I’m based in Germany and I’m in the middle of building a LR4 and I already have a working Primo.
The Primo uses a Ramps 1.4 board and is controlled by Estlcam. Besides the occasional dropped USB connection, I am very happy with the whole setup.
Going forward with the LR4 I’m not sure what board I should use…
Right now I’m leaning towards another Ramps 1.4, because I’m used to it and know what I’m getting into. Another reason is that I can control it directly from Estlcam. I know that I will not be able to use auto squaring. What other downsides am I missing regarding the board in combination with a LR4?
What does the workflow look like/how does it change if I’m going the Jackpot route? What are the downsides from the perspective of an Estlcam user?
The third and most expensive option is the Open CNC Shield V2 which offers auto squaring and Estlcam control…
The Jackpot controller can’t be used with estlcam cnc control, only with gcode produced by the estlcam cam program. I use the opencncshield V1 and i like it a lot. The ability to see on the screen what the lowrider is doing and be able to go back a couple of lines in gcode ( or advance x lines when milling styrofoam) is something i don’n want to miss. Autosquaring is also something I don’t want to miss.
I started with a ramps shield with marlin, then got to a skr pro 1.2 and now using opencnc, I don’t want to go back!
I am using the V2, he now also has a mini version with an included ESP and a board with the Arduino Mega included that drives Estlcam, so all in all pretty dope. The new board for EstlCam that was especially made for it works only with Estlcam V12 though.
Ok, so I might just use another cheap Ramps 1.4 at the beginning and as soon as I can afford it, I will go down the Open CNC Shield route.
Are there instructions or a guide on how to initially square the machine using Estlcam and how to set up the Z leveling (as mentioned in the build instructions)?
I also don’t get the purpose of the endstops (I’m running the Primo without endstops)…
The Primo does not really need them, you can just push it against something. The LowRider needs to level Z, so you can’t just push it against something. There are users who do that with stop blocks as well, but it’s more complicated to do.
There is not leveling of individual motors possible for the CNC Shield. Estlcam itself does not have autosquaring for 5 motors (the new version supports four, but needs other hardware), that‘s what the OpenCNCShield2 adds.
If you want to use the LR4 without endstops, you need hard stops for Z and for Y Y should be easy. You just need to push the gantry to one side and have some wooden blocks there to start it square to X.
The Z, you need two blocks. One under each end of the gantry. You start with the gantry on top of the blocks and the couplers tight (not stretched). When you power on the machine, the first thing you need to do is jog the machine up and remove the blocks.
Soup cans are pretty good blocks for the Z because they have tight tolerances on height and are durable. But you can also cut something more contoured or just use sheet stock
So you just configure it square Y and Z with the end stops. Can you start the autosquare through a web UI or do you need a physical control button/handwheel…?
