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OS OX

Discussion in 'CNC Mills/Routers' started by Rural, Sep 21, 2014.

  1. Rural

    Rural New
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    Rural published a new build:

    Read more about this build...
     
  2. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
    Staff Member Moderator Builder Resident Builder

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    Very nice work @Rural Love the indexing of the OX videos and would (with your permission) like to add them to the main OX build to help others along on their builds.
    Honestly did not know indexing could be done on youtube :)
    Keep up the great work and thank you for sharing
    Mark
     
  3. Rural

    Rural New
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    No problem. Go ahead and use it. We're all in this together.
     
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  4. Michael Jacobsen

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    In the Free area of CAD there is also "Autodesk 123D Design" and "DesignSpark Mechanical".

    One can use ChiliPeppr (JavaScript in browser, seems to work best in Chrome - Safari is a no-go for some reason) to control Grbl. This can even be done via network, as ChiliPeppr requires the JSON Serial Port Server to communicate to Grbl over the serial (USB) port. ChiliPeppr then connects to JSON Serial Port Server thru LAN.
     
    #4 Michael Jacobsen, Sep 22, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2014
  5. Rural

    Rural New
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    Good catch on ChiliPeppr, Michael. This reminds me of Octoprint, but it looks more inclusive. Amazing. Thanks for pointing it out.

    On Autodesk 123D Design and DesignSpark Mechanical... Well... There is a difference between "free" and "Free" in this context. I'll digress before I get into a lecture on open source and Creative Commons licensing, but to be blunt, the OX design wouldn't exist if it weren't for the permissive licensing of its predecessors.

    Suffice it to say that what I'm aiming for is a project that has nothing but open source software and Creative Commons designs. (That's an aim, not a goal.)
     
    #5 Rural, Sep 22, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2014
    silopolis likes this.
  6. Michael Jacobsen

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    @Rural : Sorry, didn't really notice the part about open source.

    Talking about open source, I think there is a "danger" in those projects where only one person is doing development. It being open source of course means anyone can pick up if the developer stops developing - but will that happen?
     
  7. Rural

    Rural New
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    I whole-heartedly agree, but the same can be said for conventionally-licensed projects. The number of conventionally-licensed projects that die in obscurity is undoubtedly massive, but we never hear about those deaths because they are never publicized. With open source software, they tend to see use very early in the development cycle, so the death of a project will be public.

    Good open source projects, like Chilipepper, generally attract developers, especially if an effort is made to popularize them. Exceptions exist. I mean, look how OpenSSL was practically ignored until HeartBleed happened, but open source projects generally wear their health way out on their sleeve (in forums, with code submission stats on GitHub, etc.), so one can check the vitals. This is exactly what I did for PyCAM and Skeinforge.

    Usually, when a popular open source project dies, it's because something better has come along. With Skeinforge, it seems like Slic3r and Cura stole the interest of any developers who might have taken over the project. I'm not sure that a good project dying because something better comes along is a bad thing. I've also seen open source projects that were awesome, but trying to push into an open source averse community (ie. the FOG project was aimed at medium-sized educational institutions) stumble. FOG eventually bounced back, but it was looking grim for a couple of years.
     
    #7 Rural, Sep 22, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2014
  8. Michael Jacobsen

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    About ChilPeppr and Raspberry Pi (and BeagleBoard and other mini-computers with Grbl for that matter): All that's needed on the mini-computers are an implementation of the JSON Serial Port Server, which is open source (written on "Go", haven't studied the license though), so just go ahead ... :)

    I actually have this crazy idea of getting Grbl ported to the Atmel SAMD21 MCU, which happens to be the MCU on the forthcoming Arduino Zero. Then connect a network controller to the SAMD21 and implement the JSON Serial Port Server protocol. But it all takes time ...
     
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  9. Michael Jacobsen

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    Posted link to this discussion on the OpenBuilds Google+ group - hope you don't mind, but this is as important as the CNC hardware IMHO.
     
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  10. Rural

    Rural New
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    No problem Michael. Ya, the most demanding thing the Raspberry Pi will be doing is handling the camera. The JSON Serial Port Server shouldn't take much oomph to run.

    We agree on the importance of the software-side of the build.
     
  11. Michael Jacobsen

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  12. Rural

    Rural New
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    Good catch Michael. That controller box is beautiful. Using the Alamode solves a bunch of problems too... Like the RPi's lack of a real-time clock, which I end up doing with all of my RPis.

    With ChiliPeppr, his project would provide a very user-friendly interface.
     
  13. Rural

    Rural New
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    So I've been waiting on parts to arrive...and playing with software as well. My deal with myself is that I have to solve all the problems with what I've obtained before buying the next item, and I get a two-item window. Got the power-supply, GRBL on an Arduino clone, a GRBLShield, and a couple of NEMA 17 steppers working fine. So now I'm looking at buying the proper motors. Which leads me to my questions:
    1. In the original OX build, the NEMA 17 motors are approximately 75 oz-in and the NEMA 23s are approximately 175 oz-in. Is this sufficient or over-kill?
    2. The Chinese retailers on EBay are tempting. Anybody had good luck with them? Free shipping would be nice, but a 3 week wait is going to hurt.
     
  14. Michael Jacobsen

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    Haven't tried those on eBay, but have used aliexpress with good results (except with a set of collets). Including spindle-motor and stepper-motors...
     
  15. Serge E.

    Serge E. Journeyman
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    SteppersOnLine has lots of choices, can ship express ... you just have to be willing to pay the price for that level of service. Getting enough stuff at once spreads the cost. I would like to think I came out at least close to even with tons of steppers, power supplies and such to pick from.
     
  16. Rural

    Rural New
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    For the steppers, I ended up going with EBay. Almost hit the go button on an order from SteppersOnline, but the shipping killed it. In a couple of weeks, we'll see if it ends up being a mistake or not.
     
  17. Serge E.

    Serge E. Journeyman
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    They certainly don't give too many choices for shipping. But the steppers did land at the border here in two days. The courrier at this end took its sweet time to drive the last mile (about a week !) The steppers were packed so beautifully I hated to remove them from such a cozy spot.

    It would be nice if SteppersOnline offered "slow boat" shipment (2+ weeks) like everyone else out of Asia... including some EBay sellers.
     
  18. Rural

    Rural New
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    Just an update: I've been hitting EBay a lot lately, both for the OS OX project and some upgrades to my 3D printer...and some electronics projects for my boys. The Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean sellers can be really economical on electronics parts and tools (basically stuff that's used in building consumer electronics). Other than the HY-DIV268N-5A drivers (which only work at about 30% of what they should), everything has been as it should be. One has to be careful on the free shipping. Sometimes, especially when you just need a small number of items, it's a great deal. Other times, when one needs a bunch of stuff, it can be better to pay for shipping separately.

    I've also been hitting the electronics recycling bin at our dump. Scored half-a-dozen mice yesterday and pulled the micro-switches I wanted last night. Hoping to figure out how GRBL needs them wired to act as limit/home switches tonight. This looks really easy, but one never knows until they try. I'm on the look-out for power supplies, which would best taken out of the (many) desktop computers sitting in the pile. Unfortunately, our dump doesn't like seeing computers leave the pile for privacy concerns. So I either have to be a ninja or a sweet-talker.

    Once the steppers arrive, it's on to the spindle. I'm leaning towards a 600-watt spindle as in my parts list. Since GRBL now supports PWM control of the spindle, I'd like to get that up and running.

    Then I'll be moving on to the physical bits.

    I should add that I'm working on a printed case for the Arduino and gShield. It will incorporate active cooling in a way that cools the bottom of the gShield, which, according to Synthetos, is where most of the heat is shed. I'm hoping to score some appropriately-sized fans from the electronics recycling pile for that project. My 3D printer is limping along at the moment, so the case project is on the back-burner until the printer is back in full working order.
     
  19. Serge E.

    Serge E. Journeyman
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    Can you bring tools with you ? You could strip computers on the spot, minimise the confidentiality concerns ...

    I'll have to hit our local pile as I keep seeing some 'nice' stuff ... like those inkjet printers and their carriage (rods, etc.) It should be good for my first home build 3D printer once I get to that item on my list.
     
  20. Rural

    Rural New
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    Serge, it depends on who is working at the dump. If it's the right guy, all is well and I can snoop through the pile and take what I want. No need for tools. If it's the other guy no explanation will work. Tonight, I was able to grab two towers without anyone noticing, drive a block away and strip what I needed from them right in our mini-van, and return what was left. So I've got a couple of power supplies to experiment with on a couple of projects unrelated to the OS OX.
     
    silopolis likes this.

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