The Jackpot is powered by FluidNC, which is GRBL compatible, which has some advantages over Marlin. Some of the most notable are:
with FluidNC, one practically never needs to compile or recompile firmware, as the config file can be edited and a reboot means your new config is in place.
Can do laser raster jobs in a faster way than Marlin, saving time, which is better.
Has a web server built into the board, can be connected to and controlled via Wifi (or by wire, with a least a couple of wired options, including USB, via computer, or pins, via say, a pendant or touch screen). The wifi access can allow control via a phone screen, a tablet screen, a computer screen etc. It can also allow remote upload of G-code files for cutting. It can also allow easy remote “OTA” (over the air) updates of firmware or config file etc.
While Marlin is more printer related, FluidNC (and GRBL, historically) are more CNC related. There are some rare instances in which there are differences in G-Codes, but that’s not a big factor. However, on my Marlin-based SKR board for my big LowRider table, I could never succeed in getting the firmware to truly act like it knew my table size. I could not home from very far away from the machine 0,0, and the jog move system never respected where my near end of axes were (end stops) or where my far end of axes were. By contrast, the FluidNC firmware does this nicely, now that I inputted my table’s max travel distances and enabled hard limits and soft limits.
There’s probably more but these are some that come to my mind.
It’s a smaller board; fits in a smaller case. You could fit it in the bigger case, with a printed adapter or some such. It does not need a TFT because of the wifi and built in WebUI, but a TFT could drive it, if programmed to. Speaking of which the FluidNC dev team is working on a FluidNC Dial pendant that has a touchscreen on the dial of it. This is still in development, but they are moving quickly with it. In short though, “can it use the same TFT” — no not unless some programming development was done.
I’ll probably invest in a Jackpot board if I ever find a laser I can settle on…. I really want one that I can run on this and my Snapmaker A350T, but SM is proprietary as hell. In the meantime, I just want it working again, so the new SKR Pro board that arrived should do for now.
I also pulled the trigger on an IDC Woodcraft Beast (1/4”) and Badger (1/8”) set. I know the LR3 likely won’t be able to pull off half the abuse I see them demoing these with, but I like the idea of a purpose built set of roughing bits. I’ll report back once I’ve had a chance to give them a go.
is the point of them just to have bits that are beefier to take the wear and tear away from the nice bits?
I’ll have to dig around a bit. I would be concerned with run out. Collets work by squeezing 360 simultaniously. I dont see how that chuck can accomplish that with one screw.
I think there’s two points on these. First, yes they take the wear and tear off your nicer finishing bits. Second, you really can’t break these things and they can hog wood out to the limit of what your machine can accurately push, so speed would be the advantage there. It would be most advantageous when working on things like bowls or guitar bodies where a lot of wood needs to go.
I haven’t actually done a whole lot of research into the technology of how it does what it does, but it seems to be legit. I’ve watched Garrett using it pretty much constantly on his YouTube videos. He does precision and roughing work with it and hasn’t shown any issues with runout or alignment of the bit in the chuck that I’ve seen.
The biggest issue that makes me want one is that the Dewalt 611 doesn’t have a two-wrench option, so you have to grab the router body and push that button and then spin the wrench underneath, which tends to move the gantry on me, which sucks for mid-job tool changes.
Gotcha. I picked up a Kobalt router for my build. I know I am going to be going spindle down the road, but I wanted an affordable get me started router so I can it up and running before I start going coocoo for coacoa puffs
I’m not sure if I’m reading this correctly or if I missed something, but the documentation I’m seeing says to bend a pin on each driver board, not the SKR main board, right?
Well that certainly is an unwelcome surprise.
Is that a solder splash? Can you use a pick or similar and clear it off?
The lower one is on the board surface and could account for an issue.
The docs do say to bend the pin on the TMC2209s, no mods to the SKR board are required. I personally don’t like bending the pin, I’d rather clip it as if I ever wanted to use sensorless homing I could always re-solder a pin or header to restore the functionality. Having the pin bent over is a recipe to short it to things, in my opinion.
No, that’s correct.
I’d suspect that workmanship issue you found up above with the solder splash has more to do with your sudden failure than anything else.
So, the culprit ended up being the patch panel DB25 and DB15 connections through the side of the new case.
I ended up using the original wires with some shrink tube tied short patch cables to convert them from DuPont to JST-XH connections while still allowing me to flip them in case of a backwards motor connection. I also set up a pigtail with quick detach spade connectors for the 24V power supply so I didn’t have to stack connections on the Main to motor power crossover.
I had to set the gantry up on the dining room table today as it’s below freezing in the garage….As such, I could test the Z and X-axis motors and all is well there, but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to test the Y-axis when I set the cnc table back up.
There’s also a bunch more cable routing cleanup to do now that the controller has changed form factor.
Ok now that I’m back up and running, the new dust collection shoe is working fantastically. Had one minor hiccup with the hose connection to the router getting blocked with debris, but that was an easy fix with the shop vac without even having to pause the job…
UPDATE
Had several more clogged dust shoe issues today, but I’m hoping it was due to low quality plywood that was splintering all over the place. Sadly, I was unable to continue fixing the blockages once the core moved towards the middle of the table, so I just had to live with the mess.
Also had a y-axis stepper offset mid-job by about 25 mm, which has never happened before. On exam of the system, noticed the belt on one side looked a little loose so tightened that up and reran the defective parts, which produced good results. The good news is that after 3 revisits to my office (upstairs) for Fusion 360 for revisions (long story) and 6.5 hours (in a sub freezing garage) of running a 2 hour job, I was eventually able to finish producing a prototype for a client that we can now assemble and move towards a phase 1 production model.
I think if I’m going to keep spending this much time in the garage, I should really start building my V1E rollaround shop stool. Debating dimensional lumber vs layered plywood on the legs…
The clogging issue when cutting plywood can occur on original dust shoe as well as my modified ones. The crucial obstacle to making a larger path for the chips is the tightness of space there. Ryan has indicated he’s working on something new. I am excited to see what he’s coming up with.
