Calibration Woes

51.29 is not “out”. It is pretest prior to official inclusion. It is very similar to 28, but has spindle speed control and provisions for eastbay board detection. Your z axis isn’t adjustable in webcontrol like makerverse. You set your z axis pitch depending on the mechanism.

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and try webcontrol instead. Must say, I honestly think it is an easier to use interface. And, I can still run it in a kiosk mode chromium browser for my display too. (Maybe I’ll make a write-up on what and how I did that, I have a passion for writing documentation. Idk why.)

Not quite to the point of trying the Z-Axis (still setting chains) but I’m hopeful. Also MetalMaslow replied to my post on Facebook as well with some settings to use so hopefully I won’t have any issues :crossed_fingers:

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I know I am rambling about replying to myself, but its cold out here! (I took the door off of my shop and haven’t built the new one yet :smile: )

My Z-Axis is working flawless now! I used @Metalmaslow suggestions of 18 pitch and 5400 encoder for the settings, and was able to move it and set zero right away. I feel like this is my biggest accomplishment. I just wish changing that in Makerverse had been this easy :sweat_smile:

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Great news, way to stick with it.

Did you change any of the pid settings for the z axis?

No, I haven’t played with them any yet. I just did the basic pitch and encoder changes. I’m not super clear on what changing the pid settings will do, but it seemed to do fine on my test cut.

Just for fun, here’s an action shot of it starting it’s first test cut (the Maslow logo from the garden, on probably the oldest most warped piece of plywood I could find laying around at 1am last night :slight_smile: )

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And the final cut:

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There is one thing I noticed about WebControl in Kiosk mode vs Makerverse: You need a keyboard to enter a distance for the move commands. Otherwise it stays on whatever was last entered from phone/pc. Notice mine shows 25.4. I don’t plan to keep a keyboard connected, so I may have to find a movement distance I like. Makerverse had dropdown to select from a few (1mm, 10mm, 50mm, 100mm, etc.), which made it much easier to change on the touchscreen. Overall, I am happy though because I can still monitor the tool path and g-code as well as start/stop it without having to carry the laptop out or mess with connecting from my phone. Plus, since this is running locally on the pi, its less likely to lose connection in the event I do need to stop quickly if my phone were to time out the connection or something like that.

I am researching leaving the taskbar from the rpi desktop visible in kiosk mode and installing an on-screen keyboard. Though I’m not quite sure how it will all look with the available screen real estate. We shall see…

Tip #1: Even if it is 1am when you set your chains, mark them!!!

Tip #2: Don’t reboot your router that your pi is connected to in the middle of your first nice cut piece.

:man_facepalming: I have officially learned how to edit my g-code to start from the last line it was on, reset my chains, and the importance of sleep…

the right and left arrows below the movement buttons will advance the current gcode lines so you don’t have to edit gcode then when you press okay it starts mid file. Both ground control and webcontrol do this. Webcontrol will even hop by z movements, so if you get stuck, you can find your place.

Looks really good! Glad you were able to successfully push through! I connected Wii controller to the rpi Bluetooth radio so I didn’t have to have a keyboard and with different keystrokes got it to move set distances, start, stop, pause and shutdown. You might consider. Bluetooth keyboard if your tablet kiosk supports it. An iPad keyboard or similar would work.

My biggest drawback to using a wii remote (I’ve seen your posts, looks like it works great!) or a keyboard is it will be something else laying around the shop to get lost. I mean I can easily slip my phone out of my pocket, adjust the values, and move it. So I’m not after a pendant style controller so much as just a quick and dirty way to make changes on screen without any additional devices.

Wonder how hard it would be to just edit my webcontrol install to use drop down menus as opposed to free text fields? :thinking:

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It wouldn’t be terribly difficult to edit webcontrol. I’ve done it already in a couple places.

would you want the dropdown in a std browser window or a mobile window? There are two rendered pages that could potentially be modified. If you are using a touch screen, I’m inclined to think it would be the mobile one.
The input could be set to take a typed number or a drop-down list. The trick with these interfaces that are packed tight is working with fat fingers.

Honestly, I didn’t realize there was a mobile version of the page. How do you enable it? (Honestly that may explain why I wasn’t super happy with the layout on the pi screen).

I’m not clear on how to enable it. I think it has to do with the browser version that is reported to the server. Load from the server on your phone and it will load the mobile version. I use the phone when resetting the chains because I’m usually on a step stool or a ladder and I don’t have to get down to turn the sprocket to 12:00.

Do you have any plans/dimensions for this metal frame? I have a bunch of square tubing lying around and think I would like to build one like this.

I don’t have anything, but I’d be happy to measure it out tomorrow and share! It has been an amazing frame, I never once had to recalibrate my machine due to frame problems. Probably overkill for most of the projects I cut, but it was fun to build.