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 By Steve Bush  20th January 2023

Understanding the Cronos Arduino-

based grbl cnc controller
After a time with a multimeter and scope, the othewise-undocumented
Cronos board for home-build cnc machines has revealed some of its
secrets.
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Overall, it seems like a proper grown-up technology - satellite technology
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My first CNC-ed
object – it was a
successful weekend Power rails are well thought out (see below) and seem well
up to the job, and isolation (including power and ground
Clever Hyundai
isolation) is fully implemented on-board to separate the
borrows
components for its microcontroller and USB power domain (together, ‘MCU
400V to 800V domain‘ from here)from the cnc-machine-connected power
inverter
domain (‘cnc-domain‘ from here) – so little chance (that I
can see) of current being shoved up the USB into the
controlling PC by a fault on the machine side.

Quirks include:

The three push-button interfaces (hold, run, stop) are wired

straight to microcontroller pins with no buffering – not
even a resistor: so short wires only and a screened
enclosure, maybe. Their counter-terminals are 0V from the
MCU power domain.
The motor driver enable output (ENA on diagram) does not
get its own 5V or 0V return output (it is almost as though
the case was bought-in, and then the connections were
limited to fit the case).
Cnc domain counter-terminal (and screen) partners to the
step and direction outputs are not grounds, but are +5V
Once the lid is on, there is no way to get wires from any of
the JST connectors to the outside world without cutting
holes in it.
Not a quirk – but a couple of capacitors were missing from
the board

The following information is from rough notes – so check ELECTRONICS WEEKLY @ 6

it yourself before relying on it:

Read our special supplement ce
of Electronics Weekly and lookin
Firstly: the non-screw connectors seem to be 2.5mm pitch future of the industry.
(not 0.1in) and of the JST XH style. Read the Electronics Weekly @ 6

To handle power, there are a couple

of dc-dc converters (diagram right –
the
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the various
voltage rails. The 326P-style microcontroller is fed via a 
 Read the first ever Electronics W
couple of Schottkys from either the USB September 1960. We've scanned
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control/programming mcu domain input, or from 5V edition so you can enjoy it.

derived from the 12 – 36V domain input (called ’36V from Read the very first edition »

here) via galvanic isolation (by a Mornsun B0505LS-1WR2)

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The pulse, direction and enable
outputs to external drivers (diagram Keep up with developments relat
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left) are all opto-isolated on-board. battery technology, SatIoT and m
This is laudable, although every View our popular Internet of Thi
separate driver I have ever found has opto-isolators on its
inputs for these signals, so this is over-kill in many
circumstances.
Step and enable outputs (not the direction outputs) are via
fast (<1μs) opto-isolators, and all finally emerge finally via
cmos buffers powered from the cnc domain 5V, which is
directly linked to the main 36V ground. Image: ESA

From the diagram, the axes outputs are labelled:

‘1’ (DIR+ on pcb) Direction +ve output: connected to +5V

from cnc domain
‘2’ (DIR-) Direction -ve output: CMOS output relative to DIR+
‘3’ (PUL+) Step pulses +ve output: connected to +5V from
cnc domain
‘4’ (PUL-) Step pulses -ve output: CMOS output relative to
PUL+

As mentioned above, the ‘ENA’ enable output to the

external drivers does not have its own counter-terminal.
Instead has z-axis PUL+ terminal nearby for cnc domain 5V,
or the cnc domain 0V which is three terminals the other
way.

This 0V is part of the ‘FCES’ group

(diagram right) which has:

‘1’ (+10V on pcb) ~10V (derived

from the cnc-domain 12V, I think)
‘2’ (0-10V) analogue output for spindle control, derived
from pwm spindle control signal (further down this page)
‘3’ (0V) connected directlyto the cnc domain 0V.

Next comes a 36V cnc domain PWM fan output (see circuit
diagram above) where the +ve is directly connected to the
36V power input and the -ve is modulated to 0V of cnc
domain via a hefty mosfet.

Lastly on that connector is the spindle output and, just like

the 36V fan output, the connections are: +ve directly
connected to the 36V power input and -ve modulated to 0V
from the cnc domain by another hefty mosfet.
Again: this pwm information is also available as the 0-10V
analogue signal mentioned above.

The rest of the connections are

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 circuit diagram (repeated left) and the annotated board
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photo (just above).

The x, y and z-limit and probe inputs are all via on-board
opto-isolators (simply a 2k4 resistor in series with the input
led in each case), and the off-line controller connector
appears to be for the simple controllers that are available
for small ‘3018’ cnc machines.

For non-USB programming the mcu, there is a row of bare

pads on the rear for a bed-of-nails or similar.

Now time needs to be found to wire then thing to the

drivers and the steppers on the mill – with all the
necessary fans, and other odds and sods.

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