Optional firmware other than RRF

[fishgrog]

I am wondering if there is another firmware other than RRF as it is so specific to 3d printers.

While it seems the Duet3D motion control is more than adequate for CNC multi axes the RRF is very limited.
Is it possible the a mach3/mach4 firmware solution is available or at least been attempted by anyone.

Specifically, I need real-time axes display, it exist in RRF under any version it isn't evident. Also, I am in need of more sophisticated web control for controlling a multi axes CNC machine for both conversational and CAM generated gcode.
It would seem that one should be able to develop their own web/control custom pages other the the duet3d web control. Ideally a scrolling gcode line-by-line window with a progress of 3d machined progress.

[deckingman]

@fishgrog Just my opinion but I've been saying for years that a "one size fits all" approach is never a good idea. Subtractive CNC machining is very different to additive 3D printing. Although I am a big advocate of Duet hardware and firmware for 3D printing, I'd probably buy a different board and use different firmware for a dedicated (subtractive) CNC machine.

[dc42]

@fishgrog RRF 3.5 provides near real-time display of the machine coordinates, but (not yet) the user coordinates.

One of our OEMs (Ooznest) has a fork of DWC that is more geared to CNC machines.

[Nightowl]

@dc42 said in Optional firmware other than RRF:

One of our OEMs (Ooznest) has a fork of DWC that is more geared to CNC machines

Could that be available to CNC users, do you think?

[cosmowave]

@dc42 said in Optional firmware other than RRF:

RRF 3.5 provides near real-time display of the machine coordinates

Is there a timeline for releasing RRF3.5?
I've seen in the documentation that RRF3.5 will have the possibility to enter values during a message (M291)? This will be a really helpfull implementation!

[Nightowl]

I also understand there will be some improvements to the way CNC-specific parameters will be saved in the event of unexpected power loss.

Fingers crossed!

[R4ffers]

@Nightowl here's the link.https://learn.ooznest.co.uk/Wiki/WorkBee_Firmware_Releases
Only works with duet 2 as far as I know.

[jay_s_uk]

@R4ffers looks like they have a newer version thats based on 3.3.0 https://github.com/Ooznest/WorkBee-Control

I personally use the diabase version on my CNC along with the paneldue working as a pendant with an encoder using the diabase paneldue firmware https://github.com/diabase/H-Series-Web-Control/tree/3.4-dev https://github.com/diabase/H-Series-Pendant-Firmware/tree/master-diabase

[Nightowl]

Thank you, @jay_s_uk and @R4ffers

Being very wary of installing and possibly overwriting a working system, I'm thinking I would use a different browser to my default one (Edge) to install the Ooznest version.

Am I correct in thinking these are installed as extensions to the browser, rather than the machine itself, as per @MintyTrebor's BtnCmd extension?

[jay_s_uk]

@Nightowl nope. they are a replacement for DWC.
You can backup your WWW folder and plugin details

[Nightowl]

@jay_s_uk

Ah, thank you.

[Sindarius]

This is still a work in progress but my intent is to provide a similar g-code stream mechanism to the viewer in DWC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03zWpqM9jDA

[fishgrog]

@dc42 Has anyone approached you about an alternative firmware? There are many issues as the core RRF is so 3d printing oriented which is very suited for linear moves, no arc g2/g3 needed for extruding 3d prints. It would seem the core RRF is a liability for supporting CNC machines. With the CNC machine I am using without real-time axes updating or line-by-line gcode display basically machining is completely blind. Of course arcs is just one of many limitations in the core RRF for CNC machines.

[fishgrog]

@Sindarius Nice, that looks great for 3d printing additive any thought as to CNC. There is another NC viewer browser based that could be adapted. I have run some of my CAM gcode and it works well. https://ncviewer.com/
Worth a look at, I have not tried a 3d print as that isn't something I do.

[o_lampe]

@fishgrog
There is arc-support in RRF. I use it all the time to compress my gcode files, but I guess you want to see DWC jog options for it?
For now you can use the command line, but have to do the math by yourself.

[dc42]

@fishgrog no I haven't been approached about alternative firmware for CNC users. If anyone wants to port a different firmware to Duets, we will be happy to provide technical info and assistance.

However, you don't appear to be aware of the CNC features available in RRF. We've supported G2 and G3 for many years and also workplace coordinates. RRF 3.4.x supports G60 G68 coordinate rotation, and in 3.5 we've added inverse time mode and live update of machine coordinates. Single stepping GCode and feed hold are also on the list for implementing in 3.5 or possibly 3.6.

Separately we have plans to make it easier to customise DWC to provide additional or alternative UI features.

[chimaeragh]

@dc42 Will these new features (RRF3.5/3.6) be coming to the Duet2 boards or will they be exclusive to the Duet3. I ask because Ooznest is still selling machines with Duet2 boards and we may not see these new features which we have been requesting for some time now available on our machines.

[dc42]

@chimaeragh the features already in RRF 3.5 will be supported on Duet 2. We haven't finalised the others yet, because the flash memory space on Duet 2 is full. We intend to make some room by removing support for rarely-used kinematics from the standard build, but we don't yet know whether that will be sufficient. If it isn't, then Ooznest may be able to support it on their machines by building the firmware with additional kinematics (e.g. delta) removed.

[JuKu]

After the coming (close to) real-time coordinate display in 3.5, the only CNC related feature I miss is a soft stop: Stop the current move now (don’t wait for it to end), honor jerk and acceleration settings and keep motors powered (that is, don’t lose position).

Not knowing how the 3.5 position report works: A separate message after move command is done would be nice. The NanoDLP emulation workaround works, but can be clunky. A cleaner solution would be a status report style: when machine moves, send position during set intervals, with “accelerating, moving, decelerating” info, and a final “stopped” message immediately after stopping.

[dc42]

@JuKu said in Optional firmware other than RRF:

After the coming (close to) real-time coordinate display in 3.5, the only CNC related feature I miss is a soft stop

That's planned for 3.5.