Synthetos Shop

Bantam / Othermill, G38.2 and G10 L2 P2

From the original Synthetos forum (2011–2025)

Started by Matt F on in TinyG Support. 4 replies, last activity Jul 26, 2019.

Matt F #

Hello Synthetos,

Thank you for making tinyG/2 and grbl shield. I've been a grbl hobbiest for some time but took a deep dive into tinyg when purchasing an Othermill pro (now rebranded as Bantam). I love it. The whole package is amazing and Kudos to (Mike Estee), Synthetos and Otherlabs folks who brought it to market. Truly a piece of art.

Here is my one issue and request for help.

As it stands the Bantam has a proprietary firmware build 72.73 and this is based off the firmware version 0.97 (which is not even listed in the git commit tree but thankfully covered mostly on the wiki here (Thank you again Synthetos for the vast wiki)

This is all on a v9 tinyg board which as I understand it is really a G2 style board which is meant to have firmware 100.x or higher. Trust me I have tried to update the firmware but weird things happen when trying to probe tool offsets and I had to revert in order to continue R+D.

So based on .97 I am limited to G38.2 and G10 L2 P2 for probing and this is tough to deal with because I need to be able to set my prefered offset (p2 / g55) at the spot that I am probing (you know like G10 L20 P2 style). My closest guess as to how to do this is with some kind of parameter that I am not quite wrapping my head around IE:

G38.2 X35 F100 
G10 L2 P2 {"prbx"}    
(of course this did not work but I hope this gets the idea across; trying to leverage the probe report as some kind of parameter)

I know that the machine and firmware is capable of doing this because one can probe tools and evn PCB flipping brackets (which then .97 can even account for rotation on the A axis.) Amazing! but seriously now; I desperately need to probe my own jigs, and parts to get the results I'm after here!!

Ok so lastly, Bantam folks if you look at this forum; please get onto a newer firmware and incorporate probe array leveling, and work with Autodesk HSM to support G38 in your post processor.

Also for Synthetos can you please update this page though to have g38.2 link to the probing page - https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/Gcode-Support

cmcgrath5035Staff #

Disclaimer - I am a Forum Moderator, not developer, so am not privy to how Othermill came to market. What follows are some assumptions and best guesses.

When G2 got started, it was a fork of tinyG FW aimed at higher performance and capability ARM based controllers. DUE+ Gshield was an adequate test environment, but tinyGV9 was also created as an enhanced development tool. There were several interested users/developers who likely had an arrangement with Synthetos to obtain tinyGV9's for inclusion in their projects.

The G2 focus rather quickly evolved from CNC focus to 3D printer capabilities and features. Several development hardware targets evolved for the 3D market, which I generally see as a superset of the tinyG target - 3 axis 4 motor milling machines. The range of (some of the) boards supported can be seen in the list of available downloads /github.com/synthetos/g2/releases/tag/101.03.

My summary: tinyGV9 is no longer the functionality target for G2Core, but the functionality needed to support your Othermill should still function OK, many folks have built around DUE+ for similar custom machines.

I would assume that FW 72.73 had some non-trivial modifications made by the Othermill team, but keyword is assume.
Looking at https://support.bantamtools.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001672154-Othermill-Pro, I see that the Othermill supports many more formats than just GCode, which says there is some CAM level software somewhere in the Othermill machine or perhaps in an Othermill PC application.

If your are operating your Othermill using that higher level interface I would dig into just how well in interfaces to build 101.3. Start by fully understanding the switch to Line Mode protocol.
Or, perhaps bypass the Othermill interface and run 101.3 directly via CoolTerm, Chilipeppr, CNCjs or the like.

Exercise caution when flipping back and forth between TinyG and G2Core wikis. Much is similar, but you will not see Ver 0.99 backported into the tinyG world for a while, if ever.

I also suggest you review ongoing Probing topics in https://github.com/synthetos/g2/issues, where bleeding edge topics get discussed.

Matt F #

@cmcgrath5055

Thank you for the reply.

I have tried to upgrade the firmware and use Chilipeppr using 100+ firmware in the past but did not have much success as probing would not function properly or at all. I did find the edge branch that Bantam is using here and Bantam specifica g2 informational page here. Furthermore I am using the Othermill / Bantam UI and I do really like the functionality it (my user interface build is Bantam tools 1.2.2 QT:5.6.0) But it's just limited in terms of probing functionality.

I will definitely check out Line Mode protocol and check for more info on the issues page.

Going back to my original question tough, to your knowledge is there any way to leverage the probing repot information in a command like G10 L2 p2? or even in something like {"g55"":{"x":90,"y":90,"z":"0"}}?

Thank you again for your support.

M

cmcgrath5035Staff #

The bantam links above look like renamed forks originally owned by OtherMill.
And the entries appear to be ancient.

Post this at G2core Issues and see if someone there has done what you are trying to do.

Going back to my original question tough, to your knowledge is there any way to leverage the probing repot information in a command like G10 L2 p2? or even in something like {“g55″”:{“x”:90,”y”:90,”z”:”0″}}?

Matt F #

Ok I'll poke around in the G2core issues. Thank you for getting back to me so quickly :)

This topic is from the original forum (July 2019). Your reply starts a new discussion linked to it.

Reply

Different problem? Ask a new question

Back to TinyG Support or latest activity.