ProbeIt for UCCNC

[Greolt]

I temporarily hooked the computer up to the internet and these messages went away.

Disconnected computer and tried again and they are back.

And also every time I enter the "About" page they pop up again in succession. Quite annoying.

I have no desire to have the machine control computer permanently on the internet.

EDIT: I unchecked "Check for new version on startup" and that got rid of the messages at the start, but the About page still brings them back.


Not having read the whole help file yet, to get ProbeIt to start I must set "enable" and "call startup" in plugin config. Then quit ProbeIt for the times I do not need it. Which is most.
If "enable" only is set then I go to "show" UCCNC freezes up requiring killing in task manager.

EDIT: Set a hotkey to start it and that fixed this bit. Could find nothing in the manual about this. I guess it is self explanatory.

[eabrust]

Hi Greolt,

Thanks for the feedback, it is helpful and appreciated. Sometimes I get too focused looking at the details and making things functionally work, that its easy to overlook some obvious annoying things, like the new version popups...

I have fixed / changed most of the 'new version check' which will be in the next update I put out. I didn't test it out well enough on a computer that wasn't on the internet, so point taken... It will be fixed so checking for updates can be disabled.

Certainly, the manual could use updates to cover things added along the way, like how to set button codes and open the plugin with a button or hotkey.

I'm still working at the next version of ProbeIt. Biggest addition is it will incorporate the ability to 'autolevel' or warp gcode to a surface, and have some built in GCode editing and modifying tools (flip/scale/rotate/etc). Still have a lot of cleanup and editing the manual for it yet.

regards,
Eric

[Greolt]

Thanks Eric
Appreciate your efforts.

Just have to learn how to use it.

The probing that is provided within UCCNC looks a bit daunting.
Hoping this will be easier to get to grips with.

[Greolt]

Found one little gotcha that may only affect a few users.

I use a MPG style pendant that needs "MPG cont." to operate.
Because I use the pendant for all moving around the table, that setting is for me default.

However as you can guess that stops ProbeIt working. It needs "Continuous"

My assumption is that your Xbox360 plugin does not need "MPG cont."

Pulled my hair out for a while until the penny dropped.
Z Probe worked fine but circular probe would move to probe depth then just sit there.

One side issue is that "Abort Probe Cycle" had no effect in this case. Had to quit ProbeIt and restart.

[eabrust]

Hi Greolt,

Thanks for this heads up.

This is a 'gotcha' I didn't know existed, thanks for pointing this out, its sort of a big one.... I wonder how many folks its tripped up that never figured it out?!

I've never played with the MPG mode buttons, and was un-aware that when they are enabled, it kills jogging w/ keys, and buttons. In the background, ProbeIt uses an API call uc100.JogOnSpeed, which is also surprisingly overridden and/or behaves erratically. Having one of the MPG modes on (single or multi I think) and then initiating a jog with JogOnSpeed results in the axis starting to jog, with inability to stop it until setting to continuous mode. Seems like there should be a UCCNC side check on that API call also to prevent a runaway axis also.

In the next version I'm wrapping up, I'll make ProbeIt perform a check for which mode is enabled, force UCCNC into 'continuous mode', then when leaving/closing have it set the mode back to what it was originally upon opening ProbeIt. I may also add a check prior to any 'probe' move, to ensure the user hasn't changed to an MPG setting after the fact.

This technically affects my other plugins that move the machine, so I'll have to add similar checks to the XBox360 plugin and UCamCopy.

Appreciate that you're testing it out and providing your findings! I'll have the next version ready for 'testing' pretty soon, and if you'd like to ring it out, send me a message with your SN_Lic code from the plugin, I'll shoot you a license code for your trouble.

regards,
Eric

[Greolt]

I imagine if using the "XBox360 plugin" then no one would change to "MPG cont."

Because I consistently us my MPG style pendant (on the router) I have a line in the constructor macro to set it that way as default.
Probably not many users like me.

As an aside I use the "XBox360 plugin" on my plasma table. Thankyou.