Madmike8's Smartrap Build

For anyone thinking of doing this, PLEASE think SAFETY first. A 2+ Watt laser is dangerous! Even the reflections off this can cause serious damage to your eyes. While the glasses are a must have for anyone in the room, also remember safety for your pets too. I think an enclosure of some sort is probably the safest bet. I bought some shielding glass from Here. and will be building my laser into an enclosure.

That said, I like the idea of the dual hotend holder as a laser holder. We would have to work out a heatsink fan arrangement that would allow us to have a good Duty cycle with the laser. I'm not an awesome programmer, but I have looked at Marlin and think I could probably make it work. Ideally I think we would like to make the entire software tool chain compatible for dual purpose use. I know Inkscape has a plugin to export GCode already.

Maybe need to sit down and make a list of what changes need to happen, and figure out how to best implement them.

Some light reading, that may be helpful.

We have some resourceful people in our little Smartrap group, I'm pretty sure we can figure it out.

Always mark lasers and protection glass with the accurate wavelength.

Here is a post that might give some insight - [forums.reprap.org]

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From FreeCAD To The Real World- Demo video using FreeCAD and featuring the Smartrap 3D Printer

Now you got me a little worried.

I have a 4 yo son who's always around me when I'm printing (he probably thinks everything I print is for him ) Looks like this is just too risky

Or maybe I can just keep him out when I'm working on lasers. Have to do a lot more reading on this.

How fast does it cut stickers anyway?

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MelT
Now you got me a little worried.

I have a 4 yo son who's always around me when I'm printing (he probably thinks everything I print is for him ) Looks like this is just too risky

Or maybe I can just keep him out when I'm working on lasers. Have to do a lot more reading on this.

How fast does it cut stickers anyway?

Cutting stickers would depend on the power available and also the lens that you use. Get a good lens and it will concentrate the power a lot and give better cuts.

Yes, lasers are pretty dangerous if not protected from the rays, even scattered rays. My CO2 laser is only 80 watt and it has a honeycomb aluminium bed that is painted? or anodised in black to stop the reflection of light. Mine is infrared, so it is invisible to human eyes and that makes it even more dangerous.
One day I was cutting some acrylic sheet and noticed that after the cut there was a big hole along side of the cut. I thought there was something wrong with the file that I sent out, but after checking I couldn't find anything wrong.
I inspected the honeycomb bed and saw that a very small part had got a bit of damage, the blck was missing off one small side of one of the honeycomb cells. This exposed the aluminium underneath the paint?and reflected the light sideways and cut the hole in the acrylic.
That made me very wary after that because it was so powerful to do that damage from just a reflection..

I know that diodes do not have the same power, but they are dangerous anyway, so be careful and use the protection that is needed while using or setting up.
The light really needs to be contained and if using the blue diodes, red is the best filter for it. Laser goggles are not expensive either, I just bought five pairs so that if anyone happens to come by while I am playing with mine, they will have some protection to wear too.
Certainly not something to use around kids or even pets.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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markstephen
I've been thinking,(yea, I know... dangerous!), but I see no reason why one couldn't just mount a 2+ watt laser on the Smartrap just like I am with a second hotend and run with it. Use the Z probing for setting focal length of the fixed lens. The ideal thing would be to use some spare output on the RAMPS for controlling the laser, but someone much better at programming would need to figure that out in Marlin.

Mark

Hi Mark,
Here is an ideal laser in that size range. Comes with power supply, lens, diode, heatsink and fan too.
Would be quite easy to fit.

blue laser

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Nice find Reg.

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From FreeCAD To The Real World- Demo video using FreeCAD and featuring the Smartrap 3D Printer

how about using this board for a simple laser thingy?

http://www.schmalzhaus.com/EBB/

It has everything that you need:
2 stepper drivers (X and Y)
a solenoid (Laser ON and OFF)
a servo (focus?)

And it might be an idea to look into how eggbot works together with Inkscape.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2014 11:38PM by BackEMF.

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BackEMF
how about using this board for a simple laser thingy?

http://www.schmalzhaus.com/EBB/

It has everything that you need:
2 stepper drivers (X and Y)
a solenoid (Laser ON and OFF)
a servo (focus?)

And it might be an idea to look into how eggbot works together with Inkscape.

I just had a good read of that information, and yes you are right, it is really good for this purpose.
I have saved it all and will get more info when I have digested it more. Looks like a good way to go to me.
Thanks for that input.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

I just bought one of those boards, $65 with postage, not too bad.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

What i find interesting is how they use Inkscape to control this board.

I'm also planning to order this board but my main focus is on the SmartRap for now

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BackEMF
What i find interesting is how they use Inkscape to control this board.

I'm also planning to order this board but my main focus is on the SmartRap for now

I bought that board, it hasn't come yet of course, but I have decided to use RAMPS instead.
The cost is much lower for RAMPS, there are spare parts that wont be used, but handy, it has limits while the other board doesn't appear to have them, and it is easier I feel to setup RAMPS for what I am doing.
This will also make it compatible with the SmartRap or any other RAMPS controlled 3D printer.

I have almost built half of the new machine already. Case is made, printed all the axis parts out, designed and printed out all the parts for the protective lid (800mm x 650mm)
Now waiting on parts to come, laser head, bearings, smooth rods, red transparent acrylic sheet. All the rest I have ready. Can't wait ha..ha..

What I don't know yet and even don't know where to look for the info is how to change the menu on the LCD controller and how to program it. Anyone know about these things?

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Would be nice if there was a Inkscape extension for RAMPS and 2D (2.5D) control.
Is it still possible to run Marlin on an Arduino Uno or has Marlin gained to much code weight for that?

I have looked into the LCD code if there is a way to change the rotary encoder direction , for some parts of the menu it feels odd when turning to the right it lowers the values...
(is that perhaps Chinese logic?)

I've had a look in ultralcd.cpp tough changing the menu's is way over my head.

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BackEMF
Would be nice if there was a Inkscape extension for RAMPS and 2D (2.5D) control.
Is it still possible to run Marlin on an Arduino Uno or has Marlin gained to much code weight for that?

I have looked into the LCD code if there is a way to change the rotary encoder direction , for some parts of the menu it feels odd when turning to the right it lowers the values...
(is that perhaps Chinese logic?)

I've had a look in ultralcd.cpp tough changing the menu's is way over my head.

Yeah! I have the same problem with a couple of LCD screens, it is even worse when you have some that work clockwise and the others anti-clockwise. I grind my teeth a few times because of that.

Have a look at the page, it may be helpful about the lasers.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

I read somewhere that a Russian website has a plugin for Inkscape that will do what we want and send out G-code. I need to find that site again now that I need to use it.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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regpye
I read somewhere that a Russian website has a plugin for Inkscape that will do what we want and send out G-code. I need to find that site again now that I need to use it.

This should be more helpful I think.
instructables

I found the Russian site

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2014 02:21AM by regpye.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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regpye

Quote
BackEMF
Would be nice if there was a Inkscape extension for RAMPS and 2D (2.5D) control.
Is it still possible to run Marlin on an Arduino Uno or has Marlin gained to much code weight for that?

I have looked into the LCD code if there is a way to change the rotary encoder direction , for some parts of the menu it feels odd when turning to the right it lowers the values...
(is that perhaps Chinese logic?)

I've had a look in ultralcd.cpp tough changing the menu's is way over my head.

Yeah! I have the same problem with a couple of LCD screens, it is even worse when you have some that work clockwise and the others anti-clockwise. I grind my teeth a few times because of that.

You have no idea how many times my glass almost broke because of this. It's Just unnatural that the values decrease when you turn it clockwise. I tried searching for a fix before but there's not much info on it.

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MelT

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regpye

Quote
BackEMF
Would be nice if there was a Inkscape extension for RAMPS and 2D (2.5D) control.
Is it still possible to run Marlin on an Arduino Uno or has Marlin gained to much code weight for that?

I have looked into the LCD code if there is a way to change the rotary encoder direction , for some parts of the menu it feels odd when turning to the right it lowers the values...
(is that perhaps Chinese logic?)

I've had a look in ultralcd.cpp tough changing the menu's is way over my head.

Yeah! I have the same problem with a couple of LCD screens, it is even worse when you have some that work clockwise and the others anti-clockwise. I grind my teeth a few times because of that.

You have no idea how many times my glass almost broke because of this. It's Just unnatural that the values decrease when you turn it clockwise. I tried searching for a fix before but there's not much info on it.

Can you work it out from this? I haven't looked at it closely yet, not had time.
PDF

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Oh I was able to fix it. Just swap the pins for the encoder in pins.h I can't believe it took me so long to figure out.

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MelT
Oh I was able to fix it. Just swap the pins for the encoder in pins.h I can't believe it took me so long to figure out.

Hey that can't be right! that's too easy ha..ha.. Problem is that I have a few machines and some are CW and others ACW, Be nice if I could just swap some physical pins and fix them.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

I posted it on my blog in case you're interested...

[www.gettingmyfeetwet.com]

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regpye

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MelT
Oh I was able to fix it. Just swap the pins for the encoder in pins.h I can't believe it took me so long to figure out.

Hey that can't be right! that's too easy ha..ha.. Problem is that I have a few machines and some are CW and others ACW, Be nice if I could just swap some physical pins and fix them.

If you mean a fix that won't require re-uploading of firmware, I am sorry but that's beyond my capacity.

Even if we can trace which wire corresponds to the encoder, it would be harder to swap them than just upload the firmware. It took me less than 5 minutes really.

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MelT
I posted it on my blog in case you're interested...

[www.gettingmyfeetwet.com]

Good info there, thanks.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Yea i tried Gcodetools for inkscape but that's a learning curve in itself, the extension that eggbot uses is more straightforward if i understand it right.

THANK MeIT! I will try this tonight! I hope it fixes it for me aswell. Though I have the feeling that some menu's also have a swapped direction? Well i will see that tonight :-)

I don't know how it is for the other controllers, but the full-graphic-smart-controller this fixes the X Y and Z controls but it 'breaks' for instance the LCD contrast control, that worked 'right' before.
Now this change is actually better as like MeIT already mentioned, it's less risk that you damage something due to counterintuitive directions.
But sure thank MeIT, this improves things 50% already.

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BackEMF
I don't know how it is for the other controllers, but the full-graphic-smart-controller this fixes the X Y and Z controls but it 'breaks' for instance the LCD contrast control, that worked 'right' before.
Now this change is actually better as like MeIT already mentioned, it's less risk that you damage something due to counterintuitive directions.
But sure thank MeIT, this improves things 50% already.

What I can't understand is why some are CW and others are ACW. Maybe some are wired differently or something? Whatever, it is a real pain in the bum.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Yeah, I would think so, Reg.

I only have one printer so I can't really tell. But if you are using a lot of LCDs and everything else is the same (same brand, same firmware, same type of knob, etc.), and some of them work backwards, then I would think it may have to do with the way it was wired.

Some high-end LCDs may even have it's own firmware for controling the brightness and stuff that the marlin firmware does not control anymore. The brightness in my LCD has a separate potentiometer at the back so I don't control it via the encoder.

Oh well...

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MelT
Yeah, I would think so, Reg.

I only have one printer so I can't really tell. But if you are using a lot of LCDs and everything else is the same (same brand, same firmware, same type of knob, etc.), and some of them work backwards, then I would think it may have to do with the way it was wired.

Some high-end LCDs may even have it's own firmware for controling the brightness and stuff that the marlin firmware does not control anymore. The brightness in my LCD has a separate potentiometer at the back so I don't control it via the encoder.

Oh well...

Yeah, mine are the same too.I have a couple of printers that sit next to each other on my work bench and each moves a different way. I might try changing the cables from one to the other and see if they still move the same direction on each LCD or if it is coming from the Marlin electronics setup. If they both still work in the same direction then we will know if it is from Marlin or the LCD.
Or I have a spare LCD that I can try on both as well and see if there is any difference, that might be easier to do. I would like to get to the bottom of this, it has a few problems the way it is now..

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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regpye

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MelT
Yeah, I would think so, Reg.

I only have one printer so I can't really tell. But if you are using a lot of LCDs and everything else is the same (same brand, same firmware, same type of knob, etc.), and some of them work backwards, then I would think it may have to do with the way it was wired.

Some high-end LCDs may even have it's own firmware for controling the brightness and stuff that the marlin firmware does not control anymore. The brightness in my LCD has a separate potentiometer at the back so I don't control it via the encoder.

Oh well...

Yeah, mine are the same too.I have a couple of printers that sit next to each other on my work bench and each moves a different way. I might try changing the cables from one to the other and see if they still move the same direction on each LCD or if it is coming from the Marlin electronics setup. If they both still work in the same direction then we will know if it is from Marlin or the LCD.
Or I have a spare LCD that I can try on both as well and see if there is any difference, that might be easier to do. I would like to get to the bottom of this, it has a few problems the way it is now..

I just tried it out and found that I have two different brands. One has a red board and the other a black board. The red board has cable socket that has pin that are vertical to the board surface and the black board has sockets that are 90 degree to the board. I used a new controller and plugged into both. The red one worked the same as the before, backwards. The black one didn't work at all for some reason, maybe a different connector on the RAMPS end. So all I have established is that the red boards seem to be backward wired in some way.If we change the firmware and use all the same boards we would be alright.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

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regpye

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BackEMF
I don't know how it is for the other controllers, but the full-graphic-smart-controller this fixes the X Y and Z controls but it 'breaks' for instance the LCD contrast control, that worked 'right' before.
Now this change is actually better as like MeIT already mentioned, it's less risk that you damage something due to counterintuitive directions.
But sure thank MeIT, this improves things 50% already.

What I can't understand is why some are CW and others are ACW. Maybe some are wired differently or something? Whatever, it is a real pain in the bum.

Same here, does anyone know if this behaviour is like this on all Marlins or is only Smartraps Marlin affected? So Is it Standard Marlin misbehaviour, or maybe even just RepRapDiscount related? It's software related, so far it's clear to me. Every menu seems to have it's own direction coded in to it. I've been looking for 'known bugs' list for marlin but need more time to actually find it. :-)