This is a recreation of the filawinder firmware by Ian Johnson. The documentation for the project can be found here: http://www.soliforum.com/topic/5088/filawinder-documentation/
Print files and BOM are published on thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:174383
- Setup the electronics according to the schematic on thingiverse.
- The mechanical setup is descibed on the documentation page.
- Upload the firmware using Arduino IDE (Tested on Arduino Nano)
The Arduino serial monitor can be used for trouble shooting the electronics. Set the corresponding debugging variables to true/false to do so. The winder can be configured and controlled using the three push buttons and switches.
- Turn the potentiometer down all the way
- Set the mode switch to "manual"
- Turn on the power switch
- Hold min-button and turn potentiometer till the guide is at the left limit
- Hold max-button and turn potentiometer till the guide is at the right limit
- Hold set-button and turn potentiometer till the guide is at the "current" position. Movement direction will be stored as well
- Hold min- and max-buttons for more than 0.5s to trigger the calibration of the QTR-sensor
- Move a piece of filament up and down between line laser and sensor to read min/max values. Calibration will take about 5s and the on-board LED will blink, when calibration is finished.
- Setup the filament and start winding in manual mode
- After finding a rather stable speed, switch to auto. The PID should take over.
PID does not work to well and sometimes does not adjust fast enough. Considering changing to optical enstops instead for a more robust system.