Automatic Feeding Router.
Stepper-driven automatic table feed for a manual milling machine — STM32F103RBT6, TB6600HG driver, GLCD 128×64, mushroom e-stop. Lets the operator focus on the cut, not the handwheel.
Hands off the handwheel.
We have one manual milling machine and a lot of long, slow, even cuts to make — face passes, slot work, repeat-cycle parts. Cranking the table by hand all afternoon is exactly the kind of thing a stepper and a microcontroller exists to fix.
The unit clamps onto the table-feed shaft, indexes the table at a programmed feed-rate, and runs through length / count / dwell from a GLCD 128×64 menu. An anodised red mushroom on the front cuts power to the driver if anything goes wrong.
Picking the motor driver was the long argument. We compared options for current capacity, microstepping, dead-time and price; we landed on the TB6600HG driving a NEMA23, run by an STM32F103RBT6.
The build.
Electrical + mechanical.
| MCU | STM32F103RBT6 |
|---|---|
| Driver | TB6600HG · chosen after a long compare on current / µstep / cost |
| Motor | NEMA23 · 4.2 A · 3 N·m |
| Display | GLCD 128×64 |
| Power | 36 V · 5 A · isolated 3.3 V logic |
| Safety | Mushroom e-stop · galvanic relay · category-0 stop |
| PCB | rev 1 · 16/08/2025 |
| Status | testing |