Tindie

For 6x CNC Controller for FluidNC (integrated ESP32)

I don't often leave true reviews but this is a product that easily deserves it.

I bought this product along with Dring's 0-10V spindle controller and two of the 4x input modules to convert my ancient Roland MDX-40 to a more modern firmware. For around $200 total (which includes the spindle hardware and five DRV8825 stepper drivers) I now have a fully capable CNC conversion that handles modern g-code with a wireless interface instead of requiring me to hack together outdated drivers and a machine language from the early 2000s. Originally I tried to use the most budget option for this build in the form of an Arduino CNC hat, but the extra $60 spent is easily worth it. If you're trying to decide between this and other low-cost boards, spend the extra money and go with this.

This product, along with his FluidNC firmware, is extremely well-documented and it took me only a few hours to fully understand the configuration process and get everything up and running on a machine that has never been converted using this hardware before. It interfaces flawlessly with the 500W spindle power supply speed controller and the motion system that came with the machine. The price point is also quite good - this product easily competes with other much more expensive options that I've used, with the added benefit that everything is open source, so I never have to worry about losing support or having to fork over hundreds of dollars for a software update.

Definitely will be continuing to use his products in the future for any other machines I may build.

Kevin | Jan. 29, 2024

This board is amazing

This is the second board I've bought here from Bart Dring.
The first was a 6-pack external driver board - very flexible due to its potential to add many different modules and great for experimentation (or use in a machine). This one (6x integrated version) is very, very comprehensive out of the box and will work fine as it comes, after a little tweaking of the configuration file. The production quality is great, and if it's as reliable as the other boards, it will be a winner. With a set of external driver boards (mine are 4 x TMC2160), it worked without problems. It comes with the latest FluidNC loaded, along with a generic configuration file. You will need to be prepared to individualize the configuration file to fit your particular build. There is a wealth of good readable information on the wikis as well as online support on the Discord if needed.
I also tested this with a Platformio-based build of GrblHAL, using a customized board map to match the pinouts and peripherals. It worked perfectly with that too.
There is onboard support for multiple spindle types and connections - including PWM, 0-10V and built-in ModBus. All work, but I still prefer 0-10V - and this is very linear across the range. Plenty of inputs and outputs, including a couple of MOSFET outputs for driving relays. Very little need for external peripherals.
The price is pretty good too, especially taking into account all of the built-in capabilities. To replicate these with the 6-Pack External + modules would cost a lot more. This is now in my production machine, relegating the 6-Pack to the testbed setup, where its flexibility is most useful.

Ian | Nov. 28, 2023

6 Pack External Driver CNC Controller is working well

I used fluidnc a while ago and was pleased with it so when I needed a controller for my cnc I got this. I use it on an old cnc knee mill from the late 80s that I finally got tired of fixing the control on. I'm using the old servos with Gecko servo drives which works well as long as all the terminal connections are done properly. Its all working well, especially for the price, a bit of working bugs out and figuring wifi out but that's to be expected. Next step now that everything works is to clean up the build which will help with reliability as most of the problems I have are with my wiring, the board itself is solid. I was surprised how much more work has gone into fluidnc since last I used it. Previously getting the yaml file figured out was a challenge at first but the online installer now is easy, super nice. I'm very happy with it, the value is hard to beat.

Lucas | Nov. 27, 2023

Upgraded from XPro V5

A great upgrade from the all-in-one controller I was using before. The ability to put 48v or more instead of 24v through the motors, the ability to have 4 motors controlling a 3-axis gantry machine plus a rotary axis if I want one, and just the sheer amount of customizability are the huge upsides I was sold on.

It was a bit intimidating since I don't have any background electrical or computer stuff but reading the wiki and browsing help threads on the Discord got me what I needed to switch my cnc over from the XPro V5.

Awesome product.

Brent | Oct. 21, 2023

Really cool product, and great support

I decided to switch to FluidNC from grbl, and it's a lot harder to homebrew that. Thankfully, this is purpose-built for FluidNC by the guy who wrote* it. Great software running on great hardware! I like external stepper drivers, so I went this route. As an added bonus, a couple of 5v output ports are built in--you usually have to buy those, and if you are trying to really automate your CNC work, you're going to need them.

It's hard to go wrong with this setup--everything is super-intuitive, and if there is a problem, the hardware is documented within an inch of its life on Github, and FluidNC has an entire, obsessively-complete wiki. And if that's not enough, there is support on Discord. It's not some rando farming responses for stars, or a series of "hey, I had this <exact problem you have>, but now it's fixed" followed by months of silence. It's the guy, whose name you see on this store, answering your questions, asking for info, and then more often than not telling you how to fix it.

On a Saturday, in minutes, in my experience. I almost felt bad about making him work on a weekend, but I figured I'd be lucky if somebody didn't just tell me to put an issue into Github and check my calendar.

In short, buy it and use and enjoy it. It's almost impossible to go wrong.

*I mean, I doubt he wrote it from scratch, but this guy's been leading the way in hobby CNC stuff for ages, so I'm going to pad his resume a bit.

Peter | Oct. 17, 2023

Hands Down the best Economy DIY CNC Controller available

I have purchased a few products from Bart, ranging from his 4 axis SPI controller to the Six Pack board and Multiple Modules. I have run his GRBL ESP_32 firmware on both boards and have since upgraded to FluidNC . I am in no way an expert in programming languages but have a solid mechanical and electrical systems background. Disclaimer, Bart's products do require more than basic knowledge!!!

All of his products and software are well thought out and are more than capable of controlling most Hobby Machines with precision and have the capability to add external equipment with minimal trouble and programming knowledge.

His communication is excellent and is always willing to help troubleshoot any issues you have. Also 99% of the information required to set up the 6 pack is located here.
https://github.com/bdring/6-Pack_CNC_Controller/wiki
The information for setting up FluidNC is located here.
http://wiki.fluidnc.com/

Make sure to read both Wiki's thoroughly and when you think you understand it read it again. I can tell you almost all of the questions you may have are located with in these 2 pages. Most of the issues I experienced were self induced and the solutions were often just Bart pointing me to the proper page. There is also usually very little waiting time for a response as well. Be sure to check the FluidNC Discord Channel for more specific and detailed issue work throughs and ideas.

https://discord.gg/RsFGCAEF

Remember also Bart and Mitch Bradley have put tons of time into porting GRBL to GRBL ESP32 and FluidNC and have kept it open source for the community. Make sure to support/ donate to them on GITHUB
https://github.com/bdring
https://github.com/MitchBradley

Kevin | Oct. 14, 2023

Great if you're comfortable working with ESP32 devices

For External Stepper Motor Driver Adapter

I recently purchased this external driver version of the 6-pack controller (bare, without ESP32 dev board). It arrived quickly and in good condition. I have a fair amount of experience with programming and using the ESP32 devices and others, and with general electronics. Once I found the correct 38-pin version of the ESP-32 dev board (many are not 38-pin), programming with FluidNC was easily accomplished. A look through the example configuration files gave a basic YAML configuration to begin with. After a few tweaks it was simple to upload it via the web interface and set it as default. The literature that Mr. Dring has generated in the various wikis for the software and for the boards is pretty extensive and certainly simplified the task.
Rather than buying the pre-built module(s) for spindle control, I put together a 0-10 volt module and a RS485 module to try each with my Huanyang spindle inverter, following the basic instructions and schematics. Both function fine and can be controlled via FluidNC. I'm sure the pre-built modules would work well too, since they are using much the same circuitry.
I'm still waiting for my external motor driver modules to arrive from the supplier, but I have little doubt that they will work fine with this board.
I have two suggestions for later revisions. First, add a fuse and perhaps a reverse polarity diode (or a bridge rectifier) to the motor power input. Mark the polarity clearly on the top silk-screen print. Currently, the power input connector polarity is unmarked except for the tiny print on the underside of the board, and a mistake would be very easy to make. Second, although the pullup resistors to the 5 volt line and the common ground connection for the six input opto-isolators can make some uses easier, bringing the bare LED connections out instead (or making the grounds and pullups jumper-selectable for each device) would give a lot more flexibility - particularly for interfacing with higher voltage inductive sensors - and would allow for true isolation from the board rather than sharing supplies and grounds across the "isolation".
All in all, this is a really nice flexible board that makes it easier to put together a multi-axis home CNC or laser in a wide variety of configurations. Mr. Dring has made it possibly to copy the entire design - open-sourcing the schematics and even board files, as well as the excellent FluidNC software - but buying a pre-built board allows some support of the project.
Communication would be left un-rated were it possible on this site. The standard of documentation made it unnecessary in this case.

Response from Bart Dring | Oct. 17, 2023

Thank you for the feedback.

Reverse polarity protection. A diode is probably going to overheat because many people run some higher currents. I will look into a MOSFET based reverse voltage protection. I will also put some big top side silkscreen voltage labels to the next batch.

Optos. The 6 Pack input modules use true voltage isolation and it has caused difficulty for some people. The power supplies are expensive, low current and easily damaged. I wanted to simplify it and reduce costs to users by not having to buy a lot of modules. There were pros and cons and I ended up with the current design. The original 6 pack has the advantage of allowing you to try multiple input designs. If you ever fork the design, I would love to see what you come up with.

Scott | Aug. 21, 2023

Started to make my own, but used these instead.

As I was learning the FluidNC ecosystem I made some mistakes. In other to reduce mistakes I just ordered these adapters. On the face of it, it seems easy to just use dupont wires to jumper the appropriate connections. But in hindsight, there is enough other chance for errors, I decided to reduce the potential problem of a loose jumper wire, and just install these modules. They work great. I like have the option to throw in a little stepstick driver, or use the module to run a bigger stepper driver. Makes the whole control board really modular, and easy to diagnose issues. You can just swap components around as needed to troubleshoot, and hone in on issues.

Petri | Feb. 6, 2023

Awesome product

I bought this controller to control my CO2 laser with lighburn. Works like a charm!
The installation was very easy, as the seller helped to create the needed config-file for FluidNC, so everything was pretty much plug-n-play.

Josef | Sept. 29, 2021

I am very satisfied with the products from Bart Dring

For TMC2209 4 Axis Grbl_ESP32 CNC Controller

I use the product to control my cnc. I have already bought the second one and I am extremely satisfied with it. I use it together with raspberry pi and bcnc.
sorry for english translates google

Caecilia | June 12, 2021

Well be my top choice for my next Projekt, too!

I bought this board to drive a heavily modified K40. I already have a smaller diode laser running on regular grbl and wanted to keep the easy modifiable grbl but with a faster hardware ( Even with the diode laser Grbl in the original hardware setup was slow) So this board has everything I need and a little extra. If you've worked with an Arduino bevor stepping up to an Esp32 is quite easy and only a few things extra to consider. Bart's board and his grbl Port for the Esp32 really make the transition easy. The Controller makes some ports 5V compliant so interfacing whatever you need is a breeze and you don't need to fiddle with extra logic level shifters. Haven't fully tested the PMW yet but I'am pretty sure it works as well as the rest.

Cory | March 6, 2021

These are awesome products. Very high quality.

For External Stepper Motor Driver Adapter

Bart Dring makes a flawless cnc router package. These external motor drivers allow me to use large motors with industrial stepper drivers (dq542ma). The connectors are perfect, soldering instructions are perfect, labels are perfect, and it works like it should with no fuss.
Don't hesitate to buy, you won't be dissatisfied in any way.

Alexander | Jan. 20, 2021

Really nice setup

Board is great, repos have docs and the seller has a great channel for communication where they are really responsive.

Samuel | Jan. 18, 2021

Best controller for unique (or any) CNCs

I have a kind of unique cnc machine and I could not find a controller to do everything I needed until I found this one. It is perfect for mine (or any) machine. It controls my 2x 1y and 2z 48v external drivers with auto squaring, switches between router and laser, auto turns my router and dust collector on, has plenty of inputs for my switches and shutoffs. The esp32 is fantastic, 32bit, it creates a wifi point that you connect your phone, tablet, or laptop to and the webui (control software) starts. It's very easy to use, you can craft macros for frequently used commands, the settings are easy to change, real time overrides and nice jogging interface. It's well made and Bart is a great guy to deal with. I've been recommending this controller to everyone that is researching controllers to use. Thank you!

Aaron | Dec. 16, 2020

Amazing Board Quality

For External Stepper Motor Driver Adapter

This was my first buy from Tindie and I have no regrets at all. I didn't know what to expect but this board has turned out to be way better than I could have hoped.

Bart even answered all my questions personally, which was much appreciated. If Bart comes out with a newer version of this board, I'll buy that one too.

If you're thinking about buying this board, what are you waiting for. Do it already.

Jay | Dec. 6, 2020

Excellent

Great execution on these boards. They are rigid and well designed. No issues whatsoever. Very happy.

Taylor | Nov. 30, 2020

Blown way

Blown away by the quality of this product and the thought behind it. I bought one of my first products from Bart about a year ago for a 2 axis CNC controller and it has been amazing to watch the products, documentation, and support grow. This controller was used to bring a very expensive industrial machine into technology 3 decades newer.

David | Nov. 9, 2020

Great Controller for replacing X-carve controller

I've been looking for a CNC controller for my X-carve and found this project. I had already started using GRBL-Esp32, so it was great to find a board that was tightly integrated with that software. This board is exceptionally flexible and has a number of features that make it very useful. In particular, it supports pluggable daughtercard modules that add extra interface options, as well as a number of different kinds of stepper drivers, including external stepper drivers, which is very useful if your motors are larger than normal and need more current.

I've integrated this controller with my x-carve and successfully cut with it.

Mark | Nov. 8, 2020

Great product, fast shipping, full documentation

For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V4.1

Wonderful board and great documentation. I had some pre-purchase questions and post-purchase questions. All answered in a timely, friendly manner.
I have more to learn about grbl32 before I can fully put this board to use in a sand plotter.

If this board fits your needs, buy it. You'll not be disappointed.

Daniel | Oct. 23, 2020

glad I chose to use this board as I move away from Arduino

I added one of my ESP32's, loaded grbl_esp32 added some a4988 drivers, connected three steppers and that was it, worked first try! tweaking the grbl config and adding end stops next but my experience so far has been really good.
I'm very glad to have found this board as I start learning more about using ESP32's for different applications. The effort Bart Dring put into creating this shows and for me is well worth the price. Saving my pennies to buy the MPCNC CNC Controller to upgrade my mpcnc.
Update: ended up using the first board to fix my goofy little 3018 it actually works now without having to mess around with it for longer than the work takes :)
Bought two more for my original project and a spare....thanks for your effort Bart!

Daryl | Oct. 10, 2020

Excellent, well designed and made!

For 4x Input CNC I/O module

Fantastic product, works perfect. The module works seamlessly with the 6 pack controller which is another excellent product. Thank You Bart Dring for your excellent products.

Eric | Oct. 7, 2020

Exactly what I needed

Works great with the MPCNC. I upgraded from an UNO with a 4-motor driver board. Having the 5th motor driver and using auto-squaring gives me much more accurate results. Support is very responsive and the active Slack channel is great.

Ken | Aug. 13, 2020

Great board just plug and play

For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V4.1

Fast shipping. Great board just plug and play. Hooked it upand had it running in 5 minutes. Thanks

Kirk | July 26, 2020

Works Great!

I ordered this board with the ESP32 module and 3 DRV8825s to replace a Gecko G540/LinuxCNC PC on a 2008 vintage Zenbot Mini that's been sitting idle for many years. The biggest installation issue was converting the bare wire stepper connections to dupont connectors, configuration was straightforward, and it's worked fine through it's first few projects. One of the included DRV8825 boards (set at 0.75V Vref, 1.5A for the 2A motors) erupted in the usual flames and cloud of smoke after a day of use (I've had several fail on other CNC devices, seems to be a common problem) but a generic Amazon replacement hasn't had any issues. I'm controlling a Paul Jones ER11 spindle through a DC to AC SSR, had to use the 3.3V spindle output since the 5V (no USB connected at the time) didn't work. No attempt to try PWM since it's an AC spindle, with the speed set to 1 as stated the spindle turns off and on as it should.

The onboard web server made testing and tinkering with the config easy, gcode uploads and runs from an SD although I use USB for actual routing jobs via a laptop. Grbl works as expected, no glitches.

Overall I'm favorably impressed, and would use Bart's Boards on future projects.

Carl | July 23, 2020

Great quality product

I've installed the board on my mpcnc router/laser. High quality PCB. Adding the power of esp32 to my cnc is a must.

Steven | July 22, 2020

Great product

I use my MPCNC mostly for 3d carving, i wanted to use Universal Gcode Sender and GRBL and this board fits the need perfectly. The auto-squaring works very well and has good repeatability.
I would buy another if needed.

Joe | June 21, 2020

Absolutely Awesome!

This is a great product from an outstanding supplier! Customer service is 5 stars!!!
Still getting my system worked out but the board and parts work as advertised, I’m NOT disappointed!

Tim | May 23, 2020

Great product and service

After a few initial errors on my part I needed serious assistance in fixing my own stupid errors.
Bart was responsive, and sent a link to slack, where he showed unending amounts of patience in talking me through repairing my own mistakes.
Outcome is I now have the pen plotter fully functional, and working silently.
This video a great for a simple laser diode machine and I'm getting great results using this board.

Great service, unbeatable support.

Mike | March 8, 2020

Highly recommended

For Grbl_ESP32 CNC Development Board V4.1

This controller is a perfect fit for the MPCNC router. I have experience with 2 of these and they are both working great. Auto-squaring a cool feature for gantry style cnc’s works well and in my opinion GRBL is a better choice than Marlin for a router. The documentation is excellent though a little spread out and the support has been excellent. I had a problem that turned out to be a wiring issue but Bart worked hard to help me resolve it. Be sure to use shielded cable for the home/limit switches and you will not have a problem.

Matt | March 6, 2020

Arrived in good time

For midTbot ESP32 V2 Controller Kit

Small mix up with some parts missing, but was resolved quickly. Friendly service and all parts arrived in good time. Parts appear to be of a high quality.

Andy | Feb. 18, 2020

Very impressed! Will definitely be ordering again!

Bought this to remove the mandatory PC component of an old SharkCNC. Mr. Dring has been extremely available and helpful along the whole adventure. Highly recommend this (when it becomes available again)!

Taylor | Feb. 14, 2020

Awesome Product

Using to replace the awful controller on a stock k40 laser. Bart is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. Loved the quality of the kit. It is all very well thought out and look forward to getting some custom work done for some industrial projects in the future.

Robert | Feb. 14, 2020

Exactly what I was looking for