Is ESP8266 connection possible?

[jwidht]

Hi,

In the LW4 connection options (MACHINE CONNECTION), it shows ESP8266 as one of the options.
I would like to utilize ESP8266-01 to connect to my laser engraver via WiFi (because, otherwise, there are too many wires around and I am getting to inhale too much smoke ;) )

I tried following the instructions for LW3 here
https://github.com/LaserWeb/deprecated-LaserWeb3/wiki/Connecting-ESP8266---LaserWeb3---Smoothieware

also see here

In my case, I can see that ESP8266 with the ino sketch inside boots and connects to my WiFi network, I am also able to ping its IP address. However, when I open LW4 and select

MACHINE CONNECTION: ESP8266
MACHINE IP: 192.168.1.74
(which is the ESP8266 address)

and press CONNECT, I am getting the following output:

Connecting Machine @ ESP8266,192.168.1.74
Server error: unexpected server response (404)
Machine disconnected
Machine disconnected

Am I doing it right, is it possible at all? Has anybody managed to connect remotely, what did you use?

Thanks so much

PS: My machine is controlled by Arduino UNO with a stepper driver shield with the latest GRBL

[cprezzi]

This connection was just a test and needed a special firmware on the ESP8266. Unfortunately it never worked reliable, because WLAN connection was not stable and fast enough.

One option would be to use a raspberry pi with the lw.comm-server installed on it. lw.comm-server is the LaserWeb backend and acts as a gateway between websocket (LAN) and machine (USB). See https://github.com/LaserWeb/lw.comm-server/wiki/Manual-Installation-(RasPi) for instructions.

Another option would be to replace your Arduino/Grbl/CNC-Shield with a Grbl-ESP32 Board from Bart Dring (see https://github.com/bdring/Grbl_Esp32 and https://www.tindie.com/products/33366583/grbl_esp32-cnc-development-board-v35/).

[jwidht]

Thank you, you are awesome! 👍
I already have a Raspberry Pi Zero W which streams video to LW4, and it works great. I'll be looking into adding another one for the connectivity.
Warm Regards