New Autoleveling PCB software

[Daedelus]

Thanks for the swift reply Prof.

I don't personally use CamBam but converting to lines is not a built in function as the Prof explained.

Is there a simple macro or something which you can paste here Prof.? Might help some, at least until I do support it.

[cncJim]

Ahh I see - Yes my plans did include G2/G3 arcs (I had you look up the meaning - very new to g-code)... interesting workaround with CamBam Prof, unfortunately I do not use the software. I will look to see I have any similar options.

Thanks.

[gururise]

Daedelus,

Thanks for the autoleveling software! Couple of thoughts:

• Its great that you used Java, as it lets me run it on my Linux box.
• Also, would it be possible to calculate the board x & y dimensions from the input g-code itself, rather than have the user enter those values?

I decided to test out the v0.5 release you have on your website:
I tested it with a very simple board (gcode file) I've created from Eagle v6.4 & pcb-gcode 3.6.0.4 (latest release); however, after loading the leveled gcode into EMC2 (linuxCNC v2.5), I get an "attempt to divide by zero" error message at line 7604 and I'm unable to continue. I've attached the original gcode & the leveled gcode in the attached zip file. Do you know what i'm doing wrong? I set the x/y coordinates to 0, and entered the x dim as 36.7 & the y dim as 20.1

Also, in your previous posts, you mentioned new versions of your autoleveling software; however, on your website I've only been able to find v0.5. Do you have a location where you are uploading the latest releases?

Thanks once again for the great software!

[Daedelus]

Thanks for the encouragement and for testing,

Version 0.5 is the latest right now. Did I say there were other versions?
I am working on 0.7 right now which does already fill the settings in automatically amongst many other improvements. Actually, I am quite excited about the new version . I will add it to the website ASAP.

You are probably not doing anything wrong, but this sounds like a bug in Autoleveller. Your attachments will make it easier to find and fix, and the new version should include a fix. Stay tuned.

best,

[Daedelus]

OK so I have done a bit of testing and fixing.

First of all I opened the levelled file in cambam. This is what I got:



The red lines are the probing routine. The probe points need to cover the design for levelling to take place. So, in the image, the design is on the negative side of X, whereas the probes are on the positive side. The probe values should be something like:
X = -37
Y = 0
X length = 37
Y length = 20

Then the probes should cover the design. As I said, this is done automatically in the new version so you dont need to worry about the probe settings.

However... This will not fix the divide by zero error because version 0.5 seems to struggle with negative coordinates. I have generated and attached the levelled file generated with version 0.7 (not yet released) if you want to try it.

best,

[C_Bubba]

Daedelus,
How is the progress, it sounded like you were close? I was looking forward to testing the next version:})

[Daedelus]

Good timing Art,

The new version is now available for download (version 0.7) at www.autoleveller.co.uk.

I have made many changes, improvements and fixes, including:

• Supports inches and millimeters. Inches or millimeters is now automatically taken from the input file
• Saved filenames add a pre-cursor "AL" at the beginning as default and the extension is changed to be more appropriate for the chosen control software
• Checking of probe settings to ensure they are in a number format
• Parser stores additional states from the input GCode file
• Probe settings filled in automatically from the input file
• Reads and displays the extremities of the input file when it is first selected
• Displays stats for the probing data such as the number of probes that will be used in the output file. Changing certain values such as the 'probe spacing' (then 'tabbing out' of the field) will automatically adjust the stats. The user can try to optimize the probe count like this
• Added an about box with the version number and a clickable link to this site
• Set the spindle speed to a default value of 20000 to ensure 'M3' GCode works. 20000 will not overwrite any further speed settings
• Button to clear all probe settings
• Bug fix: Occasional divide by zero error
• Added pre-amble copy write text to the output file
• Warns if the milling area is not contained within the probing area. However, it is perfectly legal to change the probing extremities so that the milling area is larger or smaller than the probing area. You may do this if, for example, only a small proportion of the design needs to be levelled
• Core levelling code changed to provide greater robustness
• Several changes to the GUI layout

This same list is available at my website, as is the software download of course

Any problems let me know.
Enjoy.

Note: Whilst the probe settings are automatically filled in from the input file, feel free to make any manual post adjustments to the settings.