Looking for recommendations,
I have a LR3 with SKR 1.2 pro. Wifi and LAN connectivity available. Id like to use a canera to monitor the machine while in use from another room as well as recording footage of the machine in use.
Thanks
#include<stddisclaimer.h>
I’ll start with saying that it’s a bad idea to leave the room while your CNC is operating. These can and will start fires, ruin material and generally break stuff in very short order if anything goes wrong. It’s seconds from “Is that smoke?” to “Oh, that’s a big fire!”
As such, I don’t have a camera setup in the CNC room. If the spindle is spinning, I’m there.
That said…
I do have an ESP32cam setup for my Repeat printer, and am setting up more for my old printer, and configuring them for several other uses around the house. They’re cheap, handle wifi pretty well, and the base firmware has several good functions that are useful to have around. I’m experimenting with a time lapse feature, but I haven’t got it working yet, but the base firmware allows mt to capture a still and streams quite nicely (Limitation: It can only stream to one browser at a time, a second attempt to stream while one is operating will fail.)
I have also tried MotioneyeOS for a Raspberry Pi, which is very nice and does record video quire well. It’s more geared towards a security camera setup, and I use these to monitor my front and back yards. It’s heavier weight than the ESP32Cam setups, and far more expensive, ESP32Cam hardware is less than $10 each.
The bummer is that you need to flash the firmware, and for that you need a USB to serial adapter, and you’ll have to play with jumper cable. Well, maybe you can get a dedicated flash board to connect to USB if you don’t mind spending a bit more. I just got a cheapo USB to serial board for $5 or so, and mess with the jumper cables.
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I use my cellphone for videoing the CNC.
How about using v1pi as your sender and hooking up a camera to the pi. Simple and lets you use any old usb cam.
That said remote running with a router is a BAD idea. Bad things can happen very fast and it’s often our ears and nose that alert us first.
As a member of the resident Safety Monkey Brigade, I will echo the chorus saying “Never leave your CNC while it’s running!” Things go from bad to holy s#*t faster than your significant other will open your browser history when you walk away from your laptop…
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Thanks everyone, lots to think about. Also appreciate the safety advice… i dont have a Pi spare so might use an old ip camera ive got kicking around… initially i was thinking of videoing the setup and first calibration etc.
I’m all for documenting your build and comissioning process with video if that brings you joy.
Don’t tempt fate by leaving the machine running unattended with an active laser or router. I would probably be okay turning my back on a drag knife or pen attachment, but I’ve trained myself to pause the cycle if I need to focus elsewhere or leave the room. This is easy on grbl firmware - there’s a dedicated hardware button for Pause and another for Start.
I also get mesmerized just watching the machine move.
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Recommend not using the same camera mount as this poor guy.
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Yes, we understand that safety is important and that it can be very adverse to one’s own health, longevity, and overall sanctity of the man cave to leave a router unattended for any period of time.
All this being said, I’m still looking for a camera mount for a lr4 for time lapse. Anyone have any nice printable or routable camera mount for a lr4 to capture the router to material point of contact?
I’m looking for hardware, not software, if any suggestions. Octoprint works amazing for me, thanks.
Welcome to the forum @Foxx!
Are you looking for Pi Camera and mount that can integrate with Octoprint/Klipper, or, are you looking to invest in a more serious setup worthy of your man cave’s sanctity?
Am currently leaning towards modding LR4 dust shoe for a GoPro to ride along…
EDIT: Curious if someone figured out something they like already? Not sure I like where I’m heading…
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That’s not a bad idea, I do have an old gopro laying around… somewhere. But honestly it’s mostly about the tool mount. I can fab my own gopro to Logitech adapter easy enough and I got some 1080p usb webcams laying around.
This is for octoprint, but that’s honestly anything (Never tried with a gopro but for my 3dprinters I’m using wyze cam v3/v4 and while you have to run something like the wyze bridge it’s totally doable).
I do really like your concept of a camera mount there.
Eventually I would want to get something like a coral.ai edge processor and build a model to detect smoke/fire/broken bit and pause the machine/move to xy home. But modeling that out is a lot of time and training data that I don’t have.
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Argh… Taking me way longer than I hoped…
- One goal is to reuse existing dust skirt if possible, even if that restricts FOV.
Making a spindle lock button extender before printing.- Given additional weight, will add more material to bolt mount.
- Made camera mount separate so can be iterated on, or modded by others.
- Kobalt router with LEDs, so printing clear PETG, hopefully there’s enough light, will see how glare turns out.
Mount ideas/feedback appreciated? Am no CAD pro, just a tinkerer.
EDIT: Posted update/video in my LR4 topic.
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I was looking at something like a nozzle cam for this. I do think light will be a challenge. I have an ESP32 Cam from Ali for $10 but I thought the options for the nozzle cam would be interesting to try and hide a camera in the dust shoe.
Light, dust, and vibration would be my biggest concerns. For dust and vibration, it may make sense to try and tuck it in near the core. In fact one idea I was tossing around was a cutout, so that the camera could be mounted to the core rather than the shoe (to better isolate it.) The dust collector is then pulling away from it, which may help visibility as well. Obviously it would need power, but I could pull that from my laser wiring. I bought some pogo pin connectors that would allow a more generic supply of low voltage power that could then be converted to whatever is needed from a fixed point on the core. I haven’t gotten around to this project yet. 
. A bit overcommitted at the moment.
Let’s be clear here, compared to me you are no cad pro… You’re a cad god 