Anyone running anything besides the tinyg / raspberry pi / chilipeppr combo? Everytime I try and use the machine I have about a 50/50 chance of something crashing mid job. Be it the tinyg or chilipeppr or the raspberry pi or whatever.
@Brandon_Satterfield I think you were looking at some other solutions a while back. What did you settle on?
I don’t have an R7 but I do use an Arduino with a CnC shield.
The software I use is bcnc on Linux.
I believe a raspberry Pi can run bcnc also.
Hi Ben,
I probably had exactly the same problem before.
The problem: machine stopping midway through a project.
Likely issue: limit switches were being activated since those wires were not properly shielded. Electronic 'noise was activating them spontaneously.
Solution: in your chilipeppr settings turn off you limit switches by setting them to 0 before you cut. E.g. $xsn=0
Re-activate them after the job is done to do your homing.
You can also get properly shielded wires for the limit switches but since its tough for me to find those, I just chose the easy fix of turning the switches off.
My limit switches are all shielded. This time it crashed in a way I’ve not seen before.
Tinyg stopped responding to any commands so not an alert condition. Serial comms just crapped out for some reason. After rebooting the whole system I tried to restart my run at a previously completed line but chilipeppr sent it off in the wrong direction somehow so it shifted the work piece unexpectedly.
I had previously ran 3 jobs today without issue. There always seems to be some kind of weakness somewhere in the stack that bites me though.
I would pick up a TB6550 3 xais card and run it on linuxcnc.
I had errors with a the machine not liking starting a cut with an arc.
check if the feed rate exceeded machine setting. Also extra M or G code in program that could cause it to IE M03 or M05 if you have combined two program is might start the spindle twice and freak out.
If you have time check out Autodesk Inventor HSM it generates gcode and the used of cad too. you can get it free if your a student or know one
I am now running an Azteeg X5 GT. I have an Intel Nuc running at the machine, and have started running cncjs. I really like the combo now. I had tried bCNC for a while but now prefer the cncjs interface.
Yeah switching to Linuxcnc might well be on the cards. Good call on the arcs… Previous jobs I ran I converted all arcs to beziers. That last job I forgot to do that…I bet that’s the issue.
Will give cncjs a go tomorrow maybe.
I had the same issue going on, with multiple computers. I switched to planetcnc. I really gave chilipeppr a fair try, and I loved the simplicity of wiring the tinyg, but the fail rate almost made me give up on cnc.
Edit: I never had limit switches.
Yeah that’s kind of how I’m feeling right now. It’s costing money wasting material too.
@Ben_Delarre I don’t do the rPi thing but on a windows laptop connected to the TinyG I can run 5mb files all day. The key for me every time is to turn off the 3d visualizer.
If you can Ben remove the rPi and try that. We are on Wifi in a shop a ways away from the router and rarely have an issue.
Yeah I really need to get myself a garage PC connected directly to the TinyG i think. I’ve got a Raspberry Pi 3 coming today which should hopefully be a step up from the Pi 1 thats in the box right now, hopefully that will make things more reliable.
I am however considering a move to MachineKit (LinuxCNC). With a beaglebone black, one of the necitec capes, and 3x big external stepper drivers. I already own the BBB, so the total setup cost will be about $200.
Interestingly the MachineKit guys have been doing some great work setting up a proper abstraction layer to drive communications into and out of the realtime LinuxCNC platform called MachineTalk which should be a great foundation for building out a proper web ui with the internal guts of LinuxCNC which honestly I think will be the best of both worlds.
Been watching the dialogue here and I get that your wires are shielded… with all that said I would still give turning off the limit switches a try.
Also as Brandon mentioned you can turn off the visualizer in chilipeppr.
It was definitely the arc moves causing tinyg to crash. Still seems like there are bugs in that firmware. Re ran the job today after converting to lines and was fine.
You have to watch the ENGAGE and RETRACT settings. in the gcode generator. Me a line , helix, are ok, Arc will crash my mill. But I strongly suggest getting a cad program with Linuxcnc and a (TB6550 $50-75 optional). And here are the reasons why. You have spent allot of time and money for your setup. And the constant crashes cost time and money. Its worth taking the time if you can to learn CAD and there are plenty of online tutorial for cad and milling . Its a different feeling when your machine runes 99.7% of the time. And the 0.3% really suck
Once you have or import the R7 a cad file with the mill and the spoil board or mill plate. Then in the cad programs CAM feature you can set up all of your different cuts and tools and cutting depth and feed. Then each time you need a new part you can reuse all the setup from the first file and so no and simulate the files also. here is a FREE 3 year CAD/CAM package. And then control your mill with Linuxcnc also free
Check out Titans of CNC. They are Incredible!
@Ben_Delarre what Gcode generator are you using?
I have been using (Unigraphics) Siemens NX for 23 years… it is the. High end cad. Auto Desk has a very decent inventor cad package that is much more affordable.
I’m currently using Vectric Aspire for most 2d and 2.5d work. I’ve started looking at HSM for Solidworks which is looking promising but don’t have time on this project to adapt to a new tool currently.
If you have 30 minutes check out the Titans if cnc Academy. You can pick up a lot on a couple of videos. Also I would say away from any wireless communications with your mill and pc. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.