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C2 LCD Controller modification for the Beta/R1/R1+

Discussion in 'Projects' started by mark tomlinson, Mar 5, 2017.

  1. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Here is a snap of it printing the case (taken with the OctoPrint camera). making some Pi with embedded 3.5" LCD screens that we can hopefully get working with the R1/+ style printers. I want them to work pretty close to the same way the LCD works on the C2 so I will be playing with RoboOS and see where we can go.

    C2 Working.jpg
     
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  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    This is another "why not try" sort of mods :)

    C2 Working1.jpg
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    And... this just works:

    20170307_103143.jpg


    When connected to the R1 (or beta, or R1+) via USB and the rPi is booted you get control of the R1+ just like the C2.

    Is everything the same? Probably not, but the basic controls and functionality are there. I will be doing more testing to see what "surprises" are in store.
     
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  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It also has a copy of OctoPrint working on it ...
    you can set that up for your WiFi and be in control
     
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  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Going to go ahead and finish the second one I had for the other robo and do more testing.
    There are some parts that work wrong, but darn few. The big one I found so far was the Z offset wizard.
    It works fine until the end when it tries to drive the X carriage through the ceiling :)
    Rather than using a HOME command they are manually sending a GCode go to position and since the Z axis is inverted on the C2/R2 that ends up being the wrong direction. <shrug> OK, DO not run the wizard.
     
    #6 mark tomlinson, Mar 7, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2017
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I wired this to the 12v output of the R1 power supply:

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IV0WAHG?psc=1

    Then ran the USB power from that to the Pi (with a USB to MicroUSB cable) and (of course) have the Pi connected to the printer USB computer input.

    It now all powers up together with the A/C power switch.
     
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  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    So total investment here is:
    1) RaspberryPi 3 ($35)
    2) Printed parts (time really)
    3) USB adapter board ($5.60)
    4) an 8 GB SD card (no clue on cost -- shop around I used Sandisk)
    5) A shorty USB cable (like the "joke" ones they include with an Arduino kit -- they are 12" long) like this: https://www.amazon.com/Pack-Male-Feet-Black-CNE463938/dp/B016RVC1Z2
    6) A one foot USB to MicroUSB cable: https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Cable-INNOVAA-Premium-High-Speed/dp/B010P4BBI0
    (this will plug into the power converter and then into the Pi for power. using this adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IV0WAHG)
    7) the LCD screen : http://www.banggood.com/3_5-Inch-32...r-Raspberry-Pi-2-Model-B-RPI-B-p-1023432.html
    If you want the 5" screen (like the R2) this is that one: https://www.amazon.com/SunFounder-Monitor-Display-800X480-Raspberry/dp/B01HXSFIH6
    or this one: https://www.banggood.com/5-Inch-800...berry-PI-3-Model-B2-Model-BBAB-p-1054289.html
    However the case I used here will not work for that one.

    Granted a tiny bit of soldering is needed for step #6 to solder the wires from the power supply output onto the small USB power adapter. But not much specialty skillz needed. also wrapped the board with some heat shrink after soldering the wires on and double-back taped it inside the Robo case on the bottom.
     
    #8 mark tomlinson, Mar 7, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2017
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    And now that I have three of them on the network I went and changed the hostnames on them to be more unique and representative like "RoboC2" and "RoboVolcano", etc.
     
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    OK, after more experimentation... The RoboOS image is quite old here -- granted only two weeks, but version wise ... not very close. 1.04 versus 1.14 so I am cloning the newer image from the C2 and will re-burn that on the other cards and reset the HostName, etc again... Oh yea, reconfigure the printer profile in OctoPrint too... the R1 has a bit larger bed... and not Z inverted :)

    Mostly it works. There are some things we need to change because we are sending the autoleveling commands (which launches the BiLinear dance) and the LCD is sending the autoleveling commands (which launches the bilinear dance). So effectively it is getting autoleveled twice.

    Given how we are using this with the OctoPrint we need to just zero out the startup scripts in Simlpify3D and let the OctoPrint scripts handle everything.
     
    #10 mark tomlinson, Mar 7, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2017
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I am not sure that these will self-apply RoboOS updates, I will let you know what I see. They *should* but...
     
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    OK, it is printing. Turns out you DO need to let the Z offset wizard run it course.
    You need to go into OctoPrint and make sure the profile has the correct dimensions for the R1+ AND that you uncheck the "Z axis inverted" selection.

    C2 LCD mod1.jpg

    C2 LCD mod2.jpg
     
  13. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The Z offset will be backwards from what the C2 expects so ... when you launch the print it will warn you that the offset is (for example) +1.2 (when on the C2 this would be negative number). No problems. Print anyway :)
     
  14. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Forcing the Z offset wizard to be run will be a problem for people using MESH leveling, are you sure it has to run at all?
     
  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    If you used something else (not ABL, but MESH) then you would be fine. You would just edit the GCode settings in OctoPrint.
    Right now it is forcing some additional startup code in there. I have not trimmed all of that out yet. At one point we were using the G29 from Simplify and then OctoPrint was tossing another one in there... so it did the bilinear stuff... twice.
     
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You would still get that warning every print that the Z offset is boogered... you could still just ignore it.
    That is LCD side code.
     
  17. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    If it stores the result in M851 it really shouldn't matter for MESH, since MESH ignores whatever is in that spot. But forcing the run is not what I would call a best practice.
     
  18. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    I am glad you tried this, because I would never have on my own. There is just too much 'junk' in the OS image for me to want to run it as is.
     
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You could (via the LCD) set a small negative Z offset (like -0.01) and then the warning will not pop up :)
     
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The LCD screen adds a lot of really nice features to the Robo R series. But I would not call everything software on there exactly perfect or even quite up to consumer black-box/appliance standards. It does do some weird things. Because we are not on a 192.x.x.x subnet with those printers the networks status screen gets all confused and reports a totally bogus IP address :) There are a number of other usability issues, all minor, but they give it a v1.0 feel...
     

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