DLP 3D Printer - Linux CNC customization

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06 Jun 2013 15:51 #35318 by fgcity
Hi everyone,

I am working on a DLP 3D printer and have already made some nice prints with it. Currently i am using MACH3 and am controlling the machine through the LPT port.

I use a custom Script for MACH to basically move an axis, open up a Power Point file and slide through each projection image while moving the axis again.

I am completely new to LinuxCNC but i want to use it and customize it for the DLP (SLA) 3D printer i have.

The whole process of control is quite simple except for one thing, which is the display of each layer as an image on the screen. The machine only has one axis to control and that is the Z lift platform. so my process is this:

1. Move Z 1mm up
2. Display a PNG image Full Screen
3. Wait 5 seconds
4. Show Black Screen
3. Move Z 1mm up

And this goes on and on for the available amount of PNG layer images.

I wanted to ask some help here, if someone could tell me what exactly i would need to do to make this work on LinuxCNC. Would i need a custom UI or i can do this with a script of sorts on LinuxCNC? I do know some programming but haven't used LinuxCNC before so please forgive me for the dumb questions in advance.

Perhaps there is a project already similar to this that i can look at? Any help would really be appreciated.

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07 Jun 2013 12:47 #35386 by cmorley
This sounds like a job for just HAL actually.

But you could do this by using linuxcnc and a custom M code to call an external program to show or hide a picture on the screen.
I bet you could use information from this page:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Axis_Embed_Video

Or customise a GUI like Gscreen to do what you want.

Chris M

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07 Jun 2013 21:58 #35412 by andypugh

1. Move Z 1mm up
2. Display a PNG image Full Screen
3. Wait 5 seconds
I wanted to ask some help here, if someone could tell me what exactly i would need to do to make this work on LinuxCNC. Would i need a custom UI or i can do this with a script of sorts on LinuxCNC?.


I think a custom UI would be most satisfactory, but not stricly neccessary.
G-code can be persuaded to display an image, have a look at the two custom M-code examples at the very bottom of this page:
linuxcnc.org/docs/html/gcode/m-code.html

I guess the projector is set up as a separate screen?

I would be more tempted to have a HAL + glade system. A very simple HAL file to load a single stepgen + the realtime system, and a GaldeVCP UI to load / display the image files and drive the stepgen input pin.

So, an executable script to start your system called "dlp"
#!/bin/bash
halrun -f dlp.hal

Then a HAL file called dlp.hal
loadrt threads name1=base-thread period1=100000 name2=servo-thread period2=1000000
loadrt stepgen count=1
loadrt hal_parport cfg="0x378 out"
addf stepgen.make-pulses base-thread
addf stepgen.capture-position servo-thread
addf stepgen.update-freq servo-thread

net step stepgen.0.step => parport.0.pin-09-out
net dir stepgen.0.dir => parport.0.pin-10-out

 loadusr -Wn gladevcp gladevcp -c gladevcp -x {XID}  dlp.py dlp.ui

net pos-cmd  dlp.motor-pos-cmd => stepgen.0.position-cmd

start

All off the top of my head, totally untested, but an indication of what is involved.

There is a vaguely similar (non working) complete config here: linuxcnc.org/hardy/dapper/index.php/ital...al-power-laser#22961
The following user(s) said Thank You: fgcity

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07 Jun 2013 22:03 #35413 by fgcity
Tnx guys, i really appreciate your help on this. Will try out few things as soon as i get the hang of the code for the custom UI.

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