purchased a CD DVD duplicator robot

[bob5731]

HiI purchased a CD DVD duplicator robot off of eBay and thought that I could upgrade it to use USB. but it has no usb. I started looking more into it after I got the unit. I found out that it does not support native USB. So I guess my real question is what parts do I need to make it work so that I can back up 5,000 discs? I like the technical skills to hack one. What I would like to do is take the unit cheaply swap the guts out for example upgrade kit from vinpowered digital and voila! It works with Windows so that way I can use makemkv, handbrake and IMG burn with it.

[flojo]

TLDR; if you've assembled a 3D printer and can do the most basic "Arduino programmimg" the conversion can be had for about $60usd and 6hrs time.

To convert it to command and control you need to swap out the stepper or servo controller and add a driver. For both servo and stepper motors you can buy a new controller for about $60usd (or use a $5 ESP32), drivers are about $20. From there it becomes a little more technical as you'll have to wire the existing servos/steppers to the board and test each voltage and current values to match the drivers. If you understand C programming, then that was the hardest part and it's all down hill from there. If you don't understand C programming you can use AI tools to write the code and explain how to flash the controller but... Ai is really bad at this. Ai fails laughably bad at all things "Arduino" that is any more technical than lighting an LED so you need to be prepared to learn this yourself. Luckily it's very simple to learn since a "Hello World" using a prebuilt stepper library is pretty much all you need.

If you post the model I can tell you how easy it would be for me to do. I've done this a couple times before and the hard/frustrating part for me is the chosen wiring harnesses and motors used on any given auto-loader. If I wouldn't do it for any give model, then I don't think most people would, most people would simply choose a different model. The 400-600 hundred disc loaders that come with 4 or 5 drives are the easiest.

Models that look like this are the easiest: https://www.ebay.com/itm/326658515499?_ ... 6E9DMMVKGG

There's bigger models that are difficult because of their size and there's small models that are difficult because of their working room inside. Basically you want a model that has everything underneath of it, that way you can flip it on its back and rewire/redo everything from there.

NOTE: The pickup tool varies from model to model but do not get one with a vacuum pickup tool, they work OK until they fail miserably.

[bob5731]

Since I an electronics miserably and I felt program miserably. I picked up one that looks like a cube model. That was rebranded by a third party company and I'm just trying to upgrade it to USB support so that I can control the robot arm so I don't have to sit there and swap 25 discs at a time. To go along with my my 5000 disc project.

Could someone help me reverse engineer this so that I can control it with USB? Help me find a drop-in replacement. It's a cube model 2

[flojo]

... looks like a cube model.

Post a link to a picture of it.

tldr; essentially either learn a little or this doesn't happen for you.

I don't think you understand 2 things.

1. "reverse" engineering one of these models is probably not the correct term since it was probably not engineered to be A. controlled remotely B. it's only purpose is to copy the same disc over and over, so it could use fixed x,y cordinates and z's routine can be to raise completely then lower until the pickup tool registers a surface (usually with a feeler gauge and optocoupler)... in other words the arm may run completely without software.

2. To attach your own limit switch for homing and run the motors independently is almost always the only approach. I'd argue it's still the best even for the ones that take command inputs like Gerber/gcode/etc.

Unless there'ss already a USB / WiFi / 9-pin serial _AND_ a control interface of some type... this isn't going to happen out of the box.

Again, best bet is to attach a new switch for homing (or tap the existing one if it has one) and run your own controller. Typically the pickup tool works on a solenoid so you tap that too. This might sound hard, but it's rrrrrrreal easy, even for those with the smallest learning capabilities. Since it's that easy, it is recommended to start with a larger model like I linked to because no matter the size you'll almost certainly be modding the exact components with the same hardware you buy, so why not get the biggest possible?

[bob5731]

Because I already own the unit, it has a solenoid for a pickup. The only thing I need is to control the robot arm and solenoid. Coding is not the problem at the moment. It's just getting everything wired up correctly to a raspberry pi 3B+. I'll be replacing the drives with SATA drives and using USB to SATA interface and a hub windows will be doing all the ripping. I'll be using makemkv and handbrake to output to MP4. IMG burn to backup games in software. Then I will have it do smart renaming all wrapped up in a nice looking GUI. Is my starting point. I do not have electronic skills at the moment or programming so I'm relying on chatgpt for help. That may not be the best way to do it. That's the only way I know right now. Unless somebody wants to help me write the code and reverse engineer this I would appreciate it. I bought it on eBay thinking that it was SATA interface and thought you would be an easy project. Just added USB port somehow and be done. Sadly I was wrong. According to chatgpt it uses +,-,Rx,tx but I don't know which order it uses it in. I can't even find a manual. Vinpower suggested I upgrade to a ripbox and somebody could find me the parts. I'd be glad to throw them in my box and be done with this. The current interface is IDE. I have a Blu-ray sata drive and I have a stack of SATA drives so I'm good on drives other than needing one more Blu-ray drive. Thank you for your help and consideration in this matter.