Jackpot controller

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Advice
1

Ok, so i purchased the jackpot controller and i have it here. 2 questions, maybe more later.

  1. If i do not have a working mpcnc yet since im still printing parts, how do i test the board to at least make sure its not fried or bricked?

  2. In the image, what is this thing circled?

  3. I have a very simple 12864 lcd screen for my mpcnc. will this work with the jackpot simply?

image
image880Ă—544 74.1 KB

thanks

2

The circled thing is the wifi antenna for the ESP32 module.

3

Simply no. But I believe you can hook up a cheap little OLED screen to show some info pretty easily.

http://wiki.fluidnc.com/en/config/displays

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4
  1. You should be able to connect via wifi. If you connect motors (while unplugged, not hot swap), they should move from the wifi homepage.
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5

Ok, so what is a simple and good screen that will work with this controller? Thanks : )

6

Do i have to use wifi with this controller? And how do i get to the homepage. No manual came with it, just the controller

Thanks

7

https://docs.v1e.com/electronics/jackpot/

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8

You don’t HAVE to- you can attach a FluidDial pendant, or route a cable for a USB gcode sender.

That said, the Jackpot is a great board. What’s your concern about WiFi?

If you really don’t want to use WiFi, maybe you should be considering an SKR Pro and TFT.

9

You can think of this board as grbl with wifi. Anything that works with grbl will probably work for fluidnc. A cheap tablet or old phone would be a decent wifi interface. But an attached computer (even a pi) via USB can run gcode sender or cncjs or anything that works with grbl.

10

I already own the board because it was recommended :slight_smile:

I dont like using wifi to send data for cnc. Its not always reliable. I prefere direct connection. Where the cnc will be placed, i cant guarantee a wifi connection.

11

I would rather be able to attach a laptop to the cnc rather than wifi. I cant guarantee a wifi connection where the cnc will be placed

12

Connecting a laptop is fine.

The jackpot’s default mode is to act like a router. You can connect to the FluidNC wifi AP and your laptop will be connected straight to the jackpot. It won’t need your home wifi signal. But I don’t want to convince anyone to use wifi if they don’t want to.

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13

The jackpot has a SD card slot and that’s still the preferred way to run a job- put the files on the SD card and then start the job. If you just want to do that, you can set up the jackpot in AP mode in which case all you need to do from your laptop is connect to the jackpot’s internal wireless AP- and you use the web UI to start a job. The job then runs from the SD locally.

If you really, really don’t want to use WiFi at all, there is a design available for a FluidNC pendant.

There’s several threads here about that. I just built one that was used to run an LR3 at the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival. My build thread for that is at

There’s a long thread from when @DougJoseph first mentioned it located at

Frankly, I think you’ll be happy using the SD card and the jackpot in AP mode- but since there are multiple options we can help you sort out the best way to set things up for you.

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14

I did not know that when it was Wi-Fi enabled that it meant that the controller acted as the Wi-Fi router and that it didn’t depend on home Wi-Fi. That makes a lot more sense now. I’ve never used Wi-Fi for any type of CNC control. All my 3D printers and laser engravers are directly controlled with the SD card.

I don’t mind using the Wi-Fi that way, but I also like using an SD card like how I use with my 3D printer.

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15

@lt72884

I just use the WiFi interface as the screen. I don’t send ANY files to the Jackpot for CNC milling. I still use EstlCAM to prepare the gcode, put that on an SD card and bring it to the machine. From there I use the WiFi to position and command the machine, start the milling operation, etc. Just think of the WebUI on your tablet or phone as a wireless control screen.

Mike

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16

Perfect. That sounds great. That i can do :slight_smile:

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17

Now that i jave read stuff, i can use the wifi to position the cnc etc, then run the file from the sd card. That sounds great. I just disnt want to send gcode over wifi

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18

So I guess this seems a good place to ask for clarification. Isn’t the wifi functionality, relating to actual files and gcode, just sending the file to the sd card, and then actually running the job from the sd card? At least thats how I remember it from the GrblESP32, before fluidnc came about. Or can you now stream the gcode directly over wifi?

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19

I think you CAN send the code to the SD, but the reliability is not great for actually streaming the code over wifi. Run the code from on the SD.

MB

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20

Ok, thanks. Yeah, streaming the gcode over wifi sounds like asking for trouble. :sweat_smile:

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