Topic: TinyG for Android

Tagged: android, android accessory, Arduino, TinyG

This topic has 54 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by mcgyvr.

Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 55 total)

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May 2, 2013 at 1:32 pm #4086

mcgyvr
Member

Just got my TinyG in the mail (Thanks Riley/Alden)
Should have the first axis up and running in a few minutes (then have to order the rest of the parts which should arrive next week)

as far as #7..on our Haas VF2 when you enable jog lock and just let it run it just hits the limit switch and quietly just stops there ending the jog lock motion.. No errors..no shutdowns..no resets.. Its a great feature for just squaring up material,etc…

IMO a triggered limit switch shouldn’t NEVER completely reset the machine (thats kind of silly IMO).. But it should error out or stop nicely.. basically like just hitting the feed hold button. In fact I could probably argue a safety issue with it completely resetting..

Of course I’d hope with a properly configured setup it should be IMPOSSIBLE to hit the max limit switch unless the steppers miss steps.. Again on our Haas, the machine is checking each line before its actually run to ensure that you never exceed the max travel limit,etc.. If you accidentally key in “G0 X157” instead of “G0 X15.7” when it gets to that line it will just stop, turn on the red error light and pop up an error “max travel limit exceeded”. It won’t even try to run that line.. Or if you program externally without the console it will error out during code transfer over the serial cable.

May 2, 2013 at 1:43 pm #4087

alden
Member

I’m willing to rethink the handling of limit switches. I implemented what a machinist friend of mine told me is the way he’s used to seeing it work. So I’m going to keep this issue open. The issue is ensuring that there’s no loss of position and therefore error introduced. On the Haas they have control of the entire machine and can guarantee this. On a random CNC setup – perhaps not so much. The reason for resetting is to force a homing cycle. Not very efficient, but the safest way if you are not sure if position was maintained. Perhaps this can be an option.

As for the Haas stopping ay G0x157 – that’s a soft limit and it’s something I would like to install.

May 2, 2013 at 3:04 pm #4088
mcgyvr
Member
WAY..WAY too easy guys.. 🙂
I didn’t even have to write 1 single line of code..
up and running in minutes.. time to buy the rest of the components.
Quick video
[video src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9726802/TinyG/Tinyg%20test.mp4" /]

Matt, one more suggestion…
it would be nice too if the axis jog buttons weren’t fixed to 400 and 100 velocity and were based on your “velocity max” setting (where fast is full velocity setting and slow is 1/2 velocity max)

and yes I wasn’t thinking of a terminal emulator.. Just the ability to issue G code commands 1 line at a time.. Matt already does an excellent job of being able to setup the motor/axis configs right in the app.
- This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by mcgyvr.
May 2, 2013 at 3:38 pm #4090

mcgyvr
Member

Matt,
When trying to load a gcode file I get a “No filemanager is installed” error? But I do have one installed.
I tried to type the location in and get a “Invalid Filename” error (file is tinygxtest.txt also tried naming it tinygtest.gcode)

May 2, 2013 at 4:30 pm #4091

greyhound716
Member

Yeah, those settings were eventually going to be configuration options, but I didn’t add that part in yet. I’ll take a look at your “automatic” settings and maybe make that the default.

For the file manager, it’s possible the one you have installed doesn’t support the “standard” file manager intent. In other words, my app just shouts out “who can get me a file?” and if there’s no results, it throws that error.

I’ve used the one from openintents.org and it works ok. I may end up writing something myself, but I’m trying to leverage the whole Android framework where I can. If you can’t find the one I’m talking about, I’ll find the URL and post it tonight.

Glad you got the settings controls working. I’ve had some odd behavior I’m still trying to track down. If you change too many values on a particular axis/motor at once, it seems to get confused. You can just exit out of the app and restart and it’s fine, but it’s annoying. For the filename, you probably need to supply the whole path, and I don’t know what that is offhand at an OS level.

Let me know if anything else you find.
-Matt

May 2, 2013 at 4:46 pm #4092

mcgyvr
Member

Yeah there is something goofy with the settings..
Now I put in (for example) 100 for max velocity and it seems to change everything to metric after you save and come back to that screen. its changing everything..jerk,etc…
(probably something to do with my file being a G20 and I never set tinyg to inches or something..)

May 2, 2013 at 5:06 pm #4093

alden
Member

I need to write this up for the wiki. In the mean time, Here’s how Units work.

– All units are in MM in the internal system.
– They are accepted and reported in either Inches or MM units depending on what units are set in GCODE. Issuing G20 sets Inches mode, G21 sets MM mode.
– When you enter new settings they must therefore be entered in the Units mode the system is set to. So you need to be sure you know what mode you are in. Best, set it before you change any configs.

–Alden

May 2, 2013 at 11:39 pm #4094

greyhound716
Member

I’ve started to make the needed changes to the app. I’m going to try to link in a GUI screenshot. I’ve also replaced the file picker intent with a library I can bundle with the app. So that should work better.

I have been MOSTLY ignoring the units thus far, but I’m going to need to change that soon. All of my movement commands are in mm, and it assumes that’s ok when it sends updates and instructions.

I’ll start to code the underlying stuff soon, maybe this weekend.
-Matt

May 3, 2013 at 9:22 am #4095

mcgyvr
Member

Looking good!!! Can’t wait to try it out.

Another comment..I can see the need to have jog step go down much further.. Like down to .001 for us inch folks doing touch-offs,etc…

May 3, 2013 at 12:48 pm #4101

greyhound716
Member

Alden,

What’s the difference between g28.3 and g92? I’ve been using g92 to set the origin, but it seems like you’re advising that g28.3 be used.
-Matt

May 3, 2013 at 2:35 pm #4102

greyhound716
Member

Just pushed out a new version. Give it a try with some of the new features if you want. The spindle controls are fixed right now (CW, 200), but I’ll add controls for those later. I also need to read the spindle and coolant state and update the button state on startup, etc.
-Matt

May 3, 2013 at 2:41 pm #4103

mcgyvr
Member

Is that new version up on the google play store or do we need to download the APK from your github?

May 3, 2013 at 6:15 pm #4104

greyhound716
Member

It’s on the play store. It might take a little while to push, but it should be there by now if you look for updates or load it manually.
-Matt

May 23, 2013 at 3:16 pm #4131
mcgyvr
Member
working good so far (excellent actually).. so happy
haven’t tried G28.2 or Spindle but all other buttons work just fine.
I have had it crash a few times when trying to connect (not sure if you want me to go through the report process for that and the console has “frozen” on me 2 times now when running a file. I had to kill TinyG Console to get it back

Some more suggestions/issues..
1-The Start/stop button on the file tab doesn’t automatically change back to a “start” button once the gcode file has been completely run.. stays at stop till you press it again. Would be nice if it did..

2-would be cool to have it display the current or next line (actually showing the code on that line) of the gcode in the graphics window so you can see where you are at.

3-Would be nice to have a “Home” button back on the jog screen. Frankly I’d prefer them to say “Go Home” and “Homing” where “Go Home” just takes all the axes back to 0 and “Homing” actually performs the homing process.

4-I’d like to see more options or something else for the “Jog Steps” like maybe 5 buttons instead of the annoying slider.. Like a .001 button, a .010 button, a .100 button, a 1.000 button, and a 10.000 (the ” mark could be removed so it works with english/metric units) or heck even a text area where you could enter whatever you want.. but I like buttons better.

5-A feed hold button would be cool on the File tab.

I’m sure I will have more.. I’d love to see this app look function just like a real CNC console with tons of buttons,etc..
- This reply was modified 11 years, 5 months ago by mcgyvr.
May 24, 2013 at 9:54 am #4136

greyhound716
Member

Hi,

Glad to hear it’s working ok. Crash reporter would probably help, since it will give me the needed stack info. It certainly shouldn’t freeze.

#1 is a bug, and I just haven’t tracked it down, but…
#2 is something I want to do, but I need to think about how. The buffering model I’m using between the UI and the hardware “drivers” needs a better feedback loop. Right now it’s based on the data being send into the buffer. Hope to have something as part of my next code push, but I don’t know when that will be.

#3, #4 are easy, and can certainly do that. I agree about the slider – it just doesn’t work.

#5 now that feed hold seems to be working a bit better, I should be able to address something like this. If I fix the reporting state, having a “pause/feed hold” button as part of the status dialog would be ideal.
-Matt
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