Faceting machine head assembly.

[Faceting Frank]

Ordered the female header pins and a board the same as RC's, also an encoder cable the same as RC's. So must be getting close to having all the required parts.

[MakkyBrown]

How you planning to power it ? Definitely can power the encoder off the ESP 32 5V output, not sure if it can power the screen as well. Might be worth getting some voltage regulators one to VIN the ESP 32 and another for 5V to the screen. I have to check screen voltage.

I am bit rusty on it all atm will have to have a look at what all the voltages are including the logic voltages.
Might help if you draw up a schematic of the wiring and components etc. Read the data sheets. And I'll have a look at the screen I have wired up to an esp 32, screen and stepper tomorrow.

[RoughCreations]

I am bit rusty on it all atm will have to have a look at what all the voltages are including the logic voltages.
Might help if you draw up a schematic of the wiring and components etc. Read the data sheets. And I'll have a look at the screen I have wired up to an esp 32, screen and stepper tomorrow.

MB - I have been having a bit of a go at updating my code for use with the 480x320 colour TFT screens.
Found it interesting that you need to employ the use of Sprites for displaying the live encoder angle information for decent performance, i.e. no flickering with these screens. You create a Sprite (which is a fraction of the actual available screen real estate) using the TFT_eSPI library, draw to it, and then finally 'push' the Sprite (visibly update it) when needed, but not unnecessarily frequently, as this degrades performance. The smaller you make the Sprite, the better the performance if the Sprite is being pushed every loop. Visual elements that don't need to be updated every loop (such as fixed text) can still go in a Sprite, but are only pushed once at the beginning in the Setup() part of the code.
RC

[Faceting Frank]

Got the screen today, but have not downloaded the data sheet on it yet. Would prefer to have all the parts before trying to work out how it's all going to work. The mechanical parts of this build are going well and have taken a few pics as it progresses. Will start a new thread on this build shortly.

[Faceting Frank]

Now have all the parts I need to get the encoder working (I think), already have a suitable sized plastic control box. Saved a few You Tube links on wiring the esp32 to the screen some have links on getting code for the esp32 to ILI9488 touch screen. Will run them off my laptop USB and play around with it till I have a better understanding of it all. Then see how to connect the encoder to the esp32.

[Faceting Frank]

Just discovered the jumper cables I've bought are square pin and the board has round holes. So, it seems there are square holed solderless boards. Have just ordered a couple, plenty more stuff ups to come before I get this finished.

[RoughCreations]

Just discovered the jumper cables I've bought are square pin and the board has round holes. So, it seems there are square holed solderless boards. Have just ordered a couple, plenty more stuff ups to come before I get this finished.

Hi Frank,
The jumper cables are just for testing or prototyping, they should clip on fine to the pins on the screen, encoder and the ESP32.
Once you are happy with your basic circuit, you will solder most of your connections anyhow.

RC

[RoughCreations]

Now have all the parts I need to get the encoder working (I think), already have a suitable sized plastic control box. Saved a few You Tube links on wiring the esp32 to the screen some have links on getting code for the esp32 to ILI9488 touch screen. Will run them off my laptop USB and play around with it till I have a better understanding of it all. Then see how to connect the encoder to the esp32.

Might pay to use the same pin numbers on the ESP32 board as myself or MB, then it will be easier to exchange code between us.

[Faceting Frank]

Thanks for the help regarding the code. I will wait to get the new board before looking at this again, I understand that the plug-in thing is just to get it working first.

[RoughCreations]

Hi Frank,
There's nothing wrong with the nodeMCU ESP32 boards you originally got, the pin numbers will correspond to my Arduino Uno form-factor ESP32 board anyhow. Won't hurt to have some spares either way. As MB said earlier, two rows of 19 female header pins soldered to your project board will form the final mount for your ESP32 board. This will give you the ability to easily remove a board for replacement if ever required without having to solder/de-solder.
The following is my board to screen connection diagram, there are other variations to connect them together of course.

My board to screen connections

RC

[Faceting Frank]

Thanks RC, have saved that picture.

[RoughCreations]

Thanks RC, have saved that picture.

No worries, I have now updated the pdf to include the encoder wiring I used as well, please re-visit the link above to see the latest version,

RC

[Faceting Frank]

Thanks, have saved that. So, the whole thing is powered by the 5v USB on the esp32?

[RoughCreations]

Thanks, have saved that. So, the whole thing is powered by the 5v USB on the esp32?

The micro USB port powers everything - board, screen and encoder while you are experimenting, and allows uploading of code to the ESP32 board. When you are finished developing and want to install it into your plastic enclosure, a DC power adapter can power it all via the standard plug pack socket you can see on my board, or as MB has previously said, you can include a small voltage regulator board (Jaycar sell them for a few dollars) located between a plug pack adapter and the ESP32, which is what I have done. This allows you to put in a power switch if you want more easily too.

RC

[RoughCreations]

Just to prove I have nothing up my sleeve:

https://youtu.be/2KaA5wX_N9U