#linuxcnc Logs

Apr 28 2024

01:26 AM Deejay: moin
03:26 AM DmanT: hi all
03:50 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> Morning
05:03 AM JT-Cave: morning
06:09 AM Deejay: good day
06:31 AM Tom_L: morning
06:38 AM Centurion_Dan1 is now known as Centurion_Dan
07:23 AM Centurion_Dan1 is now known as Centurion_Dan
08:05 AM rdtsc_away is now known as rdtsc
08:16 AM rdtsc: Morning. Tom_L, using Mesa 7C80 with the Rpi4B v1.5. First build, 1500x1000x300mm ballscrews, dual-Y gantry. Have most of the X and Y built, needs home/limit switches and Z plate finalized and fabbed.
08:40 AM rdtsc: So I've seen several varieties of homing. Manual talks about limit + home switch (three per axis, all axes independent) while others say they've managed two limit per axis on a single shared input (but then each axis must home separately.)
08:40 AM rdtsc: I don't think the Rpi has enough horsepower to do fancy things with HAL combinational logic; how would you tackle this?
08:59 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841> lol -rpi is more than powerful enough
08:59 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841> I have been doing some pretty crazy stuff at the hal level.
09:00 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841> if the machine can't really destroy itself if it runs into an endstop - I would just use home switches and soft limits.
09:03 AM lcnc-relay: <skunkworks8841> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/23bEsKMNJH0
09:09 AM rdtsc is now known as rdtsc_away
10:13 AM joakimk: I've been working with a Roland SRM-20 at the public library, and I'm considering buying a used CNC to have at home. Looking at a CNC 3018 Pro. My current project is to mill PCBs, so I need to be able to cut through ~2mm (0.08") copper laminated glass fiber plates. And I also need to mill the traces in the copper laminate, which is only ~0.05mm
10:13 AM joakimk: thick.
10:16 AM joakimk: Anyone familiar with the 3018 Pro? Is it a decent machine for small projects like this? Working with the Roland, I found it lacks support for a "Z-probe" -- i.e. being able to plug in a small probe (clip) on the plate surface, and another on the spindle itself, and having the CNC software (e.g Candle) create a height map for use when actually
10:16 AM joakimk: milling the traces
10:17 AM rdtsc_away is now known as rdtsc
10:19 AM joakimk: Does the Genmitsu 3018 Pro support such a probe?
10:26 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> thats a GRBL machine... thats like asking about Ford Pino cars on a Chevy Corvette chat... 😉
10:28 AM joakimk: It's not a CNC machine, exactly?
10:30 AM joakimk: If I might: My experience so far has been with EagleCAD -> FlatCam -> VPanel -> SRM-20. Will I be able to use the same workflow for a 3018? Could you perhaps help me with a more proper channel, if I'm very much off topic? :)
10:31 AM joakimk: ^ I mean, will I be able to use FlatCam ;) I realize I probably won't be using VPanel for the 3018
10:41 AM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on> https://www.reddit.com/r/hobbycnc/ is your best bet.
10:41 AM rdtsc: joakimk, the 3018's all use GRBL, which is a simplified subset of traditional gcode. In contrast, LinuxCNC uses full-fledged gcode. The little board on the 3018 couldn't even run LinuxCNC; this is really comparing apples to zebras.
10:45 AM rdtsc: I have a 3018. Fun little machine, but quite limited. Used it to laser a bunch of 5 inch scrabble pieces to spell out family member's names, assembled it, and mounted to the wall.
10:47 AM rdtsc: Candle / grbl / 3018 all go together. It should work for PCBs, although I haven't tried it personally. It's just so much easier and faster to use a design service like OshPark for PCBs.
10:50 AM joakimk: thanks :) The thing is, I only need a single PCB for the next hobby project, and I want to be able to prototype boards quickly. With a machine, a board can be made in under an hour (if nothing fails). Have had quite decent success with a Roland machine
10:52 AM rdtsc: I remember making boards in highschool electronics class... using ammonium perchlorate as etchant! That wouldn't fly today lol
10:52 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> milling PCBs can be an up-hill battle.
10:58 AM joakimk: well, that is very true... But, with a proper way of fixing the positioning of the piece, which also allows the board to be turned over in-place, does indeed make quite useable PCBs! Also drilling the holes works like a charm
10:59 AM rdtsc: vacuuming the board down might help with flatness
11:00 AM Tom_L: rdtsc, you mean like this?? :) http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/etching/etch_index.php
11:00 AM joakimk: I guess! But, in my experience, for smaller boards, just securing on the vice (I make 5mm holes so it can be propped on) will give acceptable results :) However, as I understand it, the 3018 does do height probing/maps, so that would improve the results even further
11:00 AM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on> I last milled PCBs 25 years ago. With JLCPCB and PCBway, there is absolutely no reason to muck about with PCB milling these days. That said, I just had to modify some 100GHz boards that weren't back drilled so it never completely goes away 🙂
11:01 AM Tom_L: osh is overall better even for quick protos
11:01 AM Tom_L: just have enough projects going you have time to wait for boards & parts to arrive
11:03 AM Tom_L: and yes you can do a damn fine job etching at home: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/temp/tiny/tinyboard1.jpg
11:03 AM Tom_L: attiny 10
11:03 AM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on> https://jauriarts.org/_matrix/media/v3/download/jauriarts.org/wvBTBgCwqqSHJVxZzjpHkfSY/IMG_01601.JPEG
11:03 AM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on> Made a custom vacuum chuck to hold and align the board. Drilled with a 350um bit in the air spindle to 20um from the inner layer. Worked great.
11:03 AM Tom_L: sot23-6
11:04 AM lcnc-relay: <zincboy_ca_on> I just flywire anything that I need quickly. You can deadbug most parts on a bare copper board for a ground plane and get pretty good performance.
11:05 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> for quick protos, i just use perf-board 🙂
11:12 AM rdtsc: Nice Tom. Once had a similar setup for cupric chloride. Ended up neutralizing about 3 gallons as it's just too dangerous to have lying around. Magnesium is a great neutralizer for it, no nasty byproducts.
11:17 AM Tom_L: need some copper? http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/etching/Copper1.jpg
11:18 AM Tom_L: i had to cut the full sheets in half to store em http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/etching/Copper3.jpg
11:22 AM rdtsc: I bet joakimk could use some of that. :)
11:22 AM joakimk: hehe
11:23 AM Tom_L: a buddy and i bought out a local board house that was closing (2 pickups full) and this was all i kept
11:23 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> i wonder how my big machine would do... milling PCBs? have not tried that machine...
11:23 AM joakimk: I have been running through some 4x6 inch plates when messing around with the machine, and trying to find a way
11:24 AM joakimk: but, as mentioned, I've found something that works quite nicely, and I'm considering getting a machine for my workspace. Again, it's for hobby one-off projects, and I like mucking around with the machine. Plus, it does save both time and money (and CO2) to not order a single little PCB from Asia
11:25 AM Tom_L: osh is in the US and uses US mfg and have a pretty quick turnaround
11:25 AM Tom_L: i knew lean when he was just starting that service
11:28 AM Tom_L: before he'd discovered the 'right' color purple http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/boards/atmega32u4/atmega32U4_3.jpg
11:28 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> where is JLCPCB located?
11:29 AM Tom_L: RM21 28F, Metropole Square, On Yiu Street, New Territories, Hong Kong, Shatin, HK
11:30 AM Tom_L: 1000-5000 employees
11:30 AM Tom_L: Founded 2006
11:30 AM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> Hmmm
11:30 AM rdtsc: apparently they are doing CNC now too
11:31 AM Tom_L: JLCPCB's 6 major production bases are located in different provinces in China, with owned factories & warehouse area of 250+ Acres, supplying 1000,000+ customers around the world, with a daily order volume of 25,000+, with 3,000+ employees, producing 6 millions+ PCBs per year.
11:31 AM Tom_L: i used gold phoenix when i did production runs
11:32 AM rdtsc: Advanced PCBs here, and oh gosh, Royal Circuits?
11:33 AM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/boards/new_batch/DSC_0001.JPG
11:34 AM Tom_L: them and somebody else but i forgot who
11:34 AM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/boards/new_batch/USB_chips.jpg
11:34 AM Tom_L: it's just a hobby :)
11:35 AM rdtsc: No LumenPnP? :)
11:35 AM Tom_L: i did the first ~200 by hand
11:36 AM rdtsc: ouch!
11:36 AM rdtsc: getting hand cramps just thinking about that
11:36 AM rdtsc: https://www.opulo.io
11:36 AM Tom_L: http://tom-itx.no-ip.biz:81/~webpage/boards/new_batch/cables2.jpg
11:39 AM rdtsc: Ugh, IDC connectors. When looking at the Mesa 7C80 vs. 7C81, picked the 7C80 specifically so I'd not have to make a bunch of those.
11:40 AM rdtsc: Never had the tool for it and always had to make by hand.
12:16 PM rdtsc is now known as rdtsc_away
12:30 PM rdtsc_away is now known as rdtsc
02:00 PM rdtsc is now known as rdtsc_away
02:48 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> https://jauriarts.org/_matrix/media/v3/download/jauriarts.org/grFMPPwYyFvjFCMEdZSGwuQf/20221129_133957.jpg
02:48 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> what's wrong with boards with IDC connectors?
02:48 PM lcnc-relay: (old picture of my 7i80HD, top)
02:48 PM lcnc-relay: just go to eBay and get cables, and breakout boards... just gotta be careful about voltage and static if you go the raw breakout route.
02:57 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> https://jauriarts.org/_matrix/media/v3/download/jauriarts.org/gDnQqZgWuNhQpvvjsVVAXWSx/20230609_094041.jpg
02:57 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> https://jauriarts.org/_matrix/media/v3/download/jauriarts.org/pcDMaNRhGrEFnoDQVHceyZQE/20230609_094016.jpg
02:57 PM lcnc-relay: <travis_farmer> looks more like these now, though pics are still outdated...
03:29 PM Unterhaus_ is now known as Unterhausen
03:29 PM Unterhausen: someone on facebook says they want to hook a 17bit quad encoder to lcnc. I have never heard of a standard quad encoder that also mentions the number of bits
09:52 PM Tom_L: JT-Shop, tooledit is not allowing paramater passing on the rpi: tooledit works, tooledit X Y Z DIAM does not
09:56 PM Tom_L: well on any os.. just tested on amd as well
09:58 PM Tom_L: ok hopefully the RPI4 testbed is all set up
10:37 PM roycroft: new nerdforge video today
10:37 PM roycroft: martina made a new computer with a built-in coffee maker
10:54 PM Connor: Any idea how to synchronize a spindle movement with drawbar actuation? The drawbar pulls the holder up about .125" an inch, but, no mater what I do, I can't match the Z spindle with it.. I think it's because as I do more and more testing, the PSI drops down, it takes a bit longer for the drawbar to work..
11:46 PM mrec: The mitsubishi machine zero setting is nothing but absolute garbage
11:47 PM mrec: zeroing the axis would drive the spindle into the table .. it passes the actual machine zero and doesn't care about it
11:48 PM mrec: I wonder why they provide documentation at all important things they use to not disclose anyway
11:48 PM XXCoder: zero at bottom? weird. only saw that with one okuma
11:48 PM XXCoder: nearly all machines have zero at top of machine
11:48 PM mrec: when I manually drive the spindle up ontop of the ATC it's actually 0/0/0
11:48 PM mrec: but homing will just run it into the table
11:49 PM XXCoder: quite a bit of oddity
11:49 PM mrec: garbage documentation
11:51 PM XXCoder: so wrong setting? you fixd it?
11:52 PM mrec: no
11:52 PM mrec: I'm overall trying to fix this garbage machine but it's difficult
11:52 PM mrec: today it showed up left door open .. wherever I look no cable there
11:53 PM mrec: so I end up disconnecting the cable at the input box on the controller (temporarily solved the issue)
11:53 PM mrec: the machine is in a bad condition
11:53 PM mrec: but homing I don't get that a "normal" system should not run away from the home position but this system does that