Retrofitting a Cortini CNC Mill with the Raspberry Pi

YouTuber Sean Hodgins decided to upgrade his old 1986 Cortini CNC mill after finding the main control board had some issues. Finding another functional board for that mill is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so he went with the next best thing – the Raspberry Pi. The Cortini uses three motor drivers, with one driving each axis (X, Y, Z). Each is controlled via a step pin and a direction pin, which is simple enough, but Hodgins needed to find the correct pins for each unit to wire them to the Pi.

The process of finding the needed pins was time-consuming, as the series of pins on each board needed to be mapped. Once complete, Hodgins wired the motor drivers to the Pi, mounted it, along with a GRBL controller to a laser-cut base, and placed the rig back into the mill, successfully bringing the Cortini back to life.