Delta printer Z axis movement vs Z tower movement

[jmjcoke2]

I need to create an axis that follows the the Z axis of a delta, not the Z tower movement, just the Z coordinate. Other firmwares use the alpha, beta, gamma for the tower movement, is there a way I can separate this in RRF? I have thought of doing this with gcode using a U axis that follows the Z position but I would rather use the hardware.

[dc42]

Here are two possibilities:

1. Add a new kinematics class to the firmware, derived from class LinearDeltaKinematics, but with the coordinate transfer functions changed to make the U axis follow the Z coordinate. I may do this myself soon, but I need to complete the RTOS work first.

2. Use a GCode Post-processor to replace all commands in the GCode file of the form G1 Znn by G1 Znn Unn.

[jmjcoke2]

Thank you for the info.

[Danal]

@dc42:

2. Use a GCode Post-processor to replace all commands in the GCode file of the form G1 Znn by G1 Znn Unn.

That "GCode Post-processor" could be as simple as a 'sed' command. And there are several 'sed' for windows available.

I will see if I can come up with an example later tonight.

[Danal]

This works on a Mac, and would be very close on any other platform:

[[language]]
sed -E 's/ Z([0-9\.]*)/ Z\1 U\1/g'
 

You might NOT need the -E flag on other platforms. Maybe.

The above will produce the output to stdout, meaning you'd need to > it to another file. Something like

[[language]]
sed -E 's/ Z([0-9\.]*)/ Z\1 U\1/g' Original.gcode > Modified.gcode
 

[jmjcoke2]

Thanks Danal, I had to fire up the old macbookpro to use sed, it did not work in windows sed but worked great on the mac. I am making a side dump axis that follows the z axis for printing with a Mosaic Pallette+. This will save so much print time and filament.

[Danal]

Ooooh… tell me more. I am really itching to get a Pallette+

[dc42]

You can get sed for Windows here: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/sed.htm.