Someone else may have already gone through this in the forums, but I couldn’t find anything applicable.
I’m making progress with my build. So that’s the good news. Everything runs in the correct direction and homes. I count that as a win!
The bad news is that squaring is slowed down because the AP connection to FluidNC randomly drops out. Sometimes in the middle of a move. When I’m standing less than 3 feet away with my laptop. So frustrating.
Here’s what I’ve investigated so far:
1- Figured out the fan I installed was interfering with the signal. So I took off the fan and cover while working on squaring.
I have been fighting that situation since the beginning. I replaced the motherboard with a new one same problem. I ended up building a CYD dial.
Since you got the MAKERs attention he knows stuff
I’m using Win11 and the Edge Browser. After connecting to FluidNC, an Edge tab opens and redirects more or less automatically to the FluidNC main controls page.
I’ll try out using my Android phone later today and see if I get a similar connection issue. And while I’m at it will check signal strength. I don’t have anything running older OS’s, but I might be able to resurrect a very old Samsung tablet just for this purpose.
I connected to the Jackpot yesterday with my Android phone. The connection lasted long enough to get 4 points of squaring done. Success as far as squaring goes. Bonus: unexpectedly, the machine is pretty square without too much adjustment.
And there is always a caveat. When I paused interacting with the board for a while and went back to it, the connection had dropped. Connecting back to the board, within the first three lines I had a message about a panic error related to the config file. My phone had already auto-connected to my home network, so all I could do was take a screenshot.
Today I will reload the published config file using my PC and get to all the other suggested steps.
This turning into another rabbit hole. First surprise (to me at least) is that my ESP32 board uses a USB-A connector and not USB-C as expected. Got over that one because I have a LOT of cables and adapters on hand from years of changing standards.
Second, the board is showing up in Device Manager, but not in the FluidNC web installer. I was hoping not to install the desktop version for something I don’t plan to do very often.
No control over the other devices, unfortunately. I can take another crack at setting up STA mode later. Do you have any suggested reading for me before I do so?
I’m going to start this update with an appreciation for those of you who take the time to answer questions from all of us new to the world of V1’s CNC machines, and especially to @MakerJim for engaging with me on this topic. Because I’m sure there are days where you all are:
The reason for my COM port issue was stated, right there in the documentation:
“Some PC’s will need USB drivers if your ESP32 is not recognized by the computer. If needed the ESP32 USB drivers are here Silabs CP2012 drivers.”
So, I navigated to Silabs CP2012 drivers, downloaded CP210x Universal Windows Driver and installed silabser.inf. Restarted the computer and boom! I was able to connect to fluidnc.local over my WiFi.
Hope the following summary helps the next person with this issue.
In short: AP mode can be unstable when the WiFi has a lot of interference. Once your device is setup and doing what it’s supposed to, switch to STA mode by following the instructions at the Fluid NC Wiki for connecting via your local WiFi network. If during that process your ESP32 is not recognized by the computer, try updating the drivers on your PC by navigating to Silabs CP2012 and installing the universal driver.
You’re obviously trying to get it to work. So there is a lot of satisfaction working with you on it. As someone who delivers support, you have to remember that people would prefer to just have it work without needing support. So when they come here, they are trying and something wrong has happened.
99.5% of the people that come here are working to make things right and none of them are stupid. You wouldn’t be here, making your own CNC machine if you were.
Inexperience is common and more common than that is just a different type of experience. Nothing wrong with that. It is helpful to know what the user’s experience is, because it will change the language used in support (by an excellect supporter like Jim).
As you said, you try to meet people where they are. If you don’t know it makes your jobs harder. Some of us (ahem, I’m pointing to myself here) are very careful about what is shared online. All the more reason to appreciate what you all do!
