Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

Forum » Smoothie Firmware / General » Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

Started by:

DaveGadgeteer
Date: 21 Apr 2015 21:46
Number of posts: 5

Summary:

Have Smoothieboard X5 with Ethernet of August 2014, v1. Want to use with a Mac PowerBook to debug odd hardware using steppers.

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Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

DaveGadgeteer 21 Apr 2015 21:46

I have some stepper-driven axes from OpenBuild that I'd like to start playing with.
I'm headed toward a CNC setup, but may be somewhat odd one.

For now, I just want to drive some of these axes one at a time so I can get a feel for performance etc.

What would be a reasonable interactive software environment for this kind of messing around?
It looks like the web interface might be suitable, but I'm not clear whether I need to update software to get it to work.

First, my FIRMWARE.CUR is dated December 4, 2013. Does that need to be updated before I start to work?

My config file does not have any lines relating to Network, but my board does have the preinstalled Ethernet connector.
Do I just paste the example lines I need in, or do I need to update everything first?

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DaveGadgeteer, 21 Apr 2015 21:46

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Re: Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

bouni 23 Apr 2015 14:21

Hi,

To get your Smoothieboard up-to-date:

take the micro SD into your computer and download the latest firmware from here: https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/raw/edge/FirmwareBin/firmware.bin
copy it on the SD card.

Next download the config sample from here:
https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/raw/edge/ConfigSamples/Smoothieboard/config
copy it on the SD as well and replace the existing one.

Put the sd back into the smoothieboard, plug in the power and let it boot up.
That should update your firmware to the latest version.

To get access to the webinterface edit these lines in the config:
https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/blob/edge/ConfigSamples/Smoothieboard/config#L307-L316

Essentially this line to enable the network:
https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/blob/edge/ConfigSamples/Smoothieboard/config#L308

If you want to have other services as plan9 for example, activate it as well.

That should be enough for a first test run.

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bouni, 23 Apr 2015 14:21

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Re: Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

DaveGadgeteer 23 Apr 2015 22:57

Thank you! I got quite a ways, but network problems have arrived.
I did update the firmware and the config file, and things seemed to work when I was powering via USB to laptop and running Ethernet from my router to the Smoothieboard. I used LanScan and thought I figured out which IP was the smoothie board, and when I looked at that IP address with a browser, I saw the Smoothieboard web interface, but couldn't yet do anything with it because I hadn't connected proper power or any steppers yet. I set my router to give that same IP address to the observed MAC address, so it would be consistent from now on.
So the next step was to wire my 24VDC supply to the Smoothieboard, taking care about polarity, using one of the provided 2-wire connectors, and since my Smoothieboard x5 has the extra onboard regulator, I powered it up with 24VDC only. That seemed to work, judging by blinking lights, but now none of my browsers see the web interface, and the IP address doesn't load so things time out.
If I connect via USB power again, I can read/write the SD chip, and the config file looks right for network operation.
However, I can't see the Smoothieboard web interface, which worked yesterday.
So I thought somehow there's a problem with the IP address, perhaps it got assigned differently somehow. arp shows the same MAC at the same IP address. And I can ping that IP address and get reasonable not-terribly-consistently-speedy responses.
Oops! Ping keeps working if I unplug the Ethernet cable or power down the Smoothieboard.
So I'm completely mystified—evidently that's some other device, but then how did I see the Smoothieboard web interface yesterday???
Is there some way to discover the correct MAC address for the Smoothieboard via the USB connection?
Nothing about this is computing for me…
Maybe I should set the config for fixed IP address instead of dhcp and see if that works.

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DaveGadgeteer, 23 Apr 2015 22:57

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Re: Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

DaveGadgeteer 23 Apr 2015 23:08

OK, problem solved. When I use a fixed IP address I can see the Smoothie web interface again.
And LanScan shows a different MAC address than I'd recorded.
So looks like all this was cockpit error causing confusion.

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DaveGadgeteer, 23 Apr 2015 23:08

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Re: Requesting advice for getting started, toward general CNC

chiltor 24 Apr 2015 01:36

Good that it's sorted. For future references (or visitors) the net command reports the current IP address, gateway, mask and MAC address. Obviously until you know the IP address, you have to issue the net command over usb.

netstat shows connected network clients

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chiltor, 24 Apr 2015 01:36

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