LinuxCNC on the 1F hardware?

Aftermarket Controllers (Advanced Users Only)
1

Running it on the Pi is an obvious yes, but my question is directed around the 1F mainboard, is it at all compatible with Linux CNC? or will I have to get separate stepper drivers?

The 1F CNC software drives me nuts, I feel like I am using a smartphone app made for kids there are like 0 advanced features.

2

You should probably ask in the BuildBotics forum.

3

Do NOT flash buildbotics firmware on the Onefinity controller. It will render it unusable. The onefinity controller is NOT a buildbotics controller. I was originally built off of their open source code, but has now been deeply forked, in both hardware and software and firmware.

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4

Well then, Is LinuxCNC compatible with the 1F controller MainBoard?

I was not aware that the Buildbotics Hardware was different from the 1F Hardware good to know.

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5

The onefinity controller is only designed to run onefinity software.

6

I would suggest you look at other controller options like masso discussed in the forums as others who wanted a different experience did that. It would use the mechanicals bit not the Controller box as well

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7

Please expand upon this observation on the advanced features you are trying to use on the 1F. Thanks.

8
  1. If the machine loses power, you have to rehome everything. and you lose your place in your program. and have to run the whole thing again, or go edit the program and cut out stuff that has already been done.
  2. There are no macros, so you can’t save a simple repeatable tasks, like “go here” or “go there” or “retract Z all the way up”
  3. You can’t speed up or slow down your feed rate while the machine is running
  4. You can’t skip to a certain place in the program.
  5. You can’t pause the machine during a program and then move it. So say you want to move the Z axis up to get it out of the way so you can do something, and then tell it to go back where it was before. (I can’t do that)

I am sure there is more stuff, but that is normal CNC stuff that this controller doesn’t support.

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9

This is the stuff that makes the 1F the top selling cnc, real folks USING the product and finding out what is great and also, NOT so great. Hopefully Mark is listening and next time he is talking with the developers supplying the controller, these topics WILL be tabled and considered.
Making the 1F the best, is all about listening to the user community, and addressing the “wish” list.
Every one of the items TheColonel26’s lists out, are legitimate, user functions, that will make the 1F experience even better when they become a reality.
As a hobby / semi-commercial machine, being able to have HIGH (competitive) functionality, paves the way for Onefinity to become the clear leader. Skilled craftsman KNOW the differences!

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10

While I agree with a lot of your observations, the first one is understandable. On power the controller has no knowledge of the location of the current XYZ axis. The only way to do this would be to save the current position on a loss of power to non-volatile memory. The Prusa and other 3D printers can do this so it is possible if there is enough power left in the power supply to permit a write to memory.

I agree with your assessment of the UI, it is very clunky and could use some real human interface work. The best UI I have encountered in the CNC world is PlanetCNC which looks to be very comprehensive in its feature set. However, it is proprietary software and based in Slovenia so who knows if they will be around in the future.

Next on my list for UI would be OpenBuilds which is. open source but alas, it is for controlling GRBL controllers (AFAIK).

It is regrettable that 1F has chosen to use an internal fork of BuildBotics open source which seems to have a much more active user base. The last commit to 1F was back in Oct and I see no pull requests or issues in the software repository.