arnaudjuracek
commented
7 years ago Yep, you'll need the custom firmware in order to use this nodejs module : during the handshaking, node wait for a signal from the plotter, only sent when it reaches its final home position. So if the plotter can't reach its home, the handshaking won't resolve.
My guess is that you have a problem with your limit switches. A quick way to test them is to start the plotter from a center position, and quickly press with your finger the four limit switches. When a switch is pressed, the plotter shouldn't move in that direction. If so, maybe you have a problem in your wiring.
You could also have the X and Y steppers switched to one another.
If your problem persists, I'll tend to think that it is entirely due to the firmware, as the steppers shouldn't be able to run passed their limit switches with this custom firmware. Make sure that your limit switches are all correctly plugged, then try to inverse WIDTH / HEIGHT in the firmware.ino so that you effectively switch from portrait to landscape.
As you are the second person (me being the first one) to use this code, it is possible that I went too far from the original config, and that my setup is wronger than yours. If so, I'll try to make the firmware works with an out-of-the-box plotter setup, to avoid those kind of problems.
Also, thanks a lot for your feedback ! 👍
vvzen
jvolker
First of all: thanks for putting this up! I was going to do this myself but certainly you've done a much better job. 😃 I've got a problem just after installing: it keeps waiting for an handshake for sooo long (and it never receives it).. maybe the makeblock isn't sending anything back on the serial. What it could be? How could it be fixed? Namastè
PS: I used the firmware in the repo. But after uploading it the makeblock continues to crash on its X axis (it tries to keep moving even after it reaches the end of the guides).