Call for Pilot Program Participants
At the moment, spring 2013, I'm looking for a limited number of volunteers that want to build one or more TOAD4 boards for their own CNC projects at the cost of the parts and shipping.
If there is enough interest (about ten to twenty people) I will get a batch of boards manufactured and sell the at cost to the interested people.
In addition to that if there is enough interest I can organize a volume purchase of the parts to get volume pricing.
I would expect that a single board will cost about 20 EUR and the parts in the ballpark of 100 EUR.
To program the firmware a PICKit2 or equivalent is required.
To participate you need to be able to and be willing to complete the board which involves soldering through hole components to the board, no surface mounted components are used.
Experience and trouble shooting skills in electronic and mechanical construction as well as understanding of the safety and regulatory issues is a must.
Basic computer skills and machining experience is assumed.
While this is not difficult project to complete this is not a beginners project.
EazyCNC software and TOAD4 firmware will be available for the Pilot Program participants at no cost at my website now and in the future
Weather the software will be Open Sourced or not is still an open question.
Enough sample code will be Open Sourced so that those who want write their own firmware and use the TOAD4 board for some purpose of their own a.k.a. hacking.
Even if you are not interested in EazyCNC you might be interested in the TOAD4 board: you can use it as break out board the very nice B6560AHQ stepper driver chips or you could write firmware to make it compatible with Mach3 or EMC2 softwares!
If you are interested in participating, please contact me at eazycnc@eazycnc.com.