The GRBL Project

Several customers have asked about using low profile sockets with the Teensy 4.1 which are reputed to be more vibration resistant than the taller sockets we include in the basic assembly kit for the T41U5XBB. ProtoSupplies has a nice kit with the Teensy, low profile pins and sockets. This does not supplant the basic assembly kit (AKA USB assembly kit) that we sell. So, if you want low profile sockets, you will still need to order the T41U5XBB with the Assembly Kit. Courtesy o

THere seems to be a lot of confusion (and range of prices) surrounding the WizNet W5500 based Ethernet module we use for the RP23CNC. Hopefully this will help clear some of that up. When WizNet introduced the W5500 networking chip, they also introduced an evaluation module, the Wiz550io. It was rather large and had an odd arrangement of pins - 6 on one side and 8 on the other. But it was popular because it allowed adding Ethernet to a design via SPI, and the designer didn't

DIN Rails are an excellent resource for system builders, offering flexible organization for electronics cabinets. Many devices, such as power supplies, relays, and conditioning circuits, can be mounted easily without the need for drilling holes. However, the components that come with these rails often have a premium price. Moreover, adapters are necessary for mounting components that lack a DIN Rail interface. The good news is that if you have access to a 3D printer, you can

Brookwood Design makes 2 motion controller boards: the ultra fast Teensy 4.1 based T41U5XBB and the economical (but still fast) RP23CNC. This blog discusses mounting them using standard, readily available and inexpensive 35 mm DIN Rail hardware. DIN Rail mounting is very good way to organize an electronics cabinet. The DIN Rail brackets snap onto the rails and can be moved around with ease. A vast number of devices come with DIN Rail mounts and there are a lot of 3D printable

I have been an online seller of hobbyist electronic products for 6 years now. When I created my online store, I looked at several options and wound up going with Tindie. The primary reason was it did not require any ongoing payments and it used PayPal which I was familiar with. They took their payment from sales in the form of a transaction fee (3.5%) as well as a tindie fee (5%). Receiving the proceeds of sales was easy, just hit the Disbursement button and your money (min

I have been selling my products on Tindie.com since 2020. Six years in June, tempus fugit. While it is a bit of a barebones operation, Tindie worked ok for me. I sold thousands of units. Many customers became friends. I learned a lot about what people are doing in the CNC world and learned a lot about online retailing. It was a good experience. But, that all changed in April, 2026. Tindie, owned by Supplyframe, was sold with no announcement to an anonymous buyer. The site

Or, how to correctly use M62-M65 to turn on external devices. Controlling external relays and digital outputs with grblHAL is easy. M62-M65 GCodes (er, MCodes?) are straightforward. Or are they? The Digital Output Control codes allow you to turn external devices on and off. The T41U5XBB and RP23CNC boards have both relay drivers and logic level digital outputs for that. Embed an M62 P0 or M64 P0 in your GCode program to turn the Aux 0 output on. M63 P0 or M65 P0 will turn i

This is not your normal blog post from me by a long shot! Having a small business selling products internationally, I have learned a lot about shipping packages. I have also developed strong opinions about business practices around shipping. Very recently, I ordered several products from a popular hobby electronics company with a "sparkling" reputation. I got a shipping notice within a day and yet 3 days later US Postal Service tracking says they still have not received th

Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are a great way to control CNC spindles. A common method of control is using voltage (0-10V). This post describes how to use this with Brookwood Design's CNC controller boards - T41U5XBB or RP23CNC running grblHAL. Though, the information provided is broadly applicable to many other controllers running Grbl. Our examples are shown using the RP23CNC board but connections to the T41U5XBB are basically the same. What is a VFD? A Variable Frequen

The Teensy 4.1 is an amazing product not only does it provide incredible compute power in a tiny package but it also is able to supply a good amount of 5V and 3.3V power for numerous peripherals. The T451U5XBB can run a complete CNC machine electronics with just USB power. However, sometimes you need more 5V power than USB can provide. The solution, of course, is an external 5V power supply unit. But, in that case, you will need to avoid joining the external PSU to the US