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DerAndere edited this page Mar 13, 2022 · 113 revisions

Marlin2ForPipetBot firmware

Copyright 2018 - 2022 DerAndere

Marlin2ForPipetBot firmware for multi-axis 3D printers, CNC machines and lab robots

Note: Multi-axis-Marlin firmware was merged into upstream MarlinFirmware/Marlin bugfix-2.0.x on 5th June 2021, so support for up to 6 non-extruder axes is part of official MarlinFirmware/Marlin. Code from this repository (DerAndere1/Marlin) may contain additional multi-axis feautures, but official Marlin will be more up to date in general and contain less bugs. Use nightly builds of official MarlinFirmware/Marlin, Version "Marlin 2.0 with bug fixes (bugfix-2.0.x)", whenever possible.

Marlin2ForPipetBot is a firmware for multi-axis 3D printers, CNC machines and lab robots (liquid handling robots, "pipetting robots"). It supports up to 9 (nine) non-extruder axes plus tools (extruders / laser / mill / hobby servos / hot wire foam cutters). Axes 4-6 (internal axis ID I, J, K) can be rotational axes (AXIS*_NAME 'A', 'B' or 'C') or secondary linear axes (AXIS*_NAME 'U', 'V' or 'W'). Axes 7-9 (internal axis ID U, V, W) can only be secondary linear axes (AXIS*_NAME 'U', 'V' or 'W'). Feedrate interpretation follows specifications for the NIST RS274NGC interpreter - version 3 and its successor, LinuxCNC (default LinuxCNC with trivkins).

Thanks to the extra axes it is now possible to do indexed multi-axis machining and to drive additional tools (pumps, toolchangers or other) with Marlin2ForPipetBot. Continuous multi-axis machining with Tool Center Point Control (TCPC) is currently not supported. That would require implementation of a machine-specific kinematic model and commands like Haas G234, FANUC G43.3, or implementation of FANUC Rotational Tool Center Point Control (RTCP) type II (G43.5). Only one kinematic model with more than 3 non-extruder-axes that contribute to tool-positioning is currently available: FOAMCUTTER_XYUV (see below). If you have a different machine where additional axes contribute to tool positioning, you currently have to implement your own kinematic model.

Additional documentation can be found on the PipetBot-A8 project page that is part of the website by DerAndere. Issues related to multi-axis support can be reported to DerAndere1 here. If you want to add support for more hardware or optimize compatibility with other software features, please first consider to fork MarlinFirmware/Marlin and contribute directly to upstream MarlinFirmware/Marlin according to their guidelines. If merging your changes into MarlinFirmware/Marlin is not an option, you are welcome to (re)base your changes onto the Marlin2ForPipetBot_dev branch of DerAndere1/Marlin and create pull requests tageting the Marlin2ForPipetBot_dev branch.
Please test this firmware and let us know if it misbehaves in any way.

Volunteers are standing by!

Not for production use. Use with caution!

The following information applies to upstream MarlinFirmware/Marlin bugfix-2.0.x. Documentation relevant to Marlin2ForPipetBot or other versions can be found in the README file of the respective branch in this repository.

Multi-axis-Marlin supports up to six non-extruder axes (LINEAR_AXES) plus extruders (e.g. XYZABC+E or XYZUVW+E).

Only a subset of the Marlin G-code dialect is supported:

  • G0, G1, G2, G3, G28, G29, G90, G91, G92, T0, T1
  • M17, M18, M43, M85, M92, M111, M114 (partially), M201, M202, M203, M206 (partially), M500, M501, M502, M503, M504

Default axis names are:

LINEAR_AXES Default axis codes
3 X, Y, Z, E
4 X, Y, Z, A, E
5 X, Y, Z, A, B, E
6 X, Y, Z, A, B, C, E

Example syntax for movement (G-code G1) for a configuration with #define LINEAR_AXES 6:

G1 [Xx.xxxx] [Yy.yyyy] [Zz.zzzz] [Aa.aaaa] [Bb.bbbb] [Cc.cccc] [Ee.eeee] [Ff.ffff]

For G-code syntax supported by upstream MarlinFirmware/Marlin bugfix-2.0.x, see https://github.com/DerAndere1/MarlinDocumentation/tree/master/_gcode

Configuration

Configuration is done by editing the file Marlin/Configuration.h. E.g. change #define LINEAR_AXES 3

to:

#define LINEAR_AXES 4

Important options are:

FOAMCUTTER_XYUV

Define FOAMCUTTER_XYUV kinematics for a hot wire cutter with parallel horizontal axes X, U where the hights of the two wire ends are controlled by parallel axes Y, V. Currently only works with LINEAR_AXES 5. A dummy pin number can be assigned to pins for the unused Z axis. Leave FOAMCUTTER_XYUV disabled for default behaviour (stepper velocities are calculated using multidimensional linear interpolation over all axes). Host software and CAM software for 4 axis foam cutters can be found at https://rckeith.co.uk/file-downloads/ and https://www.jedicut.com/en/download/ . A simple python library to generate G-code for 4 axis foam cutters can be found at https://github.com/jasonhamilton/hotwing-core .

LINEAR_AXES

LINEAR_AXES: The number of axes that are not used for extruders (axes that benefit from endstops and homing). LINEAR_AXES > 3 requires definition of

  • [I, [J, [K]]]_STEP_PIN
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_ENABLE_PIN
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_DIR_PIN
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_STOP_PIN (for available pins, see the pins/pins_YOURMOTHERBOARD.h file for your board)
  • USE_[I, [J, [K]]][MIN || MAX]_PLUG
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_ENABLE_ON
  • DISABLE_[I, [J, [K]]]
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_MIN_POS
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_MAX_POS
  • [I, [J, [K]]]_HOME_DIR
  • possibly DEFAULT_[I, [J, [K]]]JERK

and definition of the respective values of

  • DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT
  • DEFAULT_MAX_FEEDRATE
  • DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION
  • HOMING_FEEDRATE_MM_M
  • AXIS_RELATIVE_MODES
  • MICROSTEP_MODES
  • MANUAL_FEEDRATE

and possibly also values of

  • HOMING_BUMP_DIVISOR
  • HOMING_BACKOFF_POST_MM
  • BACKLASH_DISTANCE_MM

For bed-leveling, NOZZLE_TO_PROBE_OFFSETS has to be extended with elemets of value 0 until the number of elements is equal to the value of LINEAR_AXES.

Allowed values: [3, 4, 5, 6]

AXIS4_NAME

AXIS4_NAME, AXIS5_NAME, AXIS6_NAME: Axis codes for additional axes: This defines the axis code that is used in G-code commands to reference a specific axis.

  • 'A' for rotational axis parallel to X
  • 'B' for rotational axis parallel to Y
  • 'C' for rotational axis parallel to Z
  • 'U' for secondary linear axis parallel to X
  • 'V' for secondary linear axis parallel to Y
  • 'W' for secondary linear axis parallel to Z

Regardless of the settings, firmware-internal axis identifiers are I (AXIS4), J (AXIS5), K (AXIS6).

Allowed values: ['A', 'B', 'C', 'U', 'V', 'W']

EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_TO

EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_TO, EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_T1: Event Gcodes to be executed when the printer receives toolchange commands T0 or T1, respectively.

Allowed values: a string containing G-code commands seperated by \n, e.g:

#define EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_TO "G28 A\nG28 B\nG1 A0 B5 F100"

Building Multi-axis-Marlin firmware

To build Multi-axis-Marlin firmware you'll need PlatformIO. The MarlinFirmware team has posted detailed instructions on Building Marlin with PlatformIO.

The most stable Marlin Firmware with support for up to 6 axes is current MarlinFirmware/Marlin. All contributions that are not specific to pipetting robots should be rebased onto https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/bugfix-2.0 and a pull requests targeting https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/tree/bugfix-2.0.x should be prepared.

The different branches in the git repository https://github.com/DerAndere1/Marlin reflect different stages of development:

Supported Configuration options:

Currently the configs by hobiseven and HendrikJan-5D are the only ones that were tested. Below I list Individual features that may work (although not all combinations). All other config settings currently should be treated as not supported yet. Experienced useres are encouraged to experiment with other config settings and report at https://github.com/DerAndere1/Marlin/issues if something works or not. All at your own risk - be ready to push the emergency stop button at any time.

  • *_DRIVER_TYPE A4988
  • *_DRIVER_TYPE DRV8825
  • *_DRIVER_TYPE TMC5160
  • *_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2226
  • *_DRIVER_TYPE TMC2209
  • LINEAR_AXES 3
  • LINEAR_AXES 4
  • LINEAR_AXES 5
  • LINEAR_AXES 6
  • LINEAR_AXES 7
  • LINEAR_AXES 8
  • LINEAR_AXES 9
  • EXTRUDERS 0
  • EXTRUDERS 1
  • EXTRUDERS 2
  • DEBUG_LEVELING
  • DEBUG_PINS
  • [dogm display (possibly not all menus work flawlessly with axes I,J,K)]
  • One or two stepper drivers per axis (*_DUAL_STEPPER_DRIVERS)
  • AUTO_BED_LEVELING_3POINT
  • AUTO_BED_LEVELING_LINEAR

Boards:

  • ANET_10
  • RAMPS_14_EFB
  • MKS Rumba32
  • ALFAWISE_U20 (?)
  • ALFAWISE_U30 (?)
  • Teensy 3.6
  • BTT GTR V1.0 with M5 V1.0 board

Credits

Multi-axis support for Marlin firmware is developed by:

DerAndere [@DerAndere1] - Germany
Garbriel Beraldo [@GabrielBeraldo] - Brasil
Olivier Briand [@hobiseven] - France
Wolverine [@MohammadSDGHN] - Undisclosed 
bilsef [@bilsef] - Undisclosed 
FNeo31 [@FNeo31] - Undisclosed
Scott Lahteine [@thinkyhead] - USA
HendrikJan-5D [@HendrikJan-5D] - Undisclosed

Multi-axis-Marlin firmware is based on Marlin firmware.

The current Marlin dev team consists of:

Scott Lahteine [@thinkyhead] - USA
Roxanne Neufeld [@Roxy-3D] - USA
Bob Kuhn [@Bob-the-Kuhn] - USA
Chris Pepper [@p3p] - UK
João Brazio [@jbrazio] - Portugal
Erik van der Zalm [@ErikZalm] - Netherlands

Contributions:

Author Contact Contribution
DerAndere @DerAndere1 main developer of multi-axis support, idea, initial implementation, added EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_T0, EVENT_GCODE_TOOLCHANGE_T1, SAFE_BED_LEVELING_POSITION_X, LCD_SHOW_SECONDARY_AXES, AXIS4_ROTATES features, bugfixes
Gabriel Beraldo @GabrielBeraldo hardware debugging, bugfixes yielding first working prototype (make additional axes move, fix EEPROM)
Olivier Briand @hobiseven testing, added experimental compatibility with different configurations, code review, FOAMCUTTER_XYUV kinematics
Wolverine @MohammadSDGHN added experimental compatibility with different configurations (BigTreeTech SKR Pro 1.1, Trinamic TMC drivers, StealthChop, sensorless homing)
bilsef @bilsef testing, code review, bugfixes (fix movement of additional axes, fix types.h, fix EEPROM)
FNeo31 @FNeo31 added experimental drilling cyles (G81, G82, G83)
HendrikJan-5D @HendrikJan-5D testing bed leveling and Trinamic TMC, bugfixes yielding first working 9 axis prototype
Scott Lahteine @thinkyhead code review, refactoring
MarlinFirmware @MarlinFirmware Marlin 3D Printer firmware

Licensing information

/**
 * Multi-axis-Marlin firmware
 * Copyright 2018 - 2021 DerAndere and other Multi-axis-Marlin authors
 *
 * Based on:
 * Marlin 3D Printer Firmware
 * Copyright (c) 2021 MarlinFirmware [https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin]
 *
 * Based on Sprinter and grbl.
 * Copyright (c) 2011 Camiel Gubbels / Erik van der Zalm
 *
 * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 *
 */

Multi-axis-Marlin firmware

Copyright 2018 - 2024 DerAndere

Licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 3.0 or later.

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