Trouble sending files

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  • April 28, 2013 at 2:10 pm #4067
    game2k
    Member

    I have a TinyG hooked up to a Shapeoko and I’m having trouble running some fairly simple files. I’m pretty sure it’s a problem with the way I’m sending files but I’m running out of things to try.

    One of the files is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13211269/Linda.txt. Everything goes well until it gets to the curve for the top of the ‘n’. It gets confused and does some strange moves before continuing with the rest of the letters. Similar things happen for the curves on the ‘d’ and the ‘a’. If I extract just the gcode for those letters it works fine. Simulation of the file also works fine in OpenSCAM. It also works if I set a high ‘transmit line delay’ but it has to stop after every command on those curves. I tried reducing the ‘transmit line delay’ to a reasonable value but I couldn’t find a setting that gave smooth motion without any problems.

    I’m using CoolTerm (1.4.2 build 201) to send the files from Windows based laptops. I have Xon/Xoff flow control enabled for both CoolTerm and the TinyG.

    My CoolTerm settings are here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13211269/Shapeoko_CoolTerm_Settings.stc.

    Here’s a dump of my TinyG configuration: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13211269/TinyG_Configuration.txt

    Here are some of the things I’ve tried:

    – Different laptops (Lenovo T61 WinXP-32 / Dell Precision M6500 Win7-64)
    – Re-installing FTDI VCP drivers (2.08.28)
    – Different USB cables
    – Lower baud rate

    I’m still drawing on paper with a sharpie marker so there’s no electrical noise from the router.

    What else can I try?

    Thanks

    Lee

    April 30, 2013 at 10:04 am #4071
    game2k
    Member

    Last night I was noticing that my gcode file (generated with HeeksCNC) is rather verbose compared to the ‘Hello World Shapeoko’ file. I’m going to try cleaning it up to see if that helps.

    What operating systems are most people using? I’ve seen a lot of references to mac’s. Is there any chance that Windows has some latency issues that cause problems with the flow control? I’d like to try adjusting the high-water-mark for the receive buffer but I guess I’ll have to purchase a programmer first.

    April 30, 2013 at 11:46 pm #4072
    Riley
    Keymaster

    No I do not think that Windows is your issue. I ran your file just fine.

    Troubleshooting

    I am using 370.08 too. What does it do at the n? I am not entirely sure what you are describing.

    Riley

    May 3, 2013 at 9:23 am #4096
    game2k
    Member

    Thanks for taking the time to look at it. I’ll try to get a video or picture uploaded this weekend.

    It does most of the arc on the top of the n but instead of doing the vertical line is reverses direction and does part of a small circle. Eventually it skips the rest of the n and goes to the dot on the top of the i.

    Are there instructions somewhere for using tgFX on Windows?

    May 4, 2013 at 1:12 pm #4107
    game2k
    Member

    I was able to get tgFX running on my windows machine and I think that may have fixed my problem.

    May 5, 2013 at 4:17 pm #4108
    game2k
    Member

    It seemed to be running fine so I decided to try turning on the router. I moved everything to the garage and I got this:

    I moved everything back inside and now I get this:

    May 6, 2013 at 8:35 am #4110
    game2k
    Member

    I should mention a few changes that may have caused the problem to re-appear:

    – I switched the motors for the x and y axes to high-power idle
    – I incrementally reduced the speed from 33.3 in/min down to 10.0 in/min

    I’ve ordered a nice USB cable to see if that makes any difference. I’ve been using a collection of flimsy cables that came with various cameras and phones over the years.

    May 8, 2013 at 6:37 pm #4118
    Riley
    Keymaster

    Hmm. Let me know how it goes with new cables. Also, when you went down to 10.0 in/min how did it look? BTW, getting tgFX working right now is a bit tough. I should have some updates with “exes” available soon. If you find any issues with tgfx please open issues via github!

    Thanks,

    Riley

    May 15, 2013 at 10:16 am #4125
    game2k
    Member

    I finally had a chance to test with my new cable last night and I don’t think it made a difference. I did, however, make some interesting observations.

    First, I noticed that the problem seems to get better when I run the file for a second time and is generally gone by the third run. If I close and re-start tgFX the problem re-appears. I repeated this twice but I’ll probably try one more time to make sure it’s really repeatable.

    Second, I noticed an error in the tgFX console that generally appears during the first run. I have no idea what causes it or if it’s directly related but it usually doesn’t happen after the first run.

    May 15, 2013 at 11:13 am #4126
    game2k
    Member

    I was just reading about how the execution speed of Java programs will improve over time as frequently called methods are compiled and optimized by the JIT compiler.

    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14736345/why-jvm-exectues-same-program-faster-over-time-when-launched

    This might explain why my problems go away after a few runs.

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