I think his point is that these are generally 2 individual things.
You shouldn’t be worrying about square until you verify your machine is moving the distance you expect it to.
When squaring the machine, you should be able to assume step 1 is already done.
For instance, if you remove your machine from your table with the quick belt release, and then put it back on, you probably won’t need to verify the distance again, but you’ll likely want to verify the square.
It’s not a problem, per se, but for the general user, and especially the beginner, it makes it more clear what you are doing if the 2 are separate operations of calibration.
Like with your 3D printer, you usually want to validate your extrusion, etc. first before you start printing your Calilantern to check for skew.
If you cross the 2 into one tool, you make it harder to keep focus on one set of calibration, and could be fixing the wrong thing etc.
Are you thinking one Fluidnc embedded (and integrated…) guided wizard tool with multiple tabbed steps, including tab for configuring steps/mm distance config, and tab for squaring? Partially inspired by https://teachingtechyt.github.io/calibration.html#esteps and/or something else(s) ?
Personally, find myself grumbling profanities (more than usual) when scrolling around config hunting down steps/mm settings to manually edit. Just me?
Ability to skip the ones you know are correct etc, but at least something always there that you have to skip to know that the validation should be done/considered.
That, to me, would be the clearest way to get a new user to calibrate their machine.
For many people, squaring is a daunting step… So mixing calibrations together only stands to make it worse/more confusing
To clarify though… all these steps are relatively simple without a tool.
I’d considered writing stuff like this before, but, to be honest, I probably spent more time reading this thread than I had to spend squaring my machine.
It’s just never been worth the effort to code anything
I do agree with the travel distance calibration being good to have, just to check the machine is correctly assembled.
I’ve seen overstretched belts, I’ve seen grub screws not being seated on the flat of the shaft and grub screws being loose and if I recall correctly there was a short stint with some belts having a wrong pitch.
Should add a warning about chasing zeros (sub-millimeter over 1m travel…)
I really think integrating this kind of “guided wizard” right inside FluidNC could improve experience for new users a lot
Think “Bambulab for CNC” somehow
Plus, if this kind of customization is pushed by the V1e community, this would help making the LR4 a more beginner-friendly machine, and de-facto “best beginner diy cnc”, while also benefiting the whole FluidNC community
Keeping the tool accessible both as a standalone website/tool and as an integrated FLuidNC tool would be great too…
That’s where AI shines… simple tools that require no specific attention to “how” they’re done, but convey the fonctionnality
See the above example webpage, it only took me 4 prompts….
