Getting really F'n frustrated

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Viewing 5 posts - 16 through 20 (of 20 total)
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  • #6843
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    I’m actually a bit surprised that a set screw being that loose resulted in such a small, therefor hard to detect, error. Perhaps it was on one of the Y motors, leaving the other to do most of the work?
    Anyway, good find.

    Your use of the term ‘pocket’ leads me to think you are milling a 2.5D job of some sort.
    Perhaps now is the time to upgrade your machine to the latest tinyG FW, 438.02 if not already, I have lost track of where you are at.
    While the differences between 435.10 and 438.02 are minor, they were changes to fix machine dynamics when Gcode calls for very short moves. Many 2.5D code generators seem to be outputting code with move increments at or below the minimum capability of the machine. TinyG seeks to accumulate such short moves until a physical move can be made, there were some bugs up thru 438.02.
    BEWARE- Loading new FW will reset all your configs, you will have to re-enter. Make sure you have a copy of where you are at.

    This forum tool is tough on images and long files. What we suggest is to set up a dropbox or equivalent clould sharing account. put images, configuration files and Gcode examples in files, and post here a URL.

    And, very long threads become difficult to look back into as well.
    Since you seem to be more or less up and running now , with all your screws tight ( 🙂 ), I suggest start a new topic, with new Subject that refocuses on more specific issues.

    And now perhaps an opportunity to address your CAMBAM post processor question. I don’t use CAMBAM, so don’t have specific suggestions, but here are some fundamentals that the post processor might address.
    1. Configure to use arcs – Gcode G2 and G3 commands. Work well with tinyG.
    2. Use reasonable precision – tinyG will keep track of line segment requests down to 0.08mm and arc segments down to 0.10mm. not much point in requesting a 1.0001 mm move.
    3. Do the math and understand the fundamentals of your setup, specifically the minimum moves that it can make in the X,Y and Z directions. The minimum move a stepper can make is a microstep. The number of steps per revolution is a physical parameter of you motor. The number of microsteps is programmable, [1,2,4,8]. Pulley diameter and belt pitch determine the travel per revolution. From all those parameters, compute travel per microstep in each direction. You will find these to be larger than the tinyG minimums for a typical NEMA23 machine. It is then a personal preference how precise you have your Gcode generated. Maybe 2x, meaning that if a microstep is 0.2 mm, generate Gcode with 0.1mm accuracy. Super accurate Gcode will run, but it will be a much larger file, will take longer for tinyG to interpret (i.e. slow the machine sometimes) and won’t deliver any additional accuracy in the final job, because of the machine fundamentals.

    Enjoy

    #6844
    alden
    Member

    I suspect that now that you have found the loose set screws the correct value for the travel per revolution will be 40mm for all GT2 axes. This assumes that the belts are tight, which you should make sure they are.

    #6845
    Juwalla
    Member

    Here are my issue with updating the FW. The Wiki says to user AVRdude and to get it from GitHub. The link is provided but when you follow the link to
    GitHub the page has 2 folders and 3 files. Nowhere do I see how or what exactly to download. I have no clue which file to download and there are no instructions on your wiki or on GitHub. (I understand that GitHub is not your responsibility, but is more of a repository.) This is probably due to my own ignorance or inexperience with GitHub. I don’t mind learning something on my own or doing a significant amount of research or reading when I can find the information I need. Can someone either explain it to me or point me to a place where I can learn for myself? Please.

    I wanted to point out something about your wiki. I get a little confused with all the irrelevant links. On the page where the FW update instructions are, The paragraph labeled “Flashing TinyG (Firmware Updates)” there is a link at the end of the paragraph with the words “Updating TinyG Firmware” that is a link to the page I am already on. I have noticed that there are many places in the Wiki that are like this and a few other redundant links here or there as well. What is the functional purpose for this? I understand that the Wiki is also under development and that this “feature” may be how you guys keep track of things in some way or it may be a feature of GitHub that you have no control over. I get turned around when I try to follow the different links in an effort to understand the instructions I am trying to follow.

    I will start a new thread to address my relevant mechanical issues. I now have different issues since I first posted. My Z-axis is acting kinda crazy now. I will update my firmware, re-configure TinyG, and test for the same issues before I post again in regards to any problems.

    #6846
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    Interesting question – where to obtain avrdude for Windows.
    I run avrdude from Linux, where it is part of my distribution, have never looked on the Win side.

    Here is what I **think** will work for you.
    This is the suggested link from the Synthetos wiki

    As you say, you will see two folders and three files listed.
    Select the file avr_tools.zip; you will now see details about the file avr_tools.zip, including it’s size, 42685.501 kb.
    Select the highlighted “View RAW”, which should trigger a download of the file to your PC. A popup should open, asking what should be done, the default being save the file avr_tools.zip to your default download location.

    On your computer, you should see avr_tools.zip in your default download location, with a size of 40.7MB.
    Open the zip archive with whatever archive tool tool you have installed.
    You should find the file avrdude.exe 501.3KB in the directory tools/avr/bin in the archive display. Extract avrdude.exe to a folder of your choice, perhaps something like c:\tinyG_tools. Or, put it in the same folder that you unpacked tgFX into. Also extract the file tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf 537 KB from the zip archive to the same directory. I **believe** you only need to extract these two files from the zip if all you want is avrdude.

    Open a command window (‘DOS window’), CD c:\tinyG_tools.
    Running avrdude.exe from the command line, with no parameters, should display a list of all the configuration options and parameters, a help display.
    If avrdude complains about not finding configuration file, try running ‘avrdude -C avrdude.conf’.

    Follow the Synthetos wiki for the flashing parameters.

    If this does not work for you, open a new thread, “Subject: Need help with avrdude on Win64”, a more experienced Widows user will hopefully stop by.

    • This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by cmcgrath5035.
    #6848
    cmcgrath5035
    Moderator

    An additional suggestion, since you use tgFX.
    Only one application; Coolterm, tgFX, avrdude can be attached to your USB port connecting to tinyG.

    Earlier versions of tgFX had an issue of not exiting cleanly if you did not first disconnect from the USB port. The GUI would terminate but a tgFX process would remain running (as seen in Task Manager). If you get a ‘can’t connect to port’ error from avrdude (or CoolTerm), check Task Manager and kill the tgFX process, or just pull out the USB cable and reinsert it.

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