I’m wondering, what is the router called in firmware. the one that has the x motor on it. is it considered extruder? if not what is it called in the firmware. trying to remember my programming.
The extruder is the motor that pushes filament on a 3D printer. I don’t know what you mean when you say, “router… that has the x motor on it”.
The router is called a spindle in the firmware.
so ok i remember now, when it calls out the x motor then it saying the spindle right. I’ll have to look a little closer thanks.
There are several places an X axis label might appear. Generally speaking, the X, Y, and Z axes are the motion-controlled directions in which the tool head can move. Pins on the control board labeled X will be the normal location for the motor controlling X movement to be plugged in. In dual end stop firmware there will be an X1, X2, Y1, Y2, and Z motor defined in the firmware. Since most of the boards we use were originally designed for other CNC or 3D printing work, hardly any of them are physically labelled this way, so you need to understand how the physical plugs on the board are mapped in the firmware configuration. In order for auto-squaring (the major plus of dual end stop configuration, in my mind) to work, end stop switches need to be matched to the proper motor. In most cases, the MPCNC is not running an extruder, so in a dual end stop configuration the extruder connection is retasked to run one of the second X or Y axis motors.
The tool head can hold a variety of tools, some of which are passive (pen, drag knife), other which have controls that can be controlled by the computer (laser on/off/intensity, router/spindle on/off/rpm/direction, needle cutter on/off/rpm) but these must be enabled in firmware and configured in a way that depends on the capability and requirements of the particular tool you’ve chosen.
The standard woodworking routers used on most MPCNC machines are easily turned on/off with a relay using a single digital control pin and the M3/M5 gcode commands, but that pin will not be labeled X in the firmware configuration, it will most likely be labeled spindle (and/or laser) enable. Some woodworking routers have built-in speed controls, but these must be manually managed by the operator, the RPM is not under CNC control. More complex options are available - a brushless motor control or a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) might allow for both rotation direction and speed (RPM) control through software, but will use a combination of digital (on/off) and variable (pulse width modulation - PWM) pins , but again, none of the spindle controls will be labeled “X”.