Thursday, August 07, 2025
ESP32 GRBL Controller?
Thinking of being dragged into the '20s. You might have noticed that I've been using Arduino/RAMPS to control the GRBL CNC side of things. Old hardware, but reasonably cheap and I have some kicking around.
Eventually the world will move to FluidNC on the ESP32, but there's a bit of a hardware shortage as all the compatible boards seem to sell out and never get a second run. I have a cunning plan (adding tail and calling it a weasel optional): Get an Arduino-format ESP32 WROOM board and stick one of those nasty, cheap CNC shields on top of it.
In theory, that'll allow me to run the new hotness and get ready for the changeover. FluidNC will also provide a built-in web control interface. One advantage of that is that I might be able to stick the game controller jog pad into my laptop, and use that to push gcode into the FluidNC machine over the USB port without having to disconnect my GUI interface.
