This is the kind of stuff I am no good at chasing down. I can spend days hunting for something like that. Glad there ae folks like you out there who kinda geek out over it. And the splash screen...... Awesome "product placement". :-)
Step over while running works well in mould making to BLEND an area IE side wall curve , when moving in 3 directions at the same time , mostly on REPAIR work where your matching surfaces and cutting off a inserted NEW chunk of steel. Regards J
Ron, surprisingly not. I spent all of an hour poking around and most of that time was spent trying to figure out how to shell out of the PathPilot program. The bulk of LinuxCNC is centered around 3 files, so there's not a whole lot of mystery. The coders also did a great job of documenting everything in the comments. This makes me want to convert my cnc router over to LinuxCNC.
I miss working on the old VWs. I'm still on the hunt for another project, I just haven't had the right amount of money at the right time. The Ghia goes on the lift in late October and comes off about now. We still have about 4 weeks of "snow season" left, so I haven't brought it down yet. Strangly enough, the milling machine sits in a spot where I can't move the lift without moving it. I bought a pallet jack last week so I can move the mill 2x a year to get the car onto and off the lift... I'm looking VERY forward to "driving season".
you've been cranking out a lot of guitar tools, cool to see your business is going strong! But really, you should take us on a ride in the ghia soon man hahaha!
Just a couple of corrections, TMC = Tormach Machine Centre ? definately Tormach Machine somthing. Linux is now Mint Rosa not gnome in PP v2 but damn handy tip, thank you for sharing.
Thanks shopdogsam! The machine behind it is amazing. As a kid I used to dream about being able to do this stuff and now I have it in my garage... I'm slowly learning the art of machining and applying it to the new technology. Its a trip.
Good tip! I figure if it's just a comment, I'll be able to find it... That said, git hub has a was to track changes in linux, so I may just go that route for future tweeking. I'll def have to track all changes, so I can put things back to normal after the next update from Tormach.
With my setup, "Shift-Alt" did not get me to the desktop. Once in Pathpilot, "Cntrl-Alt-x" got me a terminal window, then I entered ''caja' to get the desktop.
It's weird... Sometimes it doesn't work and other times it doesn't. I'm guessing if you hit it before the USB devices load, it doesn't register. I've found that if I hit and hold several times during boot up, my chances are better... I didn't realize that CAJA would get you to the desktop. Also, I'm trying this today... Someone told me if you plug in a second screen you see the desktop on it.
Nice work. That's the exact sort of thing HAL is good for. The more footguns you can remove from your workflow, the better. Also, I finally wrote a little blurb on how to automatically snapshot your configurations on an hourly/daily basis. The gist of it's here - you might need to change a few things (eg. username, files copied, etc.) to make it work for your machine. Just something that's good to do before you make too many changes. github.com/swolebro/swolebro-youtube/blob/master/linuxcnc/misc/git-backups.rst If you ever end up getting a big update from Tormach, you can use that saved history to aggregate all the changes you've done, and reapply the to the updated stuff. As long as the changes aren't too crazy, git is pretty good about reapplying them, and if it can't figure it out, it at least tells you were to look and fix it up yourself. If you want to do velocity control with the XBox controller, then I'd say check out the `man motion` pages and look for input pins to feed off of the hal_input pins. In particular, "jog-counts" is probably useful, as is "jog-vel-mode." Personally, I keep my jog in "continuous" mode, so that's fine enough granularity for me. Even if I can't make the machine creep, I can always bump it in small amounts.
I can't say thanks enough for the help. I've been reading a bunch of other hacks and re-watching your linuxCNC vids trying to get all the syntax and logic mapped out in my head. I think I'm going to chicken out just a bit to start with... I'm going to use your QJoystick approach to get things moving and to prove that the controller with actually work with the system. Once I have that, I can actually copy a bit of the approach that the shuttle wheel uses. It has 15 discreet steps that affect the speed of the motors... At some point I want to be able to move quickly to get within range, then shift the function to an incremental bump of say .0001" so I can touch off x,y & z with my Haimer probe... That reminds me... I read or saw someone mention that they turned an analog haimer into a digital one with a webcam... I gotta find that one again, I didn't get to watch how the dude did that. I'll also peek at GitHub. My plan was to write everything down in a text doc and video the process so I can go back and teach myself again in 2 years when they update PathPilot again.
Here's the guy who did the webcam/Haimer. He's got the code for it in the GitHub link in the videos description. I haven't tried to run it myself (no need, on a CNC plasma), but it's only a couple Python modules. Ask him about it, and I might be able to provide some backup support if needed. ua-cam.com/video/w3novypPqos/v-deo.html Videos are good too. Tracking the files in git just makes sure you don't miss writing anything down. And part with publishing to GitHub is totally optional - git works equally well for tracking files offline.
@@swolebro Ok... Just tried to install the QJoypad program. No dice. I found the Targz file and followed the install.txt. When I ./config I get an error that I need libxtst to compile the program. I noticed that you have a .deb package in your video. I can't find the .i386 version out on the googleator. Is there a place where compiled installers exist? I think I can do 90% of what I need in the QJoypad program and it will get me up and running until I can sort the velocity piece out... I've got a BUNCH of the "behind the scenes" items located (how to switch from jog to step, how to control the steps, how to control max velocity, etc. Thanks for any help you can offer.
@@GregsGarage Since a Tormach is probably running a newer version under the hood than LinuxCNC 2.7, you can probably install QJoypad by doing a "sudo apt-get install qjoypad" from the command line. The .tar.gz you found is probably the plain source code for the project, which as you discovered, you gotta compile from scratch. More work than you need to do. Most Linux distributions go and pre-compile packages for their users and make them available on software repositories - for Debian and all its derivatives (Ubuntu, Mint, LinuxCNC, etc.), those pre-compiled packages are .deb files, and the tool to download and install them is apt-get. I only manually installed the .deb file in my video since LinuxCNC 2.7 is based on such an old Debian, that they never bothered compiling QJoypad for it. So I manually grabbed the precompiled files for a newer Debian, which just so happened to still work. Give the apt-get install a shot, and if that doesn't work maybe we can figure out a thing for a videoconference and I can walk you through it. Not that I want to make a habit of doing that for everybody, but your videos might at least reach enough people to make it worth my time.
I think I found it on a janky looking site... Yikes! It installed, then I promptly had to hop onto another task. I'll check it out tomorrow and see if I can get it running. I suspect I'll have to create some kind of "run this on start up" setting for it since the machine auto boots into the Tormach controller software (path pilot). I'm guessing there's an autoexec.bat type file for linux, I just need to locate it.
Nice fix Greg, that is a big help and will save you a lot of time and money.
I'm hoping it will directly affect my pocket book in a good way.
This is the kind of stuff I am no good at chasing down. I can spend days hunting for something like that. Glad there ae folks like you out there who kinda geek out over it. And the splash screen...... Awesome "product placement". :-)
Yeah, I need to get more than one pic in the rotation... Maybe I could sneak in a couple "bikini models" to spice it up a bit more.
Step over while running works well in mould making to BLEND an area IE side wall curve , when moving in 3 directions at the same time , mostly on REPAIR work where your matching surfaces and cutting off a inserted NEW chunk of steel. Regards J
Nice work Greg, I imagine it took alot of digging to find that.
Ron, surprisingly not. I spent all of an hour poking around and most of that time was spent trying to figure out how to shell out of the PathPilot program. The bulk of LinuxCNC is centered around 3 files, so there's not a whole lot of mystery. The coders also did a great job of documenting everything in the comments. This makes me want to convert my cnc router over to LinuxCNC.
Greg, It's good to see you again - I miss watching you build up your Ghia. Have you been driving it much?
I miss working on the old VWs. I'm still on the hunt for another project, I just haven't had the right amount of money at the right time. The Ghia goes on the lift in late October and comes off about now. We still have about 4 weeks of "snow season" left, so I haven't brought it down yet. Strangly enough, the milling machine sits in a spot where I can't move the lift without moving it. I bought a pallet jack last week so I can move the mill 2x a year to get the car onto and off the lift... I'm looking VERY forward to "driving season".
Great tips! Thank you Sir!
Thats the most Awesome thing............Thanks Greg!!!
you've been cranking out a lot of guitar tools, cool to see your business is going strong! But really, you should take us on a ride in the ghia soon man hahaha!
The Ghia comes off the life this weekend!!!
Just a couple of corrections, TMC = Tormach Machine Centre ? definately Tormach Machine somthing. Linux is now Mint Rosa not gnome in PP v2 but damn handy tip, thank you for sharing.
Man, nice hacks! i def want to see some cool projects. I wish I had the time to play with machining.
Soon!
great hack to know, thanks
Where are you getting $35 Haimer tips? I've only been able to find them for $42-ish.
,,,, that looks pretty cool, yes
Thanks shopdogsam! The machine behind it is amazing. As a kid I used to dream about being able to do this stuff and now I have it in my garage... I'm slowly learning the art of machining and applying it to the new technology. Its a trip.
Nice video and tip. Mahalo for sharing! : )
Always worth creating a backup of any settings file you change, just in case :)
Good tip! I figure if it's just a comment, I'll be able to find it... That said, git hub has a was to track changes in linux, so I may just go that route for future tweeking. I'll def have to track all changes, so I can put things back to normal after the next update from Tormach.
Nice job Greg, only one comment, I think you have the wrong car on the rack ;)
LOL! Not for long! It's Ghia season.
With my setup, "Shift-Alt" did not get me to the desktop. Once in Pathpilot, "Cntrl-Alt-x" got me a terminal window, then I entered ''caja' to get the desktop.
It's weird... Sometimes it doesn't work and other times it doesn't. I'm guessing if you hit it before the USB devices load, it doesn't register. I've found that if I hit and hold several times during boot up, my chances are better... I didn't realize that CAJA would get you to the desktop. Also, I'm trying this today... Someone told me if you plug in a second screen you see the desktop on it.
Nice hack.
Thanks Terry!
Code hacking with GP! Thumbs up
Thanks Matt! Looking forward to the new wood shop!
Nice work. That's the exact sort of thing HAL is good for. The more footguns you can remove from your workflow, the better.
Also, I finally wrote a little blurb on how to automatically snapshot your configurations on an hourly/daily basis. The gist of it's here - you might need to change a few things (eg. username, files copied, etc.) to make it work for your machine. Just something that's good to do before you make too many changes.
github.com/swolebro/swolebro-youtube/blob/master/linuxcnc/misc/git-backups.rst
If you ever end up getting a big update from Tormach, you can use that saved history to aggregate all the changes you've done, and reapply the to the updated stuff. As long as the changes aren't too crazy, git is pretty good about reapplying them, and if it can't figure it out, it at least tells you were to look and fix it up yourself.
If you want to do velocity control with the XBox controller, then I'd say check out the `man motion` pages and look for input pins to feed off of the hal_input pins. In particular, "jog-counts" is probably useful, as is "jog-vel-mode." Personally, I keep my jog in "continuous" mode, so that's fine enough granularity for me. Even if I can't make the machine creep, I can always bump it in small amounts.
I can't say thanks enough for the help. I've been reading a bunch of other hacks and re-watching your linuxCNC vids trying to get all the syntax and logic mapped out in my head. I think I'm going to chicken out just a bit to start with... I'm going to use your QJoystick approach to get things moving and to prove that the controller with actually work with the system. Once I have that, I can actually copy a bit of the approach that the shuttle wheel uses. It has 15 discreet steps that affect the speed of the motors... At some point I want to be able to move quickly to get within range, then shift the function to an incremental bump of say .0001" so I can touch off x,y & z with my Haimer probe... That reminds me... I read or saw someone mention that they turned an analog haimer into a digital one with a webcam... I gotta find that one again, I didn't get to watch how the dude did that.
I'll also peek at GitHub. My plan was to write everything down in a text doc and video the process so I can go back and teach myself again in 2 years when they update PathPilot again.
Here's the guy who did the webcam/Haimer. He's got the code for it in the GitHub link in the videos description. I haven't tried to run it myself (no need, on a CNC plasma), but it's only a couple Python modules. Ask him about it, and I might be able to provide some backup support if needed.
ua-cam.com/video/w3novypPqos/v-deo.html
Videos are good too. Tracking the files in git just makes sure you don't miss writing anything down. And part with publishing to GitHub is totally optional - git works equally well for tracking files offline.
@@swolebro Ok... Just tried to install the QJoypad program. No dice. I found the Targz file and followed the install.txt. When I ./config I get an error that I need libxtst to compile the program. I noticed that you have a .deb package in your video. I can't find the .i386 version out on the googleator. Is there a place where compiled installers exist? I think I can do 90% of what I need in the QJoypad program and it will get me up and running until I can sort the velocity piece out... I've got a BUNCH of the "behind the scenes" items located (how to switch from jog to step, how to control the steps, how to control max velocity, etc. Thanks for any help you can offer.
@@GregsGarage Since a Tormach is probably running a newer version under the hood than LinuxCNC 2.7, you can probably install QJoypad by doing a "sudo apt-get install qjoypad" from the command line.
The .tar.gz you found is probably the plain source code for the project, which as you discovered, you gotta compile from scratch. More work than you need to do. Most Linux distributions go and pre-compile packages for their users and make them available on software repositories - for Debian and all its derivatives (Ubuntu, Mint, LinuxCNC, etc.), those pre-compiled packages are .deb files, and the tool to download and install them is apt-get.
I only manually installed the .deb file in my video since LinuxCNC 2.7 is based on such an old Debian, that they never bothered compiling QJoypad for it. So I manually grabbed the precompiled files for a newer Debian, which just so happened to still work.
Give the apt-get install a shot, and if that doesn't work maybe we can figure out a thing for a videoconference and I can walk you through it. Not that I want to make a habit of doing that for everybody, but your videos might at least reach enough people to make it worth my time.
I think I found it on a janky looking site... Yikes! It installed, then I promptly had to hop onto another task. I'll check it out tomorrow and see if I can get it running. I suspect I'll have to create some kind of "run this on start up" setting for it since the machine auto boots into the Tormach controller software (path pilot). I'm guessing there's an autoexec.bat type file for linux, I just need to locate it.
I use that button many of times