DDCSV1.1 4 Axis controller

[awemawson]

 

[Avis]

Thank you, unknown of the existence of the label.
Greetings.

[ugv]

re bonjour est ce que quelqun pourrait m'aider , j'ai un deuxième controlleur ddcsv mais le 0-10v ne marche plus et le m3 ne marche plus aussi.savez vous quel composant faut il changer ? merci

[Benedikt]

re bonjour est ce que quelqun pourrait m'aider , j'ai un deuxième controlleur ddcsv mais le 0-10v ne marche plus et le m3 ne marche plus aussi.savez vous quel composant faut il changer ? merci

These ports are opto isolated. You could try changing the opto-isolators inside.

[Simon0362]

Hi Merlin!
Fortunately, this contains so many things I have been missing and can't get to work just yet. Like drivers for the keypad, drivers for SPI, I2C and all the communication interfaces it uses to connect to the motor controller chip (huge FPGA, no documentation at all). This kit also contains all the NDA proteted code it seems and a proper datasheet. It also contains the kernel and tools to reprogram our board with a different splashscreen and kernel.
So yes, the most useful thing we could do.

Thank you so much! 
But I can't accept this offer. It's too much I think.

Benedikt,
Brilliant work, let me know if there is anything I can help or contribute with. Looking forward to being able to take this controller to the next step with the obvious missing elements such as toolchanging support.
As for the UI, I would suggest the following from a recent intensive use of the module:
Single button select for the most frequently used keys:

• setting Z to zero (I have a manual toolchange so require to do this every toolchange)
• Goto zero, all axes
• Select Machine Co-ords as part of a re-zero process
• File select - default to the most recent file at the top

Apart from that, I wouldn't change much - IMO...

BR
Simon

[BrokenEye]

Can't seem to locate any sort of config flash for the FPGA, could it possibly be located in the main flash device ? it has been a while since I played with FPGA's and never with Altera devices, but I still remember the development process, has anyone spotted anything  resembling a storage device, maybe even a serial device ?

[Benedikt]

Can't seem to locate any sort of config flash for the FPGA, could it possibly be located in the main flash device ? it has been a while since I played with FPGA's and never with Altera devices, but I still remember the development process, has anyone spotted anything  resembling a storage device, maybe even a serial device ?

Hello BrokenEye,
the configuration flash is U45 on the left of the FPGA and above the little debug connector.
It is an EPCS4N 9613X.

Benedikt,
Brilliant work, let me know if there is anything I can help or contribute with. Looking forward to being able to take this controller to the next step with the obvious missing elements such as toolchanging support.
As for the UI, I would suggest the following from a recent intensive use of the module:
Single button select for the most frequently used keys:

• setting Z to zero (I have a manual toolchange so require to do this every toolchange)
• Goto zero, all axes
• Select Machine Co-ords as part of a re-zero process
• File select - default to the most recent file at the top

Apart from that, I wouldn't change much - IMO...

BR
Simon

Hello Simon,
thanks a lot for your donation!
You already helped so much. However I would be glad if someone helped me to create header files for the two original firmware files. I have posted links to them a few posts above (maybe one page back).
I am going for seperation between the UI and the controller backend. My idea was to use a deamon that listens on 127.0.0.1:some_port for the UI application and then processes the motor movements in the background.
Your UI concepts make sense. If no other member has anything to add, would I add them to the list of ideas and TODO items.

I have just ordered the MDK905 development kit and the DVD with the NDA documents and source code from China. Should be there in two weeks.

Regards,
Benedikt

[John Stevenson]

Some very clever work being done here but one thing worries me.

It seems for research by others that the original company, Wet Dream or whatever has ceased trading so the units we are buying could be end of line units and all this work could be lost without a continuation of new units.

Now I'm in no way a code kiddy or even close but it appears that we know it's Linux based and some of us can understand the way it is laid out so the next question?

Would this be better applied to a generic controller with a display screen added ? Something like the Raspberry Pi or the Beagle bone black to guarantee  progress ?

[Benedikt]

Some very clever work being done here but one thing worries me.

It seems for research by others that the original company, Wet Dream or whatever has ceased trading so the units we are buying could be end of line units and all this work could be lost without a continuation of new units.

Now I'm in no way a code kiddy or even close but it appears that we know it's Linux based and some of us can understand the way it is laid out so the next question?

Would this be better applied to a generic controller with a display screen added ? Something like the Raspberry Pi or the Beagle bone black to guarantee  progress ?

Hello John,
you are right, DigitalDream CNC has ceased trading and the website is now said by Google to conatain malicious content and is not hosting any CNC releated content anymore.
However, there are still hundreds of units on the market that will be sold eventually (at least many of them), so it will still be useful to them and to us obviously.
But yes, I am building the software entirely modular. The motor controlling will be a separate deamon program running on the controller in the background. The UI and the deamon will most likely talk over a local TCP port, but I am open to recommendations here. This all would allow us to use the UI on other platforms such as on a Raspberry Pi. Just the backend deamon would need a rewrite for every new platform.
Since I am using SDL, porting the code to other platforms will be very easy.

[BrokenEye]

- DDCSV1 is the 4 axis and 4 axes motion controller which has been researched and developed by Faster CNC for four years. The control period of each position is only 4 milliseconds, with a high control precision. The highest uniaxial output pulse is 500KHz and the pulse width can be adjusted. It supports the common stepper motor and servo motor.

I will do some more digging around for traces of the "Faster CNC" outfit

[chriscnc]

Rattmmotor still makes this controller and claim to have improved the hardware. I have been talking with the factory and claim they can customize the GUI/Screen. I believe they are just a OEM'er but they have contact with the real factory if they are not them.  There Wechat id is jian-dan-ai_7758258

[Benedikt]

- DDCSV1 is the 4 axis and 4 axes motion controller which has been researched and developed by Faster CNC for four years. The control period of each position is only 4 milliseconds, with a high control precision. The highest uniaxial output pulse is 500KHz and the pulse width can be adjusted. It supports the common stepper motor and servo motor.

I will do some more digging around for traces of the "Faster CNC" outfit

That's interesting! I have totally overseen that one.

Rattmmotor still makes this controller and claim to have improved the hardware. I have been talking with the factory and claim they can customize the GUI/Screen. I believe they are just a OEM'er but they have contact with the real factory if they are not them.  There Wechat id is jian-dan-ai_7758258

I doubt they would give us any header files for the motiondev.c or our main application motion.out. If they would that would save us so many problems. Actual source code would be the best of course. Would you mind dropping them a line, chriscnc?

I have started writing the new improved UI application.
Progress can be seen on GitHub: https://github.com/bmuessig/PandoraUI

[chriscnc]

Hey, Benedikt M.

You bet ive been talking with them already, i think they would be willing (if they can). Let me ask..

[BrokenEye]

This may be of some use, all the function names and locations in the flash

[Benedikt]

That sounds great

I think i have found out how to upgrade the 3-axis to the 4-axis version.
The board contains an i2c flash chip. From the markings it might be http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/421658/FUJITSU/MB85RC16.html

[BrokenEye]

That sounds great

I think i have found out how to upgrade the 3-axis to the 4-axis version.
The board contains an i2c flash chip. From the markings it might be http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/421658/FUJITSU/MB85RC16.html

U20  Benedikt ?

[Benedikt]

That sounds great

I think i have found out how to upgrade the 3-axis to the 4-axis version.
The board contains an i2c flash chip. From the markings it might be http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/421658/FUJITSU/MB85RC16.html

U20  Benedikt ?

Yes, I think that one could be a flash chip. I have not yet looked at the unlabeled DIP chip yet. However the firmware contains I2C EEPROM reading routines, so I am sure this is the way the model is determined. I am completely sure that not the Linux image/filesystem nor the application itself contain any model settings. I think the application is reading from an EEPROM to determine the available axis.

EDIT:
I have already added some essential functions to the UI such as rendering text and images. Also, I searched for the most readable font that was also free and permissive on dafont.com. It ended up being Bitstream Vera.



I would be quite glad for some mock-ups of a new home screen.

Also, if somebody would be kind enough to test the demo application on their controller, I have attached a zip archive with the necessary files. My controller is far away from stock firmware at this point and I can't test if everything works on a controller that has not been tampered with as much as I did.
It needs to be unzipped to an FAT32 formatted USB stick. Then you need to boot the controller with the stick inserted.
However, to run this, the controller needs to run the patched firmware. This can be determined by a custom boot splash and the custom version number in the main menu.
If you still need to upgrade, just download this archive, and unzip it to the uppermost directory of the same USB stick.
The controller will then on the next boot upgrade itself to the latest and improved version. It should on some subsequent reboot show the custom application demo for one boot cycle. To exit the demo, just unplug the USB and reboot (power cycle).

EDIT:
I can confirm the chip is the one I linked. The source code for the main application contains an FRAM I2C driver. Also I just noticed that I ordered the very last development board for our CNC. Now they seem to be sold out. We're lucky!

Regards,
Benedikt

[chriscnc]

Hey check out the DDUM CNC card.... its Digital Dreams Mach 3 motion card using a Arm7 and FPGA,  Basically its the DDCSV.... I wonder if we can use its code?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Axis-USB-Controller-Card-400KHz-CNC-MACH3-Breakout-Interface-Board-Win7-8-XP-/251448274439

[BrokenEye]

It does indeed look similar, but it looks like it uses  Cyclone 2 FPGA  instead of a Cyclone 3, the HDL may be different, but I located a manual for perusal.

[chriscnc]

More digging looks like the company may be related to Novusun. Im contacting them to findout. Also how the heck did someone get the controller to do a M6 tool change in the video above?

[Benedikt]

Interesting findings! I can't wait to see what you will find out!

The Development Kit is basically 30 mins from my doorstep now but it got caught up in customs 
The seller was a little to honest with the value of the item. Usually, I have heard, they sometimes tweak the value a little.
Hopefully, UPS will allow me to pay the customs locally or even on my doorstep.
Can't wait to hold that DVD in my hands 

[Benedikt]

Hello!

The development board just arrived and it is just great.
It does not come with the full datasheet of the processor, however, we get very extensive information on how to configure the bootloader and burn the board.
We can actually change the splash screen image and load a new kernel if we really wanted to.
I have also been provided with the flashing tools and a huge amount of development tools, a virtual machine with everything set up and all the kernel headers and modules I need. 

EDIT: I have just noticed the file I attached the last time was incomplete. Attached is a copy with all files present.
Also I have found out how to flash the DDCSV1.1 with a new image. This however might have killed my debug port inside my DDCSV1.1 (the USB part of it).
However I think I have completely found out how it would work. So the pins on the white debug connector that you need are:
UD+: Connect this to the green strand of a cut-off USB cable
UD-: Connect this to the white strand of that cable
GND: Connect this to the black strand of that cable
VBUS: Connect this to 3.3v of the same connector or the red strand of the cable (5v) (I am not entirely sure which of these is correct; 3.3v might work too)

Also bridge R91 (the two pins sticking out) with a jumper or cable.
If all that worked (and it did once for me until a cable slipped and fried the UD- pin ), it should show up as a USB mass storage device (e.g. a USB hdd or USB stick) in your file manager after you turn it on.
At this point you can use nuvoTon Turbo Writer (if you happen to have a copy of it ) to write a new boot kernel and splash screen image.
This did work fine with my development kit and I almost got it to work on my own controller. However any further research on kernels and splash screens will now be carried on on my development kit (same screen, same CPU, same RAM) and it should work the same on an actual controller.

Here are some pictures:




Cheers,
Benedikt

[antonio]

Hi Bendikt,
many thanks for your good job with this device.
I've a question... the pandora configuration utility working only with new firmware?
becoyse I have try to put the usb memory with file before to power on the controller but no change found on setting parameters once switched...

[Benedikt]

Hi Bendikt,
many thanks for your good job with this device.
I've a question... the pandora configuration utility working only with new firmware?
becoyse I have try to put the usb memory with file before to power on the controller but no change found on setting parameters once switched...

Thanks!
I am so sorry. There was a bug in the configurator
The file needs to be named userVar.set not userVar.set-) and has to be placed in the main directory of a FAT formatted USB stick.
I have just addressed the issue and pushed an update to the configurator that has fixed the issue.
The upgrade for the controller can't do any harm. I would recommend it, but it should not be required. It really helps a lot to understand the different settings however.

Kind regards,
Benedikt

[antonio]

Many thanks for your kind reply.
I was sure about the bug and for this reason already changed the extension but no difference too...
I don't know way