Introducing the RP23U5XBB

We are offering a new CNC controller board based on the RP2350B microcontroller from Raspberry Pi, the RP23U5XBB.

RP23U5XBB

It is a 5 Axis CNC controller with opto-isolated limit, probe and control inputs. It supports several spindle control methods including user adjustable 0-10V generation. It supports USB and Ethernet connectivity and has 2 UARTS (one with 3.3/5V translation), I2C, SPI. 4 digital input and 3 digital outputs along with the Flood, Mist, Spindle Enable and Vac/Dust Collector. Support for directly driving up to 7 relay coils.

This differs from our previous offerings in that it does not require purchasing an additional microcontroller. The RP2350 is included on the base board.

One of the exciting things about the RP2350B microcontroller is Programmable Input-Output - PIO. These are small programmable state machines that can free the microcontroller from low level tasks. The RP2350 has 12 PIOs. For step pulse generation, they reduce the need for interrupts and are deterministic in their execution. This leads to an extremely low jitter step pulse stream.

Another neat addition to this board is numerous indicator LEDs to help with installation and problem solving. Each opto-isolated input has an LED that changes state when the input changes. This allows the CNC builder to get immediate feedback on whether their control or limit switches are working.

Another new feature is a servo alarm input header also with LED indicators.

Of course the RP23U5XBB includes a lot of the features from our other boards like MicroSD card slot, Relay drivers, flexible power sections, clear on board labeling and lots of options. For more detail, visit the RP2350 page, the Github Site, download the User Manual or our store on Tindie.

About Me.

I'm Phil Barrett, a long time CNC enthusiast. I run a small company, Brookwood Design, that makes several breakout boards for grblHAL and love to help people get the most out of their CNC machines.