Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
For the green: Please download this newer version of the Meggy Jr RGB library. If you still have trouble, open up the MeggyJr.h file, and try the alternate color mappings there:
For releasing games, the best thing to do would be to get a github account, and upload your game there. If you like, you can use a “pull request” on github to suggest adding it to our example set. Once the game is up somewhere on the internet like that, we can add it to the list of Meggy Jr RGB projects:The error is due to some internal changes in the Arduino program since that version of the Meggy Jr library was released. I’ve just uploaded a newer version of the library that should fix the issue. Please give it a try and let me know how it goes: https://github.com/evil-mad/MeggyJrRGB/releases/tag/v1.5
The issue is that the blue LEDs are very bright. You can use the same range as the other LEDs, but tend to overwhelm them if turned up all the way.
The library itself is an editable file. Open it up, and look at how it works. It uses C code very similar to that on the Arduino front end. ( Arduino/libraries/MeggyJr/MeggyJr.cpp and MeggyJr.h)There are various ways that you might approach the issue, for example keeping the blue LEDs off in every other refresh cycle– if you did that, you would automatically dim them by half, increasing the useful resolution by a factor of two.Certainly, the OS should not matter — my main question, right now, is whether the issue is Mechanical (in your setup) or something else (perhaps an electrical issue, or a glitch in the file that you are plotting).
Can you check to see if it makes a difference whether you’re plotting one of our example files (e.g., Hello World) or your own design?@mph:
Are you certain that it’s the motor itself, actually jumping steps? It certainly should not do so, if the current is properly dialed in. What I’d suggest is that you try to plot a few circles, and adjust the current while doing so. You will likely see that with the current too high or too low that it will skip steps regularly, and that there’s a band in between where it works correctly.That doesn’t sound a bit good. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on there– are you seeing major cogging, maybe due to having the current low and trying to overcome the inertia there?The situation that you are describing — where the Eggbot hardware is working, but yet it cannot connect through Inkscape — is rare. (We do a lot of tech support for Eggbot kits. If something can go wrong, we have seen it. This is just about the least common thing that can go wrong.) The most likely situation is that something “unusual” on your computer is blocking access to the serial port. That could be as simple as leaving a putty connection open, it could be anti-viral/malware software on your computer blocking ports, it could be other USB devices, especially ones that take special drivers. (We have seen cases where uncommon USB devices have caused conflicts.) Can you think of anything that might be causing an issue of that type?
We have also on occasion heard of intermittent problems due to USB cable or hub issues. These have sometimes presented as Eggbots that show up in the device manager, but can’t connect from Inkscape, or which print for a while and then stop. If you have a different USB cable that you can try (or if you are using a hub or extension) you might try to see if anything makes a difference.This is a fairly normal effect, due to the fact that when the pen arm moves 90 degrees it covers more egg surface than when the egg turns 90 degrees.For a chicken egg, we would recommend:
1. Positioning the pen motor roughly halfway up and down in its slot2. Stretching your image to about 150% of original width. According to our user ragstian 148% is more correct. ;)Alternately, you can use the Stretch extension to perform the stretching– it will help reduce distortion at the edges. For the Mark Twain egg in our kistka demo ( http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2014/electro-kistka/ ), we used the stretch extension with a stippled drawing, and found that it worked extremely well.I’m glad to hear that you’re excited about the kistka– it’s a neat tool, and we’re really looking forward to seeing what people do with it.Okay great– glad to hear it. If you do figure out what made the difference, it would be nice to know for people who have the same problem in the future. :)
We have GPS on and DST on… I’m not sure that there are other settings that are relevant.
The author thought that using the Chronodot was not important when the GPS was used… and that is part of the explanation.
Does the Alpha Clock Five indicate that it is staying locked? It indicates unlocked condition with the alternating colon separators.To the extent that you do have a lock, it is likely not actually drifting. That means that you are apparently having periods of a sizeable fraction of an hour when you do not have lock. We haven’t had this problem with our example running the code, so it’s likely not a firmware bug.
The basic problem– and the reason that Alpha Clock Five does not come with the GPS module as a default option — is that it’s hard to guarantee a GPS lock, especially indoors. You might consider moving it elsewhere or adding an external antenna to the GPS module.If you have the precision coupler and you are not using it, that would be the very first thing that I’d recommend trying to solve this problem. Precession in the rubber couplers can cause the exact effect that you are seeing.
Well, if anyone could do it, it would be you. ;)
We have, ourselves, never managed to wear one out in our demo units, or through anything resembling normal use. (We did manage to kill one by driving it directly at 9 V for a while…)But, thinking about it for a moment, we would actually expect a reduced lifetime because of the way that you’re using it. As you say, because of the rubber band, the motor is having to work harder than it usually does. You might see if you can reduce the force that it needs so that the next one lasts a little longer.It’s not clear what the situation is. You may have a bad power supply, or it may just be the case that you need to turn down the pot. If you have the current turned up too high on the pot, the motors will make noises, get hot, and plot poorly. When the current is adjusted correctly, they typically get warm but not hot, do not make noises, and plot very smoothly. If you can measure the power output, you’ll likely find a properly tuned EggBot drawing 500-800 mA. If it’s drawing a full 1.5 A, you have the motors turned up way too high.So, I’d suggest dialing down the current first, and then switching to the other power supply, to see if it’s working at the more modest current level. If you can measure the output voltage, check to see if it’s putting out a proper 9 V as well.Yes, something is mechanically shifting while plotting. We’ve seen similar “cracks” on long stipple plots, both on the EggBot and WaterColorBot, although usually not this frequent or large.
Check very well to make sure that everything in the pen arm is thoroughly tightened, and unable to slip. Check that the pen is held very securely in place, and check that the egg is also held very securely in place. You may also want to try a different pen. Once all the rest is secure, you will likely find the dominant source of this kind of “cracking” is the flexing of the “felt tip” part of a felt tip pen– if the pen is moving one way, it may bend differently than if the pen is moving in another direction.
