General

PowerSpec 3D Printer with FlashPrint over Wi-Fi!

No Wi-Fi for you!

If you’ve purchased a PowerSpec “ultra” printer from Microcenter (or bought one of the other rebranded models), you’re probably disappointed in the slicer options. It comes with an old version of FlashPrint, PowerPrint, that is no longer updated. Hopefully, you’ve figured out that the latest versions of FlashPrint from FlashForge work perfectly fine with your PowerSpec printer by creating great gcode files you can print from your SD card. But what about Wi-Fi?

Unfortunately, all of the network printing features are broken as the software is looking for a hard-coded string in the firmware at connection time. In the spirit of “right to repair,” I’ve created a simple network proxy that sits between the FlashPrint software and your PowerSpec printer to fix that problem and let you monitor and print from the software just like you could in PowerPrint.

Using the Script

To use this, you’ll need to install Python on your computer. If you have a Mac, it’s probably already installed. Just download the file below and run it from a command prompt/terminal like:

python flashprintproxy.py <PRINTERIP>

If you don’t know what your printer’s IP address is, just go to your printer, make sure it’s turned on, and go to Tools/Settings/Wifi to get your IP address. You can also hard code it in the python file if you prefer.

IP Address on Printer Setup

Once you’ve done this, you can go to the printer settings in FlashPrint and put in 127.0.0.1 with port 8899. That’s the address where the Python script is working to connect to your printer and handle things. You can easily stop the script after your print is sent to the printer, or keep it running to see the status of your print.

FlashPrint running with PowerSpec printer over Wi-Fi

Next up, I plan to create some scripts for sending prints to the printer without FlashPrint for easy automation from any slicer.

Your mileage may vary. I offer the below with no warranty! The code is yours to try and change as you desire.

flashprintproxy.py_Download Script

DIY Standing Desk

If you work at your desk all day without getting up and moving around regularly, you’re not doing your body any favors! In the last couple years, I’ve tried moving around more while on conference calls and sitting in different locations (which is really easy at home, but in our new collaboration spaces at work it’s super easy too). Last year, while in the office, I used one of the sit/stand desks. I was surprised that after using it for an hour in stand position, I was still standing without a desire to sit (from my feet or my brain). I felt more focused standing, and when my feet and back told me it was time for the chair, I did it long enough to feel rested and did more standing. I didn’t like that the sit/stand desk had no keyboard tray, but it did go pretty low, so it wasn’t an ergonomic disaster-just not quite optimal.

The next day, I started researching buying a desk for home and found it’s pretty easy to spend between $600-900. I’m a person that always likes to make things my own, whether that involves customizing them or building them. I started looking for options to build a desk from a frame, and it turns out a few companies offer their desks without the top for people like me. I searched quite a bit to find a desk that could handle a decent weight, had good reviews online, and more than a 90-day warranty. After a lot of searching, I found a deal on Amazon. It was the… It was on sale for $279 and had an extra 20% cash back. I ordered it Friday and it appeared Sunday morning! I wasn’t ready with a top, so I cut a bit off a piece of plywood in my leftover stack in the garage to use in the meantime.

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IKEA Top with four coats of wipe-on poly

For the top, I wanted to go big. My current desk in my home office was a standard computer desk, about 4 feet wide and 20 or so inches deep. Most the ones online offered a 30×60 size which sounded amazing. I wanted a nice clean look – something with some nice grain patterns, not dark. I found my local IKEA store sold an unfinished solid wood butcher block top. I put three coats of poly on it to make the wood colors pop without a glassy finish. It was simple to mount (like < 30 minutes) and then I just had to attach the controls to the front of the desk. I found a great standing pad that I stick under the desk when standing and it’s worked out great. I found generally I like to stand 2-4 times a day for 45-60 minutes. I think that’s a great compromise for an information worker and I think the look turned out great.

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Since the picture above, I 3D printed some cable management guides, mounted the power supply, and printed an under mount hook for my over the ear headphones (I call them the focus-phones)

Here are the parts I went with if you want to follow my path. The total for everything was under $400.

Using OctoPi with USB Camera

OctoPrint is an amazing little app with a simple web interface that controls your 3D printer. It has the ability to manage your gcode files or even take STL files and “slice” them into gcode files (which I’d never use since I like to visualize the layering in a tool first). OctoPi is a Raspberry Pi distribution of the tool that runs on the Pi. I had an older Raspberry Pi B that was perfect to throw at my need to remote control/monitor my longer 3D prints.

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View of interface on iPhone

Disclaimer: I know the Raspberry Pi camera using the camera interface is “the way to go”. But an older camera you have (or $5 Playstation Eye camera) is worth a try right? No way, CPU will be too high, you won’t have enough USB ports, system will run too hot, will cause printing to pause … or will it?

The way OctoPrint integrates with a camera is by pulling into its page a video stream from mjpg_streamer (a web server running on a different port). This tool takes content from your web camera and creates a web video stream.  This software is distributed with the OctoPi build, no extra install required. Building the stream is a much more efficient if your camera is newer and has support for MJPG – otherwise you’re using YUYV encoding and the Pi has to do a lot of extra work. Nevertheless you can make this work. I use the following options to run the streamer:

./mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -f 1 -q 50 -y -r 640x480" -o "output_http.so -w ./www"

The important parameters above is the “-f 1” which says do one frame per second (I’m not looking for high quality video – I just want to see if print has lifted and get a feel of progress). The “-q 50″ controls quality of the result compression.

You can update settings in /boot/octopi.txt so these are used by default. This can be done by ssh to your machine or shut the machine down and edit the file on your computer after putting in the SD card.

camera_usb_options=”-f 1 -q 75 -y”

The advantage of changing the settings in the boot config file is every time you unplug the camera the process dies, and when it starts it will use this setting (there is a background process called “webcam” that handles this).

I tried changing the resolution and surprisingly  didn’t find a change in CPU usage so opted to keep it. As far as CPU, the system is running high at 85% and most of that usage is from the mjpg_streamer process.

Command to check temperature:
vcgencmd measure_temp

So yes, it runs the CPU pretty high (80%+) and the temperatures run a few degrees higher (but at 54’C well below limits), and the initial OctoPrint interface loads a bit slower. If you don’t want to spend money on a $30 Pi camera or a more expensive USB camera I think you can make it work.

Useful Documentation Page on Settings per Camera

Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer Experience

IMG_0578I’ll admit, when I bought the Monoprice Mini Select 3D printer, I knew almost nothing about 3D printing. That won’t get you very far after you unbox the printer. There are some basics you need to learn to get good prints.

Once you have a 3D model in a print file format like STL you still need to put it in a program to tweak for your printer settings that has a slicer that creates a file usable by your printer. Beyond that, many prints require extra work to determine the thickness of walls that will look nice, supports for prints that have large overhangs, and more. It’s not rocket science; you just need to learn how the process works.

Thankfully, this printer has a lot of online help from owners on G+, Facebook, and especially YouTube.

Here’s a print session for a Pi Zero W case I found on thingiverse.com.

Tuning PID for Better Temp Control

Apparently, the out of the box temperatures for printing for this printer can fluctuate a lot. Most control systems use a PID controller to constantly measure the target values and use specific values for this (specified by the letters PID in the acronym). The good news is that you can tweak this printer’s values to get better results. I did this before my first print. Resources below:

While you can probably put these commands in a.gcode file and print them, I used this software to set the values. http://www.pronterface.com/

Printing Hints I’ve Discovered

  • Skip using the SD card and printing from the printer menu. Sometimes prints hang if you don’t upgrade the firmware (wanted to stay out of the box initially). Print from a computer with Pronterface (above) or even better, use Octopi (what I do now). Don’t use Cura on Mac to print; it just pauses every 10 seconds.
  • Use a good “slicer” application to create your print files. I do like Cura, and it’s available on Mac and Windows. If longer items can fit sideways, they’ll print faster. Have an item too large for the bed? You might be able to rotate it slightly to fit diagonally.
  • Print the first layer SLOW-half speed-on anything long or with quick angle changes.
  • Watch the printer. It can go bad. Octopi supports a camera!
  • Prints don’t stick without some help. Use a “raft” with your print if it doesn’t cover much surface area, and generally always use a light layer of glue stick on the tape on the bed.

The Octopi interface is great and works from any device anywhere. Why be tethered when you can watch remotely?

My Impressions

While I got some great prints with a little tweaking, I’m a bit concerned that this printer could be a black hole of my time doing mods. Apparently, Monoprice has a new model coming out in a few weeks that has many of these community mods built in, and most importantly, a replaceable hotend. I can already tell I’ll need to reroute the cables under the print bed (not attached correctly), install a stabilizer, and a couple other items. I may take advantage of Monoprice’s 30 day satisfaction guarantee and wait for the upgraded version to save me some time (and money in the long run).

Good luck!

Pac-Man has some Class … and Glass!

IMG_0386I’ve had my authentic Pac-Man underlay replacement graphic for a couple years (stored in a safe place away from kids), but finally got some glass and am ready to move this project forward a bit! I have to say, when you are playing it, you can’t see it is all “prototype” and it feels pretty legit. I also got a bezel designed for an LCD screen, and it really works well. Unfortunately, the next step is a big one: building the final cabinet. I’ve been reading about using a wood laminate like the original machines, but really would prefer to use a nicer wood that I can stain. Honestly, since I’ve not done a laminate, it might be easier, but I’m not sure if I want to go “replica” or do it “my way”. It’s probably going to be the latter.

I’ve looked at a lot of custom cocktail machines, and there are a lot of ways to approach the control panels. My prototype looks dumb, but it’s so easy to just box it out. The real reason not to have a control panel the width of the cabinet is that you’d have to sit back farther. With the prototype, you can kind of sneak your knees under it, but when it’s all buttoned up, you will want your knees to the side. Well, that’s a problem for next year (hopefully not next year but based on my timeline so far…)

 

 

Diagnosing problems with First Robotics Simulator (FRCSim)

WPI in conjunction with the Open Source Robotics Foundation has developed a 3-D simulation tool for FRC teams coding their robots in C++ or Java with WPILib. It’s pretty much limited to the sample robots you get with the development package right now but it’s great for students to try out the code or use the command framework to build some new commands. This exposure to the API doesn’t require a robot – which in the first few weeks of the project is a great thing. [more details]

The underlying tool for the FRCSim, Gazebo, isn’t very friendly about telling you what the problem might be before it dies an ugly death. Most likely the problem is you’re seeing errors about the “Gazebo Transport” in Eclipse since it’s unable to connect to the dead Gazebo server. I’ve documented some steps to try and determine the cause of your problem.

1) Make sure you’re following the latest steps for running the tool and have a proper updated Ubuntu installation. You need to be on the 64-bit version of the OS. To verify this try typing the following on the command:

> uname output

You should see X86_64 in the output. If you don’t your machine isn’t compatible or you installed the 32bit OS version.

2) Try running the following command to launch the Gazebo server directly and look for any human readable errors in the log:
> frcsim -u –verbose /usr/share/frcsim/worlds/GearsBotDemo.world

You can look at the log files in ~/.gazebo for any useful error information. It will be cryptic but maybe you’ll find something useful. I wouldn’t spend a lot of time here but maybe you’ll see some obvious failure.

3) Determine if your card supports direct rendering. Try the following command. If you see output of “direct rendering: Yes” that’s good.
> glxinfo | grep “direct rendering”

If you don’t see the right output see step below.

4) If you’re still stuck your video card may not be supported. If you’re using an integrated controller you’ll likely need to try an ATI or nVidia dedicated card. I tried 2 linux laptops and a desktop all with integrated controllers from a variety of vendors (with correct support for direct rendering). Only after updating the desktop with a super cheap $30 nVideo card was I able to get the simulator to run – and runs pretty well from limited testing.

If you’re stuck hopefully some of the stuff above helps out. Thanks to Alex Henning for the tips!

Dust off that Old Nook Simple Touch for Kindle Reading?

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Yeah, I’m mostly using the Kindle bookstore now – but what if you have an old Nook eReader (and some B&N content)?

I recently dusted off the Nook Simple Touch and decided to try some of the root options, mostly to get the Kindle app working. I was amazed at the volume of YouTube videos and XDA Forum threads as well as root options available. Obviously the Simple Touch isn’t the hottest device to hack anymore, so it’s hard to find out what’s really the best to start with  all of the options and versions. Bottom Line? Update your nook to 1.2.1 version B&N firmware and root with the most recent version of RootManager.

If you’re unfamiliar with the process of “rooting” or installing a new ROM on an Android device the process is pretty straightforward. You download an installer image to put on an SD card that you start your device with. That installer tool on your SD card does all the magic. Generally, if you follow the steps for any tool exactly you’ll be successful.

I started with TouchNooter [Check out the XDA Forum] but regardless of the Nook firmware version I started with (tried 1.0.0 and 1.1) the experience didn’t work quite right. It went into a reboot loop after TouchNooter and then after it reset itself, I had the apps, but no root. I wasn’t a fan of the launcher application installed by default since it left a launcher option on the right side of the screen that sometimes got in the way. After looking at a couple of other options with mixed reviews I decided to try NookManager. okManager [Check out this thread] has a nice wizard interface with options anchored to the four physical buttons on the device. It guides you through restoring the device to factory settings (actually worked after other things didn’t) and is very easy to setup. I skipped the steps to backup since I had no content on the device and I also skipped the steps on formatting the SD card since I wasn’t interested in using it for storage. After reboot I was back into the Nook with an option to pick the alternate option (save the option by hitting checkbox first). The interface installed was a lot easier to work with for me than TouchNooter.

I also found a modified Kindle app [link] that was tweaked to make the off-white background completely white and the black a true black (for e-Ink screens). I’d recommend downloading the file and installing it. If you’re not familiar with ADB you can read more here on installing it and connecting to your device. Before you try it, be sure to launch the ADBConnect application on the nook first.

There are quite a few resources that list old application files you might try installing and find useful (Google Play books, Webster, Bible, Opera Mini) [Try this one for starters].

The most common reason for rooting the NST is likely to add other reading applications the B&N doesn’t allow by default. If you’re interested in those options give NookManager a try. Make sure to follow B&N instructions to update your nook to 1.2 first [Click here and select link for “Get 1.2.1 Today”]

Side Note: If you’re on a Mac the easiest way to create the NookManager SD disk is to use the ApplePi Baker.

Is Homeschooling a DIY approach to education?

We began our homeschool experience as a cautious experiment that eventually led to homeschooling through high school. We had a few reasons – one was a private school teacher mom that would have spent her entire salary sending three kids to private school. The reasons for homeschooling are always evolving and maybe now thriving in the culture of the “Do-it-yourself” and “LifeHacker” crowd. A recent article from Wired Magazine talks about this latest reason for home schooling – provide a completely unique experience that no school could provide (Read the article, interesting story). I’m not sure I’ve run into any with this motivation in the homeschool community here in the midwest, but welcome to our eclectic crowd (if 3% qualifies as a crowd).

Really home schooling has always been a DIY approach to education. For many in the United States homeschooling is an option where the local schools are low-quality or where parents have certain philosophical or religious views they feel are not represented (or disliked) in the public-school systems. Others choose homeschooling because they have kids with special needs that don’t fit in schools that are more traditional. Our reasons may vary but every one of us takes our own approach, even customizing for each child – how DIY is that?

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Many people fear that kids that not in a government school will receive lesser quality education. Given the state of the public school system and our ranking worldwide in educational effectiveness this concern always baffled me! The truth is home schooled kids score higher on standardized tests than any other school group and they’re highly sought after by college admissions [more details]. Others wonder if homeschoool kids spend all their time indoors with their parents can ever develop any real social skills. The truth is home school kids do spend a lot of time with other kids and without the constant pure pressure develop social skills quite naturally [NPR Article with more background].

I’m a big fan of DIY mentality and hacking anything into something new and more useful. Thanks Wired for pointing out how I hacked my kids education into something unique. Next time someone asks why I homeschooled my kids I’ll just reply, “Because I’m a life hacker”.

My Experience and Review of Wink Home Automation Hub

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While shopping on Black Friday for my annual $1Home Depot poinsettias I ran across a great deal on the “Wink” home automation hub.  Wink was available for only $.99 if you purchased two home automation Products. Conveniently the GE link lightbulbs were only 15 dollars, Just a little bit more than normal LED bulbs.  I purchased two of them thinking this had to be the cheapest way to get started with home automation.

The GE lightbulbs look a little unusual. In addition to being a little bit larger than average they are clear at the top and you can see a small circular antenna for radio communication. Unlike some bulbs which have a diffusion layer to soften the bright LEDs, the GE bulbs are clear and can appear a little harsh. The first attempt I made was to take automate the lamp on a coffee table next to my family room couch. I screwed in the bulb, I turned on the light, and opened the wink application. Following the wizard my light was quickly available to turn off and on as well as dim with almost zero effort. The next bulb went in the ceiling over my kitchen sink. I repeated the same process with the same success. The next thing I tried was setting up a light schedule. For my family room lamp I wanted it to come on at dusk and go off at 10 PM in the evening. For the kitchen light I wanted it to come on at the same time and at 10 PM go to a low dimmed mode to function as a”nightlight”in the middle of the night. The obvious downside of this approach is that these are switched elements and so anyone can switch them on or off making them unavailable to your home automation hub to control. You’re probably wondering what the state is after turning it off – it’s like you hope and comes on normally (and reports to the hub it’s in “on” status).IMG_0071

It was nearly Christmas and I decided that my experiment was going well and Santa should bring me some more Wink-supported gadgets. I added a wall switch that would allow me to control all the lights in my living room and the Wink “Spotter” device which claims to detect many things including motion, temperature, humidity, and more.

I started with the Wink Spotter device and immediately ran into several problems. I tried on several times to get it to sync with my Wink hub and consistently got errors. Finally in a completely random effort on a later day it started working. Quickly I noticed the humidity and temperature controls were nowhere near any of the other temperature devices in my home. I have two other thermostats including a Nest thermostat and it reported very low values by comparison. Next I tried the light sensor hoping to trigger my lights aced on the ambient light in the house. While the trigger often noticed a change in light it was easily affected by other lights nearby I really couldn’t find a proper use for this feature. Lastly I tried the motion detector. Like many other Spotter customers I was surprised to find out that it doesn’t detect motion around it but instead detects its own motion. If you were to place the spotter BY a door it would never sense any motion you would have to hang the spotter with a cord ON your doorknob for it to actually detect motion at your door. Let’s just say that wasn’t exactly what I was looking for – but after reviewing the online videos and instructions it’s quite clear the spotter is meant for more unusual use cases. Some examples I found were things like determining when your washer is done or when the kids are jumping on the bed.  Given in accuracy of the sensors and the unusual implementation of a motion detector I quickly returned this Christmas gift to the store.

Thankfully the new quirky door sensors (Tripper) had just hit the market. I picked up two of the sensors for $40 on Amazon. So far sensors have worked very well however they eventually would lose contact with the hub and the only way to correct the problem was to restart the hub. I’m happy to report that the latest upgrade to my wink hub seems to have resolved this problem. These were great for automatically turning off or on the lights based on door action and keeping a log of entry. I now know exactly at what time my kids are coming in and leaving (don’t even try to lie to me)!

IMG_0072The Levitron wall switch is ideal and one of the best investments you can make with your Wink home automation hub if you have a lot of ceiling lighting. It was crazy simple to install, worked right out of the gate in the wink application, and provides a very nice LED friendly dimmable solution. Since there are no actual physical switches you don’t have to worry about your family turning it off and no longer being able to control the lights. At $50 it’s a little too expensive for me to switch all my lights to, but I hope to upgrade 1-2 switches a year.

I next decided to try to connect my Nest thermostat to my Wink hub. This was very easy to do and it seems the main benefit is you can make changes to your temperature from inside the wink application without having to launch another application. In addition, since Wink has geofencing  you can add robots to increase or decrease your temperature when you arrive or leave home – this is not a feature that Nest supports natively.

The last device I decided to try was one that isn’t certified yet with the Wink Hub (however it is a Z–wave device and generally supported by the Wink). I purchased the Aeon Labs appliance switch the which is essentially a small extension cord whose power can be turned on and off like a switch from the lights interface on your Wink application. I bought it on Amazon because I knew they have an easy return policy. Like every other device I hooked up this one worked instantly and was controlling it in under a minute. My only complaint is that it shows up under lights, I’m using it to control a small space heater in my office. The device also has the ability to report energy consumption but the Wink doesn’t support that either. For $20 it’s a great way to control just about anything and I’m very pleased with the product.

So it’s all rosy with the Wink right? Well not exactly. I’m more than a few occasions I’ve had to restart the hub because it stopped working completely. Since the last update I haven’t had this problem so I’m hoping it was a momentary software glitch. While the Wink Hub should support many Z-wave devices it doesn’t have special support for those devices and so you do lose some of the features. I also wish there was better support for IFTTT  so that I could create more interesting automation recipes. The tool does have their own”robots” that are pretty powerful but they are limited in what they can interact with and notify. Wink looks like they have great support but the couple times I called the lines were pretty backed up. The built-in video tutorials in the app are very straightforward and well done. Given all this I would consider the product more of a “beta” setup right now.IMG_0070

If you can pickup the Wink hub on a deal  give it a try. Compared to some solutions like the Phillips (and others) you don’t have to spend $150 just to get started. The robots make it easy to create simple automations and the supported switches, door triggers, etc. all are working pretty well for me.

My Nashville Visit

My wife and I had a few days to getaway and decided to checkout Nashville. I put together a few notes of what was great for us in case you are considering a visit Nashville is fun even if you aren’t a hard core country music fan (we aren’t), however if you detest country music that may lessen some of the fun I’ll recommend.
photo 1Where to Stay…
If you don’t mind dumping $200 a night the Opryland Hotel is very nice, has beautiful indoor gardens (but overpriced food).  If you plan (and you should) on visiting the Opryland theater it’s practically in walking distance (they have buses or you can drive). The hotel even with conferences going on and the CMA music festival starting didn’t feel overwhelming – probably due to the size. It is the largest non-casino hotel in the Continental United States outside of Las Vegas.  Rooms were immaculate and nice, service great. It was nice to get away from the city and have a place to hang out – if you prefer to spend most your hangout time in a honkeytonk bar stay downtown Nashville for sure. If we went back we’d probably stay downtown or at a B&B near the city (but we liked Opryland).

Coffee…
If you like coffee you must visit Barista’s Parlor. It’s in an area outside downtown in an old commercial garage. Don’t let the location or lack of signage from the road deter you – it’s one of the few coffee shops I’ve ever visited where all the employees were passionate about coffee and I’ve never witnessed such meticulous preparation (even in my own kitchen). The espressos are sweet and flowery and the coffees are not dark and full bodied but I think anyone would enjoy them. The strawberry waffles were quite good (both times!). I tried to visit Crema but they were closed … looks like a must-try. photo 4

What to See…
I’d start my trip to Nashville with a tour, and I’d HIGHLY recommend the …. Walkin’ Nashville Tour I’d facebook message Bill after you sign up and ask him for any great local shows going on – he knows the best (and sometimes free) unique shows. There is a segway tour also but a lot more pricey and probably not as colorful as Bill’s tour. If you have time get a tour of the famous Rayman auditorium – it’s a corner piece of the town and country music (Bill takes you there but not IN on his tour). The replica of the Parthenon in Millennium Park is worth checking out. It’s $6 to go inside but well worth it IMHO. A wide angle lens would be nice for the inside. We saw the famous “Grand Ole Opry” show and it was quite a fun experience. Go ahead and bring your flash camera and check StubHub for tickets if sold out.

Food….
I’d try Puckett’s and go about 7ish so you can catch live music that starts at 7:30. We hoped to try Loveless Cafe (outside city) but was too far and heard of long waits – maybe next time. We had a lunch at Jack’s BBQ which was a local “dive” which was just “ok”. It can be hard to get into places that are popular so I’d recommend not flying it by the seat of the pants (which we did). Try for reservations and ask when live music starts.
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It seems a lot of things have activity Tuesday, Fri, Sat night. Many places in Nashville seemed closed Monday. I probably wouldn’t do a Wed/Thursday visit personally. We did a Mon-Wed visit and it was good we had Tuesday!