Basic CNC using a MKS Base and DC spindle

edited June 2019 in Questions & Answers
I've done some basic google searches on the topic but haven't seen much on the subject so I figured I would see if someone can give me suggestions.
I want to put together a basic CNC machine for small things (basic wood carving, maybe simple aluminum or copper, PCB carving, etc) and know that Repetier can do such a thing. I've got most of my design done and have an old MKS Base board with one stepper burned out that seems like a great candidate for my CNC control. 
My motor is an Autotoolhome 12V DC motor (found here), which doesn't have any input other than 12V and ground. It's recommended input is 500mA and 12V. Question is, where do I wire it into? How do I control the speed? Logic seems to indicate that H0 or H1 would be the place to hook it up, but the configuration page doesn't have much dedicated to the CNC specific stuff. Would this be something I configure in the 'Extruder 0' section? but if so, what do I set the various things there to in order to control these things with a g-code file? My tinkering with Repetier as 3D printing firmware isn't quite up to the task of transitioning to CNC without a little guidance. Any information you can point me at or give would be appreciated. 
Thanks
JMP

Comments

  • You use the heater output from board but not extruder configuration. Just use the pin number from heater where you define the spindle power signal pin, thats all. Currently there is no PWM output to control speed. Not really sure in your case this would be a good idea as I guess it is just meant as 12V device also continously getting power.

    Once V2 is ready for 8 bit boards you can switch to that where pwm for unused timers is at least possible - but it might be that no free timer is on the pins needed. Software PWM might be too slow for good results, but that is to see then.
  • Thanks for the input. Once I've got it up and running I'll post how it goes.
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