BenJackson wrote:I was attaching the air assist nozzle after finally getting around to cutting deeper threads and removing all but one barb from the brass fitting. I wanted to be sure I wasn't blocking the beam so I started making test spots in all 4 corners. I was able to push the Y too far back because I did it where the laser carriage didn't hit the Z plate. When I started to close the door the door stop hit the right gantry plate and torqued my Y way out of alignment (like nearly an inch). It popped at least a few of the V wheels loose of the bearings in the process. I assume it spun the pulley on the threaded rod. I had to get out the Del Monte Gantry Alignment tool again.
So mind where the gantry is when you close the door! I might look at shaving down that door stop a bit just in case.
BenJackson wrote:Drik,
I have looked at your GRBL branch but not extensively. I am impressed by the GRBL code, having looked at several similarn gcode interperter firmwares targeted at 3D printers.
Right now I'm using a board I put together with an L297 + L298 stepper controller and an Atmel AVRUSBKEY development board. I happened to have the stepper parts from a long ago PCB I intended to make but never did:
The firmware I'm using is Teacup which is a 3D printer firmware written in C (rather than built with Arduino and compiled as C++). Having examined most of the 3D printer firmware out there, Teacup shows the most engineering rigor and best software practices by far. However, it is not widely popular as a 3D printer firmware. I think this is mainly due to the fact that the principal developer does not actually have a working 3D printer, much to my surprise.
The structure of Teacup (and lack of reliance on Arduino) made it possible to port it to the at90usb1287 on the AVRUSBKEY. Using the LUFA library the board now connects directly to a PC via USB and shows up as a serial port. In order to jump on GRBL development I would have to do a similar port or buy another AVR dev board.
Bart has just shipped my new interface board so next week sometime I should be able to hook up to that and try PC control. Ultimately I'd like to reach "laser as windows printer" levels of convenience and I don't think an AVR + GRBL can fully satisfy that, but it may be part of the solution. I expect I'll try all the options just to learn about the pros and cons. I've got an old PC and an EMC2 live CD ready to go.
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