On 06/13/2013 06:12 PM, Charles Buckley wrote: > 1) None of the current GUIs are really good for this,
I've been using http://gcode.ws/ to visualize the actual paths within each layer, but that's probably too weird for most folks. > Keeping the spool sync'd with the filament feed rate Recently bumped on my priority list: a powered filament feeder that automagically maintains the loop feeding the extruder, specifically to eliminate the usual feed tube with all the usual problems. The drive gear/pulley/wheel ramming filament into the hot end shouldn't also drag filament through a long tube! I think the simplest approach will be a filament position sensor so a HAL circuit can run the feed motor as needed to maintain the loop height. Those I've seen in the wild can benefit from HAL... Given a filament position station, I have a notion that would add two-axis filament diameter sensing. That can feed into a HAL component that would produce the filament area, which could then twiddle the feed on the fly. > PWM to control the heating element. With control based on actual thermal properties and measurements, rather than by-guess-and-by-gosh. I just laid in a stock of DC-DC SSRs for that very purpose! > 4) Temperature reading. Dan Newman wrote some code for the TC4 thermocouple shield that converts it to a USB HID hal_input device that I'll be using with my M2 printer: http://softsolder.com/2013/06/10/tc4server-eagle-hal-device/ > pushing as much of the machining steps into hardware as possible. I really want to use automagic probing to compensate for platform shape & positioning, because there don't seem any cheap, flat, removable hotplates out there. Methinks this one is easier to fix in the kinematics than in the metal; the shape of the platform changes as it heats up and nobody wants to measure a hot platform by hand. The M2 is rigid enough to do XY axis homing once per session and be done with it, but the general case probably requires that on a per-print basis along with the platform compensation. Let many LinuxCNC installations blossom! -- Ed softsolder.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: Build for Windows Store. http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
