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authorFranklin Wei <franklin@rockbox.org>2019-11-30 00:02:43 -0500
committerFranklin Wei <franklin@rockbox.org>2019-11-30 00:02:43 -0500
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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# On Opening Black Boxes or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love G-Code
+# On Opening Black Boxes or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love G-Code {#top}
-![Baby Yoda, engraved.](baby-yoda.png)
+![Baby Yoda, engraved. ([G-code](baby-yoda.nc))](baby-yoda.png)
**TL;DR** PhotoVCarve should not cost $149. I made [my own](https://github.com/built1n/rastercarve).
@@ -28,14 +28,15 @@ that couldn't be done in a couple lines of Python,* I thought.
The first step in the process was figuring out *how* to control a CNC
machine. Some Googling told me that virtually all machines read
-"G-code", a sequence of alphanumeric instructions that command the
-movement of the tool in 3 dimensions. It looks something like this:
+[G-code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-code), a sequence of
+alphanumeric instructions that command the movement of the tool in 3
+dimensions. It looks something like this:
-```
+~~~ {.numberLines}
G00 X0 Y0 Z0.2
G01 Z-0.2 F10
G01 X1.0 Y0
-```
+~~~
These three commands tell the machine to:
@@ -57,25 +58,62 @@ perhaps a total of 4 hours from my initial proof-of-concept to the
current viable prototype. There were no major hiccups this time
around, and even though I'm still in the process of learning it,
Python made things *so* much easier than C (or God forbid -- [ARM
-assembly](adieu-quake.html)).
+assembly](adieu-quake.html#asm-listing)).
The heart of my program is a function,
-[`engraveLine`](http://fwei.tk/git/rastercarve/tree/src/rastercarve.py?id=c2de4a3258c3e37d4b49a41d786eef936262f137#n118),
+[`engraveLine`](http://fwei.tk/git/rastercarve/tree/src/rastercarve.py?id=c2de4a3258c3e37d4b49a41d786eef936262f137#n118) (below),
which outputs the G-code to engrave one "groove" across the image. It
takes in a initial position vector on the border of the image, and a
direction vector telling it which way to cut.
+~~~ {.python .numberLines}
+# Engrave one line across the image. start and d are vectors in the
+# output space representing the start point and direction of
+# machining, respectively. start should be on the border of the image,
+# and d should point INTO the image.
+def engraveLine(img_interp, img_size, ppi, start, d, step = LINEAR_RESOLUTION):
+ v = start
+ d = d / np.linalg.norm(d)
+
+ if not inBounds(img_size, v):
+ print("NOT IN BOUNDS (PROGRAMMING ERROR): ", img_size, v, file=sys.stderr)
+
+ moveZ(SAFE_Z)
+ moveRapidXY(v[0], v[1])
+
+ first = True
+
+ while inBounds(img_size, v):
+ img_x = int(round(v[0] * ppi))
+ img_y = int(round(v[1] * ppi))
+ x, y = v
+ depth = getDepth(getPix(img_interp, img_x, img_y))
+ if not first:
+ move(x, y, depth)
+ else:
+ first = False
+ moveSlow(x, y, depth)
+
+ v += step * d
+ # return last engraved point
+ return v - step * d
+~~~
+
After this was written, it was a simple exercise to write a driver
function to call `engraveLine` with the right vectors in the right
-sequence -- and that was all it took! (I really wonder how Vectric
+sequence -- and that was all it took![^1] (I really wonder how Vectric
manages to charge $149 for this...)
I fired up the program on a test image and fed its output into
-ShopBot's excellent G-code previewer. Success (see above)! I added a
+ShopBot's excellent G-code previewer. [Success](#top)! I added a
couple of tweaks (getting the lines to cut at an angle was fun) and I
christened the program
[*RasterCarve*](https://github.com/built1n/rastercarve).
+The G-code that produced the image at the top of this post is
+[here](baby-yoda.nc). Xander Luciano has an excellent online
+[simulator](https://ncviewer.com) which can preview this toolpath.
+
## Conclusion
This was a fun little project that falls into the theme of "gradually
@@ -83,3 +121,7 @@ opening up black boxes." G-code, I learned, isn't nearly as hard as it
might seem. It's all too easy to abstract away the details of a
technical process, but sometimes the best way to really understand
something is by opening up the hood and tinkering with it.
+
+[^1]: I'm probably oversimplifying here. There was, in reality, some
+neat vector math to figure out just *where* the "border" of the image
+would be when the grooves were at an angle.