Plotter
Info
The dedicated plotter was built by Joe Dohm in 2024. He might be able to answer questions
Info is available in the following github repositories
https://github.com/allhandsactive/drawit
https://github.com/allhandsactive/midTbot_esp32
The plotter firmware is fluidnc. The web interface is available at fluidnc.local when it is connected to the same wifi as you.
Use
The plotter has three buttons. Red is emergency stop. It activates the reset pin on the ESP32. The two yellow buttons are home and start. The home button does just that, and the start button starts running the file temp.gcode located on the SD card.
Ideally, the steps to operating are as follows:
- Plug in the access point and wait for the interface to come up
- Plug in the plotter
- Home the plotter
- Insert a quality ballpoint or felt tip pen
- Use drawit to create and upload a gcode file to the plotter
- Run the file using the button
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 until time is up
Dev Info
The plotter homes to the maximum X value and the minimum Y value. All movements are interpreted in work coordinates. It is possible to switch between multiple work coordinate systems, but it isn't necessary for this project. The Z work space should match the Z machine space. To re-define work space, use the web interface to jog to a point and then using the zero button for a single axis. The zero for work space should be located at machine space (10,15,0).
The maximum range of the plotter is 111x131 mm. Because work space is offset for machine space, a drawing should be no larger than 100x125mm. For use, the +Y direction will be toward the viewer/customer, so the bottom of the drawing should be near y=125 and the top near y=0.
Updates to the config file are only temporary if made through the web interface. Updates to wifi settings etc are permenant through the web interface. In the web interface, "flash settings" will be permenant changes, and "config items" will be temporary changes. To make permenant config changes, you must download config.yaml, make changes, and reupload.
The plotter is currently setup to connect to AllHandsActive-Members. If the specified SSID is not available, the plotter will start as an access point (SSID fluidnc, the usual password). To change the wifi, open the web interface (fluidnc.local) and go to the FluidNC tab at the top. Scroll down to STA/SSID and update the SSID to the new value. Switching between AllHandsActive-Members and AHAOuterSpace should not require a password change. The firmware requires escape characters for SSIDs that have spaces, so beware (I have forgotten exactly how to do this, but you can probably figure it out in about 10 minutes of googling).
There is also a serial interface available via USB
Important web interface commands
$X - reset alarm state
$SS - view startup messages
Gcode conversion
https://sameer.github.io/svg2gcode/ is a web based UI to convert to gcode. Important settings are:
Feedrate:9000
OriginX:0
OriginY:0
DPI:96
Tool on Sequence (without blank line it may be possible to use an &. The web interface does some input sanitizing that the actual program probably won't)
;blank line
g0 z0
Tool off Sequence
;blank line
g0 z3
Program End Sequence
G0 X-100 Y0 z3