Browse Category: English/Angielski

Informations possibly useful for everyone – and written in English.
Informacje przydatne możliwie wszystkim – z tego powodu napisane po Angielsku.

MKS Gen 1.4 board with TMC2130 and Marlin firmware – howto

I wanted to change my Infitary HiB3 stepstick drivers with TMC2130, mostly to get it working more quietly but also because the perspective (meaby someday…) of other nice features of Prusa i3 MK3 where appealing. Sadly Infitary has all motor drivers SMD soldered so I had to get everything new. I ordered (what seems to be the best value-money choice) Chinese MKS 1.4 board and pack of 5 TMC2130 v1.1 stepper drivers. The only difference (except the price ;)) between Chinese 1.0 and 1.1 TMC stepsticks is that 1.0 are soldered to be used without SPI feedback data. You could change them manually from 1.0 to 1.1 (you would need to resolder 3 jumpers and change side of 4 connectors – see picture), but I assumed it’s too much hassle and I went with 1.1 directly Continue Reading

Engraving, cutting 5.5W laser – description and proper connection

During upgrading my engraving machine (Chinese so called CNC 3018) I had to do some reverse engineering to do proper connection.  Perhaps someone else may find this information useful – so here you go 🙂

Laser itself is distributed as two part set. Laser in aluminium cooling block with fan (and four wires), and PWM/TTL controller board.

Controller board uses this main components:

  • XL4003E1 – voltage regulator with input voltage 5V-32V, 4A CC max with 300kHz switching frequency
  • IC chip MCP60021 OPAMP – operational amplifier
  • Voltage regulator 78L05 – 5V output, 100mA
  • NPN transistor D476 61C

Continue Reading

Volvo Vida stopped working and you cannot login?

If your new installation of Volvo Vida (2012 up to 2014D) does not work – you cannot log in, after fresh and proper installation. Or your existing installation stopped working… well this is because patched license has expired recently (like in 1.1.2018).

Download “patch” (2014A+) that you usually have to apply after installation of Vida, and extract “exe” file to C:\ drive (or wherever is your Vida) – do not run it, just extract it (with WinRar, 7zip etc). This exe file is just self extracting archive with post extract script.

You should have those files, after extracting:

Archive: 2014A.exe
Details: RAR 4, SFX

Attributes Size Date Time Name
----------- --------- ---------- ----- ----
...D... 0 2011-11-05 19:47 VIDA
..A.... 444 2014-04-09 16:26 VIDA/patch/filldb.cmd
..A.... 6332 2013-04-02 05:43 VIDA/patch/filldb.sql
..A.... 14580 2012-12-07 01:11 VIDA/patch/license
...D... 0 2013-04-02 04:48 VIDA/patch
..A.... 4573 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/bl/logger/UsageLogger.class
..A.... 8789 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/bl/logger/UsageLogHelper.class
..A.... 32927 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/action/LoginAction.class
..A.... 9013 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/action/LoginForm.class
..A.... 2171 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/action/TabForm$pageURLs.class
..A.... 9593 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/action/TabForm.class
..A.... 6986 2014-04-09 15:47 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/taglib/CwlListSelectorTag.class
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/bl/logger
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/action
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web/taglib
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/bl
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida/web
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc/vida
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford/vcc
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com/ford
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes/com
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF/classes
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war/WEB-INF
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear/VidaWeb.war
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments/VidaEar.ear
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone/deployments
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss/standalone
...D... 0 2014-04-09 16:23 VIDA/jboss
----------- --------- ---------- ----- ----
95408 28

Now the “license” file is in C:\VIDA\patch\. Look inside of it for a string:

subscriptionExpireDate=”2017-12-31 23:59:59″

Looks suspicious in year 2018?

  • just change the date in license file
  • make sure VidaMonitor and all java instances are off (javaw etc),
  • and execute filldb.cmd,
  • reboot and you are good to go!

If this doesn’t work – you probably did not kill VidaMonitor or Jboss/Java.

Good luck and fruitful hacking! 🙂

TOMO M4, 4×18650 Power Bank – fail!

I bought from China, quite neat looking powerbank on up to four 18650 cells. It has all the needed features (almost) and even more – what could go wrong?

It has:

  • Output Overcurrent Protection
  • Input Overvoltage Protection
  • Electro-Static Discharge Protection
  • Overheat Safety Protection
  • Output Overvoltage Protection
  • Battery Overcurrent Protection
  • Input Overcurrent Protection
  • Prevent Current Reverse

Nice! It can charge and discharge each cell individually, has two USB output ports with 1A and 2A output current.

You can read many other nice things about this powerbank on Internet. But the big problem is, it’s a crap! Why?

Continue Reading

Infitary 3d printer HBi3 (aka old M508) – new Marlin firmware and settings

New Infitary main board HBi3 vs M508

So, after a year of using mention printer it’s high time to do some firmware tweaking (despite all additional, already printed goodies for the printer itself). My Infitary set came with SD card, on which came also Marlin firmware source code for this printer. Because of it, we have, let’s say “configured” firmware. It’s too old to use now, but all we really need is Configuration.h and Configuration_adv.h files.

Now just a quick info. It looks like Infitary came with slightly newer version of the printer, it’s now called M508. The main difference is in the board – it looks nicer, is more colourful and it is also Ramp 1.4 now. In git repository of Marlin we cane find config files for this printer – but they will not work out of the box for my older model. I’m not sure, if it’s a proper name, but let’s call it (like in the auction I bought it) Infitary HBi3 (Prusa). The other visible thing, that has change, is the case for power supply.

Continue Reading

Gimp 2.9 – development Debian package

Gimp 2.9.3Friend of mine, asked me to create Debian package of Gimp development branch – since I’ve already had it compiled (and I do it regularly). I’ve been using Gimp 2.9 (2.9 is a development release, stable one will be numbered 2.10) for more then a year now, and I must say it was a huge change for me when I switched from Gimp 2.8.  I use it mostly for photo processing and moving from 8 to 16 bit colour space was something I just had to have. Also all multi core optimization and OpenCl usage, speeds things up. Currently I work mostly with float 32bit colour space (I find if faster on GPU then 16it) and I almost can’t imagine working without it. It’s not that everything is completely fine in this development release, but weight of features long time ago outweighed some small disadvantages.

Anyway, since I compile it on daily basis, I thought I could do the package anyway. So here you have Debian Sid package (I use only sid – sorry 😉 ). It’s quite dirty release, but it’s working and it won’t change anything on your system, you can install it simultaneously with stable Gimp release. This package will put all required files, libraries and binaries (also files that are in separate packages for 2.8 release) in “/usr/local/gimp” folder, and create a link to “gimp-dev” startup script in /usr/local/bin/ – that’s it. It will also provide the most recent gmic plugin (I use it often).

Dependencies – since all gimp, babl, gegl files are in one package, there should be not many dependencies – currently present in package are mostly from 2.8 gimp release. If you find anything missing – please let me know.

To run gimp – use “gimp-dev” command (open terminal and write “gimp-dev” or if it’s not working write “/usr/local/bin/gimp-dev”).

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.9-2_amd64.deb

  • Updated code, binary clean up (old libraries), updated mypaint library and mypaint-brushes
  • Added two new libraries – new requirements for libmng and libwebp
  • I recommend removing of entire /usr/local/gimp directory before install
  • Source update (2 January of 2018)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.9-1_amd64.deb

  • New version 2.9.9, updated gcc 7.2 with fix for float
  • Source update (19 December of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.7-2_amd64.deb

  • New compilation, new logo! :), desktop application definition (should be now accessible from menu)
  • Source update (12 November of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.7-1_amd64.deb

  • Bumped version (in master tree) from 2.9.5 to 2.9.7
  • Source update (30 August of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-8_amd64.deb

  • Updated dependecies for current Debian Sid repo
  • Updated gmic code
  • Today source fixes some annoying multi-threaded, opencl issues
  • Source update (19 August of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-7_amd64.deb

  • Source update (29 July of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-6_amd64.deb

  • Source update, switch to GCC 6.2 (19 April of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-5_amd64.deb

  • Source update (some significant opencl changes), new GMIC pre 2.0 (12 March of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-3_amd64.deb

  • Source update (bug fixes, logo changes :)) (8 January of 2017)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-2_amd64.deb

  • Source update (quite many changes) (1 October of 2016)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.5-1_amd64.deb

  • New release 2.9.5 (17 July of 2016)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.3-6_amd64.deb

  • Source update (30 May of 2016)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.3-5_amd64.deb

  • Source update (7 April of 2016)

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.3-4_amd64.deb

  • Just updated source, from 31.01.2016 – fixes few errors I’ve reported (Thanks guys!), new icon set/interface changes

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.3-3_amd64.deb

  • Compiled with less optimization (more generic binary – should now work on most amd64 cpus)
  • Fixed post-removal script
  • Fixed installation dependencies

Package: gimp-dev_2.9.3-2_amd64.deb

Neje CNC Laser engraving machine

What is it?

IMG_0778Neje laser engraver is a CNC device which can burn some small patterns on wood, paper, cork, leather and other organic or temperature non resistant, flat materials. The rule of thumb is, if the material is capable of burning or melting with temperature under 300C – you can probably use it with laser engraver. One more thing, this material can’t reflect to much light (or pass it true) – so most of shiny or transparent materials won’t work.

Now about this, exact model. It’s hard to tell – since you can find many names and different images in Chinese shops and producer does not put any mark on device itself, but judging by the driver its “DK-5 pro DK-6 pro DK-8 pro” type. So it should be “DK-5 PRO”. Be aware, then it’s not the same as “DK-5 PRO-5”, which is probably newer device with full frame (and the software is not compatible).

Continue Reading