The GRBL to DB25 shield is just what I was looking for!
For Arduino GRBL to DB25 CNC Shield Kit
I'm building a PCB router from aluminum bar stock and surplus round steel ways and Acme lead screws. I have built similar drive boxes for my CNC'd Sherline mill and lathe. These are DB25 interfaces, driven from a PC running my STEP4 CNC driver software (15-16 year old DOS program). They run fine. This new drive box will have four G251X GeckoDrives and a DB25 interface. I will drive it either from a PC or from an Arduino running GRBL. I was about to wire up a prototype shield to interface to a DB25 cable. The shield resolves that problem. This driver box also employs a DB25 breakout board (first time I've used one), and a dimmer/ssr board (also from tindie) for spindle speed control. I have also used three switching power supplies for 24V, 12V and 5V. The 24V is for the steppers (could go up to 48V), the 5V is for the breakout board and a SSS (solid state switch). The 12V power supply is for 3D printing. I can thus run CNC (STEP4 or GRBL), Laser or 3D printing. Laser GRBR and Marlin will run as appropriate.
This shield is just what I was looking for! I bought two, one dedicated for CNC, the 2nd for a laser. Cheap enough, and I like the dedicated Arduino UNO's. For 3D printing, I'll use an Arduino Mega and a RAMPS board. I could use a RAMPS - DB25 board for that! I think I can us a piece of prototype board, solder .025" posts into it to plug into the vacated stepper driver sockets. I'll also wire up the limit switches, and E-switch (?).
Simple enough to solder up the board. I might suggest supplying or offering socket/headers for this shield to allow stacking. The pinout for the shield follows convention, although as my first Gecko driver box (G201) has the pinout for the step/dir pins different, I'll have to put in conditional code to allow my pin selections. A double row of 25 (maybe don't need all) pins with default traces that could be cut and allow some pin swaps would be nice. Put me in for one if you do it! A DB25-RAMPS board would also be welcome!
I can certainly recommend this board!
Alan
EDIT 3:53PM I just examined the GRBL to DB25 PCB, and noticed a row of holes alongside the Arduino pins. I've seen double rows of holes on boards before, but usually they're additional signals. This is a solution to my need to swap S/D pins! Some comments on these and other pads on the board would be useful in the manual.
