Auxillary Control Outputs and Electronics Schematics

Hi, I’m a new owner of a Nomad 3 and I am wondering if there is documentation of the control board schematic anywhere. I’m curious about this for two reasons:

  1. I’m the type of person who likes to be able to fix things even when they’re no longer supported (long term)
  2. I’m wondering if there is a way of controlling some external devices using gcode through the board (eg a relay for a dust collector, a solenoid for an air blast etc.)

From reading through the forums, my guess is that there is not a direct way of doing this. In that case has anyone done something similar with add-on hardware?

There are labeled pins on the controller.

See the Grbl documentation for interacting with them.

Is this helpful?

https://shapeokoenthusiasts.gitbook.io/shapeoko-cnc-a-to-z/anatomy-of-a-shapeoko#controller-board

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For external device like spindle/router/vacuum, you’ll need a solid state relay rated for the current of your external device and triggered by 5v PWM output on the board. I searched “solid state relay 5v 220v” on my local amazon.de, but you’ll find similar results if you search for your local electricity voltage on your local amazon.

https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Spindle_Control#Complete_DIY_Solution

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Thank you both for the replies. I opened up the back of the Nomad3 to have a look at the electronics and unsurprisingly the board schematic is a bit different for this new model. It does look as if there are still contact pads for the PWM, so as I get more time on the machine and am ready to add air blast capability it seems that will be my best bet. I had hoped for a relatively straightforward way of controlling air independently from the spindle so I could have it on for some jobs and off for others without manual intervention, but this will probably get me 80% of what I wanted. I’ve attached a couple photos of the Nomad3 control board in case any one is interested about what is back there, but doesn’t want to disassemble their machine.

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Thanks for sharing. This looks very similar (maybe the same board actually) to the new Shapeoko Pro (some discussion and photos over here: Feed Hold Switch).

Looks like the spindle is controlled via a breakout board that uses the BitRunner connection on the board, that’s awesome to see this modular design.

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