Pointy you have made a really nice job of that.
Printable View
Pointy you have made a really nice job of that.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
I did find a couple of hours last night to start on the front panel wring and made some good progress. Everything is wired, except the Estop LED (in my haste I managed to forget to order a 5mm bicolor LED) and the joysticks/buttons.
I am really hopefully I can get the rest done today.
I had a really frustrating day yesterday!
I wired up the joysticks and buttons to the HID controller and then fired her up for a test. Everything worked as expected except the LCD screen, then I realized I hadn't installed the plugin for Mach3. I copied the plugin over from my main PC and fired up Mach3, only to be greeted by an nice error "Plugin Defective'.
I spent the rest of the day troubleshooting this without success. It's strange that the plugin works fine on my main PC which is Windows 7 64bit, but doesn't like XP, normally it's the other way round.
I have narrowed it down to the USB code but I am not sure where to go from here. One option is to try Windows 7 on the CNC PC, I always thought that it was a no go with Mach3, but apparently 32bit should work, so I might try that today. Fortunately I have a spare HD so I can keep the XP install intact while I test.
Mach works fine with Win7 and 8 64bit but it's the parallel port driver that doesn't work with 64bit. It does work ok with win7 32bit so you shouldn't have any trouble.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JAZZCNC
Thanks Jazz, I just tested on a Windows 7 32bit netbook, but still get the plugin error. :hopelessness:
Well I am pleased to report success!
I checked the Windows 7 netbook and the Visual C++ runtimes and net framework 4 were missing. After installing them the plugin worked.
I have since installed Windows 7 HP 32bit on the CNC PC and everything seems to be working now, I need to do a proper test run, but I don't anticipate any problems. (Famous last words!) The only downside is I now have to buy another Windows 7 licence.
The last few jobs are...
- Redo the connectors when my new right angled ones arrive.
- Sort out the cable chain.
- Tweak the HID controller firmware.
The cable chain leads me to my next project, as I went and splashed out on a RepRapPro Ormerod. My plan, when I get the thing built is to try and print my own.
Here's a 3d model I prepared earlier...
Glad that you are getting close. that cable chain looks good. How long will it take you to print a metre? G.
Nice Panel. I found some connectors on Ebay through these folks in the US, I'd be really surprised if there wasnt a cheaper and faster UK source. *www.ugracnc.com* on eBay
The model looks good but probably won't print too well without support (not necessarily a problem but it uses more plastic and will be tedious to remove on a large number of components). Have a look at Pimped Cable Chain by leemes - Thingiverse - it's a bit more basic than yours but I've printed out (though not used in anger) some and they print well with no support. The main difference is the large fillets on the bar over the top which brings down the unsupported width to about 5mm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointy
Enjoy the Ormerod build - it looks a nice printer.
A while, seeing as the printer is still in bits in a box. :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by GEOFFREY
Thanks, but I plumped for the Chinese ones as I am in no hurry.,Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD
Thanks for the advise and link Freddie, obviously I am very green when it comes to 3d printing. I am not sure why it would need supports though, the top piece is separate and clips in after the cables are in place, as shown in the following pic...Quote:
Originally Posted by FatFreddie
The reason for making my own cable chain was the fact that I was struggled to find the exact size, and also the clips keep flying off as they don't slot inside like mine. It's also not my design, I just modeled what I have here already and adjusted the size to suit.
I never thought of looking on thingiverse though, there seems to be quite a few designs there already.