This week, I mainly focused on the assembly as testing of the gantry system. I assembled the two NEMA 17 linear actuators and figured out the connection of the stepper motor, the CNC shield, arduino, and the A4988 motor drivers. I made sure that the actuators are tuned to a status that it can move smoothly. I also fine tuned the arduino code for driving the motors at a decent speed. This job to make sure that the two actuators can operate smoothly is a crucial milestone for us to move forward. We will demonstrate the simple movement of pieces onto the board with one actuator in the demo. The progress is as expected.
I will likely get the gantry work for more delicate control (i.e. moving the x-y gantry from (a, b) to (c,d) next week, and also connecting the interface (software) and route the piece placement to the motors.