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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Multimode Host Software


I have been working on the Java RepRap host software. The latest version (https://reprap.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/reprap/trunk/reprap) allows you to:

  • Load STL files and print them on a SNAP RepRap (PIC or Arduino).
  • Load STL files and print them on a GCode RepRap (Arduino or Sanguino).
  • Load STL files and print them as GCodes to a file.
  • Load a GCode file and print it on a GCode RepRap (Arduino or Sanguino).
The next step is to put a simple GCode interpreter in there that will allow the final combination: sending a GCode file to be printed on a SNAP RepRap. Also, before doing a release, I need to do a bit more testing (so far I have tested the Sanguino stuff but not the Arduino, for example, as my home machine is Sanguino). I also need to get the progress indicator working with the print-from-GCode-file option; it works with all the others.

The transmission using GCodes is buffered through a separate thread which makes it pretty smooth. This works particularly nicely with GCodes stored in a file (as with Zach's ReplicatorG), and gives good-quality builds. As soon as I've got something more interesting than a cube, I'll post it.

I've had to change a few preferences values - see http://www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/RepRapSoftwarePreferencesDocumentation.

Finally, you'll see that there is a greyed-out button for "Load RFO". This is the format that Zach proposed along with the Fab@Home guys for multiple-material builds (see http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/MultipleMaterialsFiles). Watch this space...

2 comments:

  1. Great stuff, Adriaan. It's getting smoother by the day. :-)

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  2. Things look to be comming on a pace.

    I am currently looking into the G-Code for driving the touch probe toolhead.

    What standard (if any) are we writing for ??

    G-Code appears to be one of those very unstandard standards........

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