[Where does Cura render paths to G Code?]

Hello, I've had a look through the newest Cura source code and I'm having trouble finding exactly where Cura takes toolpaths and turns them into G Code.  In particular, I'm looking to understand how it calculates filament usage over each path - if you have an explanation of that, I'd appreciate it too!

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

That's great, I understand now. Thanks for the help!

 

 

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

5 hours ago, robinmdh said:

this works fine as long as it's directly after eachother, for instance if you paste:

sendgcode M145 T0

sendgcode M104 S200

into the (cmd) shell

After a millisecond it is turned back off. Since the temp is 0 and the target is 0... I think this was done to avoid the hotend error uppo removal of the hotend as much as possible.

 

Hi robinmdh,

 

I used the same method but the temperature didn't change at all.  I'm not sure what you mean by "after a millisecond it is turned back off?"

 

I had the LCD showing the current nozzle temperature at the time, could that have something to do with it? Otherwise, how would I know what the current temperature is after executing a command?

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Hmmm... that link didn't work for me, I get a 404.

 

Also, I've been trying to send G Code and the LED change code and movement code and home position codes work but not any temperature related ones.  these seemt o do nothing:

 

M145 T0 ;enable temp

M104 S200 ; set temp to 200C

M109 S200 ; wait for temp to get to 200

M106 ; set fan speed to full

 

I'm a bit unsure about the syntax for the UM3, it sounds like there's more to it than just G Code from the other posts on the forums? Is that verbose header text from the GCode files required too?  Perhaps someone has an example of manually choosing a print head, setting the temperature, and extruding a line that they can share?  Or is this not possible via the "sendgcode" command?

 

 

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Hi, I did see the dbus and sendcode scripts on the UM so I'm able to send G Code via ssh.  What I'm more interested in is the limits of the G Code for the UM3, whether I can send a lot of movement commands over a short time safely, and whether there is a way to get back a response from the printer when it's finished moving.  I can see on the list of G Code commands on the Sailfish website that some are blocking commands, like moving and printing at the same time, so I assume that there are limits to the amount of instructions that can be sent but I'd like to get a clearer idea what those limits look like.  Thanks!

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Hi, thanks again for your help. This is slowly but surely taking form. Now my question is, how quickly (but still safely) can I send G Code movement updates to the UM3? If I wanted to do something like draw a complex curve by drawing lots of little connected lines while at the same time varying temperature, is that doable? Or are drawing and temperature changing commands blocking? And is there a way to get feedback from the controller as to what it's current state is?

 

If it's possible, it would be great to chat to one of the UM team about this! I think it might ultimately be pretty useful to you, too.

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Hi again, thanks for all the help.  I've dug through the files and figured out that the UM3 uses a python web app that uses FLASK to manage script/web/printer control. From that, it looks like adding services (FLASK hooks?) to the current web app is the best idea rather than simply sending gcode directly (although one web service could do that pretty easily by sending JSON ).  

 

Now my question is, what's the best way to develop and test my own services?  Obviously, it's hard to do this directly on the UM3 because I'd be worried about bricking it.  Is there a suggested development system for this purpose? I noticed that there is a fake printer ('mock' in the griffin folder) that could be for testing?

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Thanks! That's a great start.

For the python code that comes with the UM3, is it on one of the github repos?

Is there a description of the boot process (so I'd know where to hook in a web service)? Or should I poke around in /etc/services ?

 

[Ways to send gcode direct to printer or control during printing?]

Hi, I've got a few Ultimakers (2's and 3's) and would like to directly control them from my computer.  That means moving the print head, extruding, controlling temperature, and all functions that can be described in gcode (and more?)  What I would like to do, ideally, is to bypass Cura completely and use a remote control protocol like OSC, or serial, or even JSON to have direct printing control.  But, as you can imagine, these would be time-sensitive commands so I'd require something reliable and quick.  Right now, I'm just looking for options.  I figured direct serial control would work but now I see that UM3's are running a full Linux stack so it's all a black box to me.  As far as I can tell, this hasn't been done before on Ultimakers, although similar things exist for Makerbots, etc.

 

And I'm well aware that there are serious risks of this, it's for a research project and I have experience with hardware and software development.  That said, I'd be an idiot if I said that I know what all of them are before starting, so any warnings and suggestions would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!