Although, I think you can use the OLED module to display its current IP address. Besides the point.
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Hi Ryan, can you please make a “here’s where we stand” post? I am bursting with questions on when and what the final version will have onboard, if there will be room for one or more extension boards (Bart’s addons) if you will sell those as well etc. I am looking forward to using this board with the rs485 module for use with my vfd. For the price of the makita, a cheap vfd and a 1500w spindle is in reach nowadays.
Can’t wait 
!
I get that some timelines won’t be fixed yet and not trying to pressure at all, just curious about the plan.
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I’m taking notes right this second for the instructions.
Yes it has an expansion module port and to the best of my knowledge any module works.
The board is “done”, there are a couple that shipped out for testing, a couple about to go up for sale and a 15 more on the way. If everything checks out I will get a much larger batch next.
Instructions and shop page coming asap.
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Here’s a question, regarding TFT/LCD. Does the board have a connectable UART? I t seems.to ne that most of these things communicate over serial UART, so a 4 pin header could be all that is needed to connect an LCD.
The Duet uses serial, BTT uses serial, and while the supplied firmware won’t work, I did a program for a Pi that talks to the Duet over serial, and it wasn’t hard to change for the SKR Pro running Marlin. I was playing with the idea of getting it to talk to FluidNC as well.
I suppose that it could just use the USB serial, probably less error prone that way anyhow.
I have some 3.5" 5" and 7" LCDs for the Pis, it could be interesting to add the CNC functionality for homing, jogging, setting work zero coordinates, even switching work coordinate sets via a touch screen. Also, macros are good things. I find myself missing that when working with my laser… I have macros for turning on the laser at very low power for focussing, turning it off again, and setting a zero point. It would be very handy to have that on a touch screen rather than unlocking my phone…
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My desk space is pretty full so I got a new table for the office, at least for now. (LR3 is on blocks so it doesnt roll away.)
And I have everything I need to be dangerous.
Thank you! 
Now at first forget the pendant. Not sure what order these tasks go exactly:
- Get mpcnc moving, dual X, dual Y, single Z
- Get laser working from Lightburn (usb driven)
- Get LR3 working dual Y, dual Z, single X
- See if second X IDEX is no big deal as Bart Dring implied
- Try 4th axis (single X carriage)
- Get pendant (on its own) to register button presses and joystick movements and handwheel steps
- See about communication between pendant and FluidNC
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Yes it absolutely does and that is the premise for the pendant. I don’t know how close it is to being compatible with the TFT35 but there is definitely a chance it is not far off or maybe it just works even.
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Uhh…Let me get you a config file and firmware. that should help a lot.
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Ohhhh actually the CS changes just got added we are mainline now! Releases · bdring/FluidNC · GitHub
So the basics are download the windows ( I assume) https://github.com/bdring/FluidNC/releases/download/v3.7.5/fluidnc-v3.7.5-win64.zip zip. install wifi. The install FS filesystem Only on first flash. You might need to hold the boot button until it start flashing then you can let go.
From here you can upload the config one of two ways, fluid term (awesome!) hit ctrl+U make sure it is called config.yaml, then ctrl+r to reboot…or you can boot and login to the wifi and just upload the config.yaml and reboot.
Good to go.
config.zip (1.4 KB)
Unzip this first.
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So…the USB-C versions do not work. I really need to figure out why. They must have a different pinout. just slightly. One pin trigger locks it up and will not boot the webui without the USB plugged in, but then it runs fin from the power supply with no USB…Well we will have some cheap ESP32’s in the shop soon.
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It was never my point that you ‘needed’ to offer one. Either way, I don’t see a productive end to that conversation now, sadly.
Probably, I thought I had warned about that up-thread. There are dozens of different versions of the ESP32 devkits with differences in pinout, pin numbers etc. Only a couple that are common, in my experience though.
Got link for the ESP32’s you have on hand? Hopefully can workaround/fix via Pin remapping update to firmware?
If code change to Pin mappings isn’t possible for some reason, then, depending on how many boards and ESP32’s you have, and how different the Expected vs Actual pinouts are… one option could be to spin up an adaptor daughter/shim board JackedUp ™, can use to fix the width issue too. Using double width SMT headers enables easier testing/extending.
Heck, you could even use this prob as an opportunity to have the daughter/shim board flip the ESP32 around too with the antenna proud of the main Jackpot board, assuming wifi signal is concerning you, and/or just for A - B testing purposes. Mentioning, but guessing routing traces for flipped board would be PITA, and this experiment is probably too low priority to burn time on currently.
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I recently tried a Wemos D1 R32 for a different project because I had it laying around. It is an ESP32 in an Arduino Uno form factor.
Originally I was going to put a cheap CNC shield on it but there are a couple pins that make that challenging enough that I didn’t bother.
Anywho, I had the same issue you describe with WiFi connectivity in it. Works fine as long as it is connected to a computer and the serial monitor is running, but as soon as I power from a wall brick or don’t enable the serial monitor Wi-Fi fails. Google search shows this is not entirely uncommon and can be solved with pull-ups, pull-down and/or a properly place zener diode added. I wrote the wemos off as a failure for the second time and moved on.
Your ESP32s are likely salvageable - but maybe not worth the effort…
Seems there is an extra LED, it might be causing some of the issues. I am not really worried about it they will sell in the shop pretty quick I am sure.
I will just stick the proven boards and order a few more than match the specs to see if I can get a USB-c and a external antenna version. At the right width.
I expected my vendor to have all the same pinout versions, appears they didn’t. After all these years I should have know better than to assume. Not a big deal, I was just far to excited to get this board moving.
At some point I need to get the boards in people’s hands. I do not have the luxury of an unlimited budget. There may be other unexpected things that need to be changed as well. If this goes well and I recoup my current R&D expenditures, I will be more willing to spend more time on fixes changes for a new version if needed. With your help I already pushed it back to change to 4 layers, an expense and time expenditure I was glad to do. I really appreciate that and your input but my budget has ran out for the time being. So as these start slowly rolling out, and I check out a few manufactures, I will have a new budget and hopefully a manufacturer to help/back me, and hopefully silly mistakes like a whole shipment of the wrong sized esp’s are behind me. At that point we will also have a clear picture in internal or external antennas matter or if I even want to deal with wifi at all, I have been warned against it by someone else I trust. So this is a very expensive experiment for me.
Yeah I figure it is not a huge change but knowing everyone around here I am fine with these going to the shop at cost. I have sold all sorts of previous ordering mistakes to break even. I just need to find exactly what I am looking for because the most of the aliexpress sellers do not list many if any specs. If I know exactly what I need I can go to a manufacturer directly. Now that I know to look I can find some spec sheets…the fluidNC wiki has all the specs I should have been more careful.
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Having a button to trigger macros is pretty rad. I think I am going to set up a park button for the LR, I use that on every single job…no more gcode for me. I’ll call it “push to park” instead of push to start, just need to get some people to rap about it for it to really take off.
I also learned about macros on boot, that is slick for a zen table.
I am very happy with what I am learning in terms of FluidNC. “Pins” are easy to deal with, all the setting are easy to change, updates are easy, flashing is easy. I have very high hopes for this in many regards. So many features.
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For me perlsonally, not needing to sneakernet an SD card is a functionality must-have. I got fed up with that with a 3D printer 6’ from my PC, and with my CNC in the basement, and the CAD/CAM machine on the second floor, my arthritic knees insist that I not need to take extra trips for forgetting the SD card… again…
I suppose that I could take a laptop or something downsrairs, but I need a reasonably powerful machine in the office, which happens to also be the one that runs the CAD smoothly, and I’d rather not expose it to the dust and chips.
Yeah, wifi has been and continues to be a problem area, I’d probably rather just slap an RJ45 network connection on, but these days that costs more money, which defeats the premise of a budget control board.
Anyway, the idea of this board is appealing, I want to go over more of the FluidNC stuff myself. Definitely time to move the laser over if nothing else.
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So am i missing them in the shop?
Anyone have an app that will txt/email me when content changes at V1E Shop > All the things > Sorted by newest first ? Shopify New Products email notifications must be a thing…
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I am able to do that with Estlcam and have never used it, because my 0 is always somewhere else.
I bought a used mini PC for 60€ for my shop and added a touchscreen, best decision.
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Need to print yourself 4 of these. 
Cinder block by MrGlass | Download free STL model | Printables.com