5Volt, 6Amp power supply also from Amazon and working great with this kit. By far the best sketch I have ever loaded on my Arduino Mega 2560 that was getting dusty. Now it's happily powering my TWANG / line wobbler game. I never write reviews on any site, but after buying and building this kit and having a really great time, I felt I should spread the word. Where do I upload my pics? Cheers!
Response from Bart Dring | Feb. 16, 2018
I would love to see pictures and videos
You can send them directly to me bdring (at) buildlog (.) net. Or you can post on Twitter or Instagram and tag @buildlog.
Cheers!
You can send them directly to me bdring (at) buildlog (.) net. Or you can post on Twitter or Instagram and tag @buildlog.
Cheers!
Wesley | Nov. 17, 2017
Works GREAT!
For CNC Controller for Grbl and Raspberry Pi - Kit
What a great board! Easy to assemble however apparently not enough attention was made calling out the one piece that gets soldered to the reverse side of the board. You know how it is once you get into the soldering mode... Things go along rather quickly. I suck at desoldering so this was quite an issue. Totally my fault but I think that one little snippet of instruction could be BOLDed or something. As far as the operation of the board. Pretty straightforward. Get to know your Pi and the grbl software and it's a cinch. Board is well made, fits great, works great, Love it. Nicely done!
Would be great if maker posted a pic of the underside of the assembled board. Might also have prevented my mistake.
Would be great if maker posted a pic of the underside of the assembled board. Might also have prevented my mistake.
