Community Documentation

All this code makes me want a second monitor. I have so many windows and programs open when doing this stuff.

You only have one monitor gasps

Oh, thatā€™s itā€¦not I need to build a bigger desk. Zen Desk, dual monitorsā€¦living the dream!

The beauty of open source! Iā€™ve spoken with a few large open source project maintainers and theyā€™ve all attributed the success of their projects to extensive documentation efforts.

Iā€™ll take a stab at documenting fusion 360 basics.

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May I recommend a 21:9 3440 x 1440 34" monitor instead of a two monitor setup. The nice thing about these extra wide monitors is that you have almost as much screen real estate as with a two monitor setup but donā€™t waste nearly as much desk space as two monitors would. Itā€™s also more pleasant to use because you donā€™t have a physical ā€œholeā€ in a middle so you can place windows in better locations and donā€™t have to turn your head as much. I use one at work and my wife has one on her tiny home office desk. The cheapest run less than $300 nowadays. Worth every penny.

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Itā€™s more expensive and less common, but i canā€™t live without my 2560x1600. Especially for code thatā€™s oriented vertically, the extra height is wonderful. One drawback is you will never be able to go backā€¦

I have a 2560x1440. I wouldnā€™t mind adding a second vertically. Scrolling through Marlin, would be much more useful that way. Two web pages fit side by side no problem but I rarely do that. I usually have 3-4 things open and do the window shuffle by keeping them all slightly visible at all times to quickly swap.

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Ohhh, that would be awesome, I never even thought to look for ultra wide.

Thatā€™s crazy. I love it.

The vertical isnā€™t as helful as you might think for code. Your brain canā€™t keep that much in your mind anyway. Iā€™m sure itā€™s a matter of opinion, but I didnā€™t like it.

Much more useful is side by side to see the webpage and the code or two pieces of code.

I currently have a very wide curved screen. I have ut mounted on the wall to clear my desk and I have my laptop also mounted on the wall and I run both screens at once. My eyes have a little trouble adjusting between the two screens.

Oh man Costco had one of those curved screensā€¦wowza is in nice looking!

I have a similar setup and can vouch that a single my current 21:9 3440 x 1440 34" feels much more usable than the dual monitor setup that I had previously. Gsync and >60hz refresh rates are a nice treat as well: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/alienware-34-curved-gaming-monitor-aw3418dw/apd/210-amsv/monitors-monitor-accessories. Also worth every penny!

Weā€™re going to have to start a battle stations thread if this keeps up :smiley:

Dang, they are only a little more than a second matching monitor. Putting serious thought into this now!

I have a full 4K, a 3K and the curved wide screen. Iā€™d have a hard time working on anything less than two big monitors these daysā€¦
[attachment file=117768]

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That strains my neck just looking at it :smiley:

Sorry Iā€™m late to the party and I havenā€™t read all the posts so maybe someone already said something similar Iā€™m going to say.

First, I think that it would be better to be able to edit it directly within the v1 page. I donā€™t have a github account for instance, so I canā€™t edit the article. Sure I could create one but Iā€™m a bit lazy to do so. No idea if this is feasible here, but I did contribute to another forumā€™s wiki and we could edit the content directly within the forum, which was extremely convenient.

Also, the images seems to be displayed differently between github and the v1 page, it looks much better in git, the images are larger.

For the Docs, Iā€™d propose to go as deep as possible in the possibilities, so that anyone can have answers relative to the specific project they intend to do with their particular machine. Here Iā€™ll be talking about the MPCNC only, but this applies to all the other platforms as well. I think we should try to get everything covered in as much detail as possible, especially including the intended use (router, printer, plasma cutter, vinyl cutter, laser, etc).

So, something like this:

-MPCNC Section

-Getting started:

  1. What is the MPCNC
  2. What do you need to build one?
    1. Plastic Parts
    2. Electronics
    3. Metal Hardware
  3. Assemble your MPCNC frame
  4. Assemble the electronics
    1. RamBo Board
    2. Ramps Board
    3. other?
  5. How to flash the firmware and make the first moves
    1. Install Arduino IDE
    2. Tweak configuration. h file
    3. Install Repetier and useful tips
  6. Calibration and first tests
  7. Build a table for your MPCNC
    1. Recommendations and examples
-MPCNC as a milling machine/router
  1. Read this before you build your machine/order the parts (the specific points to keep in mind before you build the machine as a router, like gantry height, advices to keep the CNC rigid, recommended sizes, etc)
  2. Which spindle should you use?
  3. Recommended firmware and how to set it up
  4. Wood milling:
    1. CAM basics: how to do your first cut
    2. Recommended milling bits and use cases
    3. Recommended feeds and speeds
    4. Dust collection
    5. Spoil board and how to secure the part
4. Aluminum milling:
    1. CAM basics: how to do your first cut
    2. Recommended milling bits and use cases
    3. Recommended feeds and speeds
    4. Dust collection
    5. Spoil board and how to secure the part
5. Steel Milling:

-Same

  1. Plastic Milling

-Same

  1. Any other material I forgotā€¦ etc.

Ā 

-MPCNC as a 3D printer

  1. Read this before you build your machine/order the parts (the specific points to keep in mind before you build the machine as a printer)
  2. Extruder system
    1. Which one should you choose
    2. Installing the extruder system
    3. Configuring Marlin
  3. Bed
    1. Different kind of heating beds
    2. How to install one and enable it in Marlin
  4. Z calibration
    1. Manual clibration process
    2. Automatic calibration:
      1. Necessary hardware
      2. Enable it in Firmware
      3. Tests
  5. Printing Basics:
    1. How to use the slicer
    2. Print your first part with the MPCNC
Ā 

-MPCNC as a plasma Cutter:

  1. Read this before you build your machine/order the parts (the specific points to keep in mind before you build the machine as a plasma cutter)
  2. Plasma cutter system
    1. Which one should you choose
    2. Installing the plasma cutter
    3. Configuring Marlin
    4. Fighting electromagnetic interferences
    5. Torch height controller systems
  3. Build the plasma cutting bed
    1. Slats supports
    2. Water beds
  4. Cutting Basics:
    1. Cam Basics and good practices
    2. Recommended speeds
Ā 

ā€”> and so on for the other different use cases of the MPCNC.

Downside would be that it might be a big task to maintain.

Upsides would be that every single use case would be covered in details, any people could bring his deep expertise on the subject he likes the most, and that would be the best possible resource to get up and running for any noob on any kind of task. Kind of a MPCNC bible. But yeah, that would be a lot of work.

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Both are from this site, click to enlarge, they are larger by default on that side.

I like that outline a lot. Once we get it all moved over, it is pretty easy to rearrange and add to it. I hope to get it something like your outline at some point.

I like that outline too. Iā€™d also suggest ā€œTROUBLESHOOTING START HEREā€ and walk people through the things to try and what to look for. This is not to discourage forum posts but to get a head start on what they have tried so far and what the result was.

Did we make this too hard to contribute to? What do others think? I know a low barrier to entry will increase contributions. Maybe Iā€™m too worried about negative contributions?

Dui, which documentation was it? Can you point it out so I can look into it?

We settled in the sort of 450pix wide range, but that can easily be bigger. Itā€™s a balance against the text though.

I think that layout makes a lot of sense and we arenā€™t far off from that now, we just need a lot more content. The one thing I want to be careful of is not repeating huge pieces of information. So I think the arduino flashing needs to be in a machine agnostic page, and just be linked to from the mpcnc, lr, 3dp, etc.

I donā€™t think we need to shout, but a troubleshooting section would be great. There are also general things that arenā€™t really instructions. Pages about the esp32 grbl or something.

Subdomain

https://docs.v1engineering.com