There’s a lot to be said for all of that. Then read all the complaints about Easel needing internet connectivity, and the Glowforge stuff in the laser section about the fact that they are cloud only.
BTW, estlcam will do most of what you want already.
well, don’t confuse things… nothing i’ve said relies on it being cloud only. I mentioned Chilipeppr and Easel, but you could run any other software just like Bart is doing. Furthermore, there is nothing keeping the developers of Chilipeppr and Easel from making them support offline operations and letting users choose when to upgrade… they have just chosen not to do so. I don’t want this to be misconstrued into a conversation of cloud versus local software.
And it really doesn’t have anything to do with software applications. It really means we need to push on a shift in the hardware interfaces to CNC machines and making them more like appliances run by PCs. With a touchscreen PC on the CNC controller itself, you could run almost any GCODE software you want. And the user could stop worrying about serial ports and buffering.
Will Estlcam work with the new X-Controller?
I was able to run Estlcam on the X-Controller without modifications. I have not had a chance to fully test it though.
FrankGraffagnino wrote In the future, CNC machines will not be hooked up with serial cables…
there already are the commercial ones at least. They have embedded controllers with all of the features you describe even data fed from the net.
My feelings about the 'cloud" can be summed up in one admonishment from the’60s about communications. “Don,t put all of your eggs in one basket” The ‘cloud’ is called the ‘cloud’ because you cannot determine where the data is at or how it got there. Yes , the IP address gets you there an back but how it travels is the cloud part. Putting something on the cloud is putting all of your eggs in a single basket somewhere out there. this would have been considered fool hardy back then and I see no reason to not consider it the sane today. Yes I am old fashioned but I have seen the failures
hardware can surprise you with. I made my living off of hardware failures and the ‘cloud’ is hardware.
Ask any Zeepro 3D machine owner why “cloud” based devices are a bad idea. Owner had wreck, business folded, server went quiet, all “cloud” services went away. The local machine services, supplied prior to the “cloud” being available, was all that was left.
Put no more hardware between you and desired result than necessary.
I know that the “cloud” will be used more and more, but until the Wild West Web connection is cheaper and easier to access local operation will always be needed.
John
My controller hack is not dependent on any one cloud. You can use dropbox, google, drive, one drive, or even a folder on your own network.
This is just one tiny non required feature of the hack too. You can also email or micro SD the files as well.
+1 for headless
There are several ways to do this with available tools today. E.g with an RPI/ RPI2/BBB and a local connection (LAN or WiFi) you can
The latter could be also done with a smartphone/tablet.
Another thumbs up for headless …
I’ve been controlling my X-Carve using GRBLweb running on a Raspberry Pi connected to my LAN (wired connection). My workflow goes like this:
I’ve only done some fairly simple 2.5D projects so far, but this has worked well. I originally considered dragging an old Windows desktop or laptop into my dusty shop but decided against it. The Pi takes up very little space and can be tucked away under the X-Carve along with the rest of the electronics …
thought i would post this here since it might spark ideas… i bought one of these to put in the garage… pretty much a fully functional PC for a little over a hundred bucks… runs full windows… has USB ports. Basically a full PC - PLUS… it has a touch screen, large resolution… solid state… lots of other nice things.
http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_235081.html
I was going to make another post as a possible garage PC, but I thought I would also mention it here since you aren’t limited to android apps or anything like that (although you can since it also has Android on it), but you could just have a separate popup window with a controller interface that you could put on this thing.
Here’s a pic of it in my garage with my second monitor hooked up:
It’s too bad the X-Controller did not have a DB-25 option. I’d get one and hook it up to MachineKit /w a 7" touchscreen.
I used to use a Pi as a g-code sender/controller for my X-Carve. I hated it. If I made a mistake with my .nc file (which was all the time) I would have to run off to another room to fix / re-send it.
I ebay’d a Mac Mini and love having Easel right at my fingertips to fix files and do last-minute preflight on everything before wasting material/ruining bits.
great mod, i would love to see this for sale on the invetables website,
sorry for my lack of knowledge, but could i buy this tablet just to run easel off the USB port?
i am currently using my mac in the workshop and i hate to see dust on the keyboard, besides a touch screen would be nice.
let us know if this software becomes avalable for download, im sure many people would want it.
thanks guys
carwyn
Indeed, I would love a touch screen friendly interface.
