Inventables Community Forum

Is anyone using TinyG reliably? What software are you using?

Software
#1

I’m about to downgrade to the Grbl just to get some functionality.

Chillipeppr requires internet and is unstable with the tinyG (requires frequent resets, switches G21 and G20 when resetting, sometimes just freezes up). Also, I can’t run Chilipeppr directly on a Raspberry Pi 3, so I still have to dedicate my laptop to the carve.
UGS Platform 1.0.9 doesn’t seem to fully support TinyG - very important buttons don’t work. For instance: reset zero (G54), return to zero, STOP…among nearly every other button. Doesn’t work either on Pi 3 or Windows 10 laptop. Also, no visualization on Pi 3, so my laptop is still required. Maybe I’m doing it wrong? Is anyone getting this working reliably?
Carbide’s software doesn’t want to open a connection if it’s not a grbl.

Long story short, does anyone have a stable, non-internet, visualizing software solution for the TinyG?

#2
#3

That looks promising, I’ll check it out in just a few.

#4

Well, the jury is still out. I was having a heck of time getting Cncjs installed. Eventually I Got Node.js to install correctly, which allowed me to install pm2. But once everything was installed I couldnt get anything to run. And the tutorial just said to reboot…

So I went back and did step 2 (which I had previously skipped intentionally) by changing the boot settings to CLI. The pi never recovered. It got stuck starting pm2 on the splash screen. I couldn’t figure out how to get it into the GUI from there. So I ended up reimaging the SD card and starting over.

I still have high hopes for CNCJS! I’m feeling a little inept at this right now, but I’ll try again tomorrow.

#5

here is an image for the raspberry pi that is preconfigured with cncjs this is from the protoneer raspberry pi controller page at http://wiki.protoneer.co.nz/Raspberry_Pi_CNC_-_Quick_Start_Guide#What_you_will_need_to_get_started

http://wiki.protoneer.co.nz/Raspberry_Pi_CNC_User_Interface_SD_Card_Image

Raspberry Pi’s run a full blown Operating system from it’s on board SD card. Pre-configured SD card images are available to speed up the setup process. For this project we created a new image that includes a bunch of applications that can interact with the Raspberry Pi CNC board.

hope this helps as I also use a Raspberry Pi 3 but I use GRBL and easel local or UGS but if I ever wanted to upgrade to more axis I will also need to run something like TinyG.

Included software:
Standard Raspberry Pi Jesse Image.
bCNC : A python based user interface application for controlling GRBL Boards.
CNC.js : A nodeJS web based interface for controlling GRBL boards.
Added extras’s : MiniCom,XRDP and NodeJS

To install the image follow the standard process as documented by the Raspberry Pi website

1 Like
#6

I suggest you try the stand alone version to try it out

#7

I agree, but if he is having trouble to get it installed this might help get him started with all the prerequisites. I hope he gets it all working as I am also curious how it turns out. someday I might like to add more axis and GRBL has its limits on that.

#8

but if he is having trouble to get it installed this might help get him started with all the prerequisites

I agree, and second that. It’s a great suggestion. Trying it out with the stand-alone installer may be yet another way to try it, with minimal commitment.

I’m curious what it would cost to have a decent spindle gimbal to enable 5 axis milling.

#9

I did not have any problems installing on my Raspberry Pi3 but then I usually don’t. heavy emphasis on usually :slight_smile:
I like the ideal of TinyG as it gives you more memory to load your firmware and the ability to control more axis than just three (four if they are slaved) but then I loose the ability to use Easel although that is not a deal breaker Easel is still the most easy program I have seen to knock out a quick project.
going to keep an eye on how this turns out on the Raspberry Pi. Thanks @AlexDenton for posting your progress.

#10

I was using tinyG with chillpeppr quite successfully.
(at the time UGS didn’t work with TinyG - not sure if that has changed yet)
I initially had a lot of problems but there were local to my computer. Changing computers cleared up a lot of issues. At first it switched to a tablet, but even running the tablet version of chillipeppr I was having insufficient memory issues. Switching back to a regular laptop fixed that.

I REALLY liked the work coordinate system of the TinyG version of chiller and the “Text on completion of file” widget.

But I upgraded to more powerful controllers and had to switch back to GRBL so I had a 5V board to drive the outputs. Unfortunately the grbl version of chillypeppr does’t support the latest grbl 1.1,or work coordinates. So I have switched back to UGS.

#11

not sure either but as listed on their web site:
https://winder.github.io/ugs_website/
A full featured gcode platform used for interfacing with advanced CNC controllers like GRBL and TinyG. Universal Gcode Sender is a self-contained Java application which includes all external dependencies, that means if you have the Java Runtime Environment setup UGS provides the rest.

#12

I’m going to try this on a fresh SD card tomorrow, I think it might be my best chance. I got much further in the cncjs installation yesterday, but I got hung up on iptables. It couldn’t identify the “nat” table. I’m going to try again with that, also.

What I was really hoping for, though, was a program that could work directly with the Raspberry Pi- no web enablement, no extra computer. The Pi has the power to do the work…but can it also give me a visualization? The program doesn’t even need to animate the visualization…just tell me where the machine thinks it is and how the cut is oriented and scaled. Does bCNC do this? Does anything?

#13

If you have 3D enabled with your monitor then UGS platform should work. UGS also has a visualization tab that will open up a new window that shows current position as it is cutting. I always tell everyone to install and try all the programs. Under Linux if you do not like them then they are easy to delete. I always keep them as some have great features that I want sometimes but not always. so I have them when I want them, I use UGS or Easel most of the time for ease of use. But sometimes I need more so then I also have Bcnc etc.

#14

Where you able to get the vis w/UGS on the Pi3? I couldn’t get it to pull up. I figured I could overcome the lack of zeroize features with macros, but I don’t know how to get the visualization.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll have better news this weekend. .

#15

I’ve had decent results with Chillipeppr. I just really wanted to keep my laptop out of the garage (the wifi signal isn’t great in there, either). I was hoping that cutting out the network out would help some of the buffer issues and lock-ups on Chillipeppr

#16

Partial success! The image works. I tried to enable GL on the Piso I could see graphics…but that prevented it from booting for some reason. Anyway, partial success.

#17

I have a vizio television hooked up as a monitor and the refresh rate has been a problem with getting 3D enabled on the raspberry pi. but when I did have it on I could get the 3D preview in easel working and it was smooth, but after about 15 min it did a black screen and reboot. from what I can tell it is a driver issue for the HDMI and can be worked around. I have not needed the 3D previews so I never worked on making it better.

#18

Well, after much nashing of teeth… I’m going to go back to my laptop running Chillipeppr and dealing with all the false starts. For now.

I’m going to buy a GRBL so I can use other software. Anyone out there have a favorite stepper motor driver? Anyone interested in buying a TinyG for cheap…

#19

I decided to try CNCJS on my laptop. I looks like it might answer all my gripes about chilipeppr. I put my old desktop under the workbench and I’m going to make this work.

#20

Hurray! Success at last!

Thank you to everyone who suggested CNC.js - this was just the offline program I wanted. It works really well, much less buggy that Chilipeppr has been for me.

Also, I never got the raspberry pi to work as a stand-alone controller. I wasn’t trying to do a headless setup, just a stand-alone. I ended up using a old [but newish] desktop to run the show.