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DIY DRO for lathe or mill
AdeV:
--- Quote from: BillTodd on May 11, 2020, 04:23:33 AM ---Not to put you off but... (BTDT using VB5 and my own microchip PIC interfaces)
Have a look at Touch DRO for andriod (works fine even on old tablets like HUDL etc) - it uses bluetooth or serial to connect to the scale interface devices (arduino etc.) and will save you a whole pile of grief writing software (at least until you see exactly what you want from the DRO)
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Hi Bill,
Thanks for the link to TouchDRO - I have seen that site once before, a long time ago; I wonder if some subliminal memory is at work, as I (quite independently, I might add!) seem to have come up with many similar requirements to his own...
As for "the grief of writing software" - I've been professionally writing software for the last 25 years, and as an amateur/student for almost 10 years prior to that - so it's not really "grief" for me, more of a challenge. Especially as I'll probably have to do it in QT C++ (which I've never used before), if I want the Raspberry Pi to boot in any kind of sensible time frame. Around 5 seconds appears to be achievable, which is plenty fast enough for a DRO (on the other hand, the standard 30-60 seconds isn't). So lots of new things to learn and play with.
--- Quote from: BillTodd on May 11, 2020, 04:23:33 AM ---
For a Pi you might want to look at Python and Kivy - I'm currently using it for a automated test system project , and once you get your head around the thing , it works nicely (doesn't require the Debian desktop overhead - see picture below)
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I'll check that out, thanks!
--- Quote from: BillTodd on May 11, 2020, 04:23:33 AM ---
One thing I really liked on my VB5 DRO that I haven't seen on other DROs is analogue displays of fractional inches (and simultaneous display of inch and metric) . If you work in both systems it's so much easier than switching scales.
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As you can see from my list, simultaneous output of mm & inch (or vice versa) was on my list; I hadn't considered having the fractional readout simultaneous as well. One to add to the options list ;) FWIW, the main criteria of the readout, for me, is that it's clearly visible when I'm at the other end of the lathe peering through a cloud of smoke and trying to dodge red-hot chips :D
My 7" screen is due to arrive today (a day earlier than originally quoted), so with a bit of luck I'll get some Pi code done tonight :thumbup:
BillTodd:
--- Quote ---As for "the grief of writing software" - I've been professionally writing software for the last 25 years
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Clearly you've not been doing it long enough yet (I wrote my first program in 1968 ;-))
AdeV:
--- Quote from: BillTodd on May 11, 2020, 09:15:49 AM ---
--- Quote ---As for "the grief of writing software" - I've been professionally writing software for the last 25 years
--- End quote ---
Clearly you've not been doing it long enough yet (I wrote my first program in 1968 ;-))
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1968? I guess you know COBOL then? Seems its back in demand (again)...
In fairness to me, I wasn't even born then.... the first computer I saw was a BBC "B", must have been 1982. Our Local Education Authority had either one or two of them, and they toured the primary schools on strict rotation - 2 weeks in each school. I was hooked from the first time I used it... In autumn 1984, we got a Sinclair QL (one of the first of the second batch - the first batch that actually more-or-less worked properly), and I battered that machine for the next 6 years, until I went to University (I took it with me... wrote all my lecture notes on a Tandy TRS-102 I'd bought, and transferred them to the QL via a homebrew serial link, re-formatted them in Quill (the QL's word processor). I probably have a disc, somewhere, with all that stuff still on it.
Anyway, long story short(ish), I've never been far from a computer since...
BillTodd:
Fortran or c&g (school kids language -pretty much assembler) punch cards or soft pencil cards when you couldn't get a punch .
efrench:
I've just added DROs to my rose engine on the X and Z axes. Changing tools usually changes the actual cutter tip quite a bit. While I can reset zero at any time, what I'd like to be able to do is set an offset to zero. In other words, press the zero button, then enter an offset.
I think fractions and DROs have no place together :bugeye: Fractions require far too much rounding to be accurate. My DROs do show fractions but fortunately the text is really small and dim so they're easy to ignore.
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