UP! mini plays starwars music

[mr_x]

Hello UP comunity,

first test of my upcoming G-Code transcoder.

Click here to see the video

Everything is possible

[brainzilla]

Hahaha awesome!
Finally a modern alternative to floppy-music!

[Darkiwins]

Wow! Nice one
more of that please

[mb20music]

Make it play the theme song of the old TV show "Bonanza" LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsypUGOyhz4

[Tiertime-Jason]

Hello，

It is a very interesting hack.
Would share more about how do drive the machine to play music?

[mr_x]

Hello

Hello，
It is a very interesting hack.
Would share more about how do drive the machine to play music?

Nice to see somebody from Tiertime here

Meanwhile I created a github project which provides the sources for this creation:

https://github.com/maikstohn/UP3D

(Is a work in progress and was designed to compile / run on MAC OS only. You have to install brew (gcc, libusb, ncurses, ...) )

First you need to use a program called "mid2cnc" which can translate any MIDI file to a G-CODE file (freely available on internet).

Then you use my minimalistic UP3D transcoder which translates the G-Code to UP specific machine code.

To run the machine code just use my UP3D upload program.


In order to complete the G-Code transcoder I really would appreciate a small hint about the detailed working of the machine command 0x0000004 (Move-Long)

it has 8 x (16 bit short) parameters (p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8)

p1 seems to be length related parameter (bigger = longer move)
p2 seems to be speed related parameter (smaller = faster move)
p6 + p3 is for X axis move (p6 seems to be the part before decimal point and p3 after decimal point)
p7 + p4 is for Y axis move
p8 + p5 is for A axis move (extruder)

All units are measured in STEPS


It would be really really really nice from Tiertime to provide this information.

Then I can finish a complete G-Code transcoder easily and all UP printer would be usable with other slicer programs.
This will increase value of UP3D printers A LOT.

Thanks.

[steelmans]

I might be wrong but I don't think Tiertime wants you to be able to use other slicers. Other slicers mean its easier to use other filaments. I know we can use other filaments already but many people don't do the hacks and just stick to UP filament.

I hope they do help but I'll be stunned if they make it easy for you.

[coredump]

Judging by a quick look at the sourcecode mr_x has made great progress already. Thanks for all the hard work! Unfortunately I do have very limited spare time at the moment, otherwise I'd really like to join the effort.

[Tiertime-Jason]

Hi,

First of all, I am not allowed share machine command definitions and actually I don't know anything about it.

I think the whole idea of UP (yoUPrint) is to make 3D printing as simple as possible, make it compatible to some slicers that need to set 50 parameters before making a good print seems to be against the idea.

On the other hand, we aware that people are interested in the system and there are some hacks and mod available on the market. And actually we have an open attitude and had internal debates about whether to open up something so that third party developers can participate more in the ecosystem. However currently we have no idea what kind of development a third party developer could make, other than "just another Reprap thing".

May be you guys could tell us.

[coredump]

I think merely supporting other slicers would not interfere with the overall goal of Up printers - which as you said is to make 3D printing as simple as possible. Up printers work great with the Up software, that is not going to change by publishing command definitions.

[mr_x]

Hello Jason,

thank you very much for commenting on this topic.

First of all, I fully agree with the Tiertime idea to have a printer which just works out of the box for any kind of user.

And it is a fact that UP! printers do this on a very high level.

I do own many 3D printer (5 x self build, 3D-Systems old and new Cube, Form-1 and of course 2 UP! printer) so you can take it as a compliment.

Whenever somebody asks me how to start with 3D printing I answer with a simple choice:
a) Do you want a hardware / software / electronics challenge and a build a machine yourself? Then go and build a RepRap
b) Do you just want your first 3D printer and print 3D objects? Go and buy an UP! They have best price / value / ease to use (BY FAR!).

Now back to Modding Topic,

I love my UP mini for one more reason: Compared to a RepRap printer it just is more suitable to stand on my desk in office.

The only thing I want for myself is to have more options to achieve better print quality for my parts.

BTW: Jason is right, that having a Slicer with hundreds of options does not mean that you can print better automatically. In reality It means you can spend a lot of time with all the parameters to find best working parameter for your current model. So only if you have the patience to tune your print having this options is valuable.

Short answer: For me it is important I can achieve much much better print results in case I can tune parameters for anything myself.
Not just a "claim", It's real, done it myself, FDM-3D print, PLA, 0.05 Layer Height, 0.2 Nozzle, 100 layers (==> 2mm model height): http://stohn.de/3d/index.php/2013/05/14 ... ltra-tiny/

And since you asked for it, here a list of desperately needed (asked many times) features the UP standard software is missing:

- pre heat (some minutes) BEFORE print (just like the not so useful option to heat after print in the software)
- possibility to set temperature (I was able to print many kind of different material like PET, Ninja-Flex, ... after using my temp mod)
- preview before print to inspect the model and the SUPPORT (just like ModelWizard is showing the preview)
- different nozzle sizes
(some others might add more)

The missing features mentioned above are my main motivation to create this transcoder. Personally I have no preference to use any other slicer. Just the missing essential features are my problem.



Personally I want to thank Tiertime, to allow us to discuss all of this freely directly inside of their forums. THANKS FOR THIS.

Best Regards,

Maik

[Tiertime-Jason]

Hi Mr. X,

Thank you for the support and suggestions.
We are currently working on new upgrades for software and hardwares. I think some of the features you mentioned will be covered in the near future.

We understand that quite a number of users want more controls and want to test more materials. I admit UP need to support more materials and I hope we can do better on this aspect. There are many feature requests and many of them are very good suggestions, but the development team can only prioritize on a few aspects.

Anyway, we always welcome the community to point out what's wrong and what is needed.

[steelmans]

- pre heat (some minutes) BEFORE print (just like the not so useful option to heat after print in the software)
- possibility to set temperature (I was able to print many kind of different material like PET, Ninja-Flex, ... after using my temp mod)
- preview before print to inspect the model and the SUPPORT (just like ModelWizard is showing the preview)
- different nozzle sizes
(some others might add more)

I'm not personally concerned about the nozzle sizes but the preview would be fantastic.

The biggest thing of all is temperature control. Is the reason that Tiertime don't allow temperature controls because it would make the software less easy to use? for beginners?
Ok thats good because I have the solution.... Add a option somewhere at the bottom of a menu called "advanced mode" or "expert mode". Then when someone clicks it a warning appears to inform the user that "they could damage the printer if not used correctly and this area is for advanced users only". This could then free up advanced options such as temperatures, feed rates, layer heights etc (but always allowing the user to use the simple standard settings).

The way CEL did this with their AutoMaker software is attached.