Mini Form 2 tutorial

#1

From the blog - http://formlabs.com/blog/dashboard-powered-mini-form2-tutorial/

Some feedback…

The design for the cover & main body does not allow the cover to open & close cleanly; there needs to be a radius on one or other part. I notice that the picture of the main body shows a radius on the top edge of the body (it also shows the Photon in a different orientation to the one supported by the uploaded model files).

The tank insert does not have the support for the NeoPixel shown in the tutorial. Additionally, the tank insert obstructs movement of the cover unless shoved deeper into the cavity in the body.

The soldering instructions for the NeoPixel will only allow for the LED array to be installed upside down - again, this is not what is shown in the tutorial.

The main code body and the included image of the code also differ - it’s probably a good idea to either change the code or explicitly point out where the username/password/machine name need to be set. Obvious to me, less obvious to others I expect.

There’s no mention of how the speaker is to be installed.

#2

It does look like we had an older version of the Tank Insert uploaded from when we were using a single RGB LED rather than a neopixel board. I’ve updated the tank insert so that should work a lot more cleanly now. Hopefully that corrects some of the other issues you were having with fit of all the components.

I’m not sure what you’re referring to with the wiring diagram. The wires are meant to be inserted from the bottom of the board so that the LED can face up but it’s much easier to display the correct wiring with a top-down approach.

As for the code, we did include comments in the particle app that say “Put the Printer Serial name here” etc. Do you have suggestions for how we might make this more verbose? The webhook json files are meant to stay as is and no edits are needed to the username and password fields of those.

We didn’t do anything particularly fancy with inserting the speakers. It just rests above the particle board.

#3

Many thanks for the updated insert. Saves me modifying the mesh :slight_smile:

On the wiring, it’s the statement “Wires should come out of the top of the Photon board and be soldered beneath the NeoPixel board.” feels a touch misleading (for want of a better word) - for through-hole boards I’d always solder beneath the board, and I don’t think that’s quite what you want it to mean…

“…wires should be inserted underneath the NeoPixel so that the solder is on top”? That reads a touch cumbersome.

I can see the comments in the image of the code in the article (dashboard-printer-neopixel-sound.ino) - when I’m using a reasonable sized screen - but the version from Drive I have reads:

…
String username = “hypeDashPrint”;
String password = “hypeDashPrint”;
String printer = “PreciousWolf”;
…

…With no comments visible about needing to change those. While I’d argue it’s fairly obvious to anyone with experience of coding, I felt this was presented as a cookie-cutter project requiring not much prior knowledge.

Regardless, it’s an interesting intro to a device I’d not seen before; it might even twist my arm into taking more of an interest in JSON…

#4

I printed one as well and ran into the same issues. The cover is tight. In fact mine chipped part right where it meets the back tower. I wound up using the tank included, but just ran the wires through it and sat the neopixel in the resin tray. The build plate has nowhere to go. You can see it sitting on the side. And I have no idea what to do with the speaker. It seemed bad to let it flop around the inside with the particle board, but it seemed challenging to put it in the resin cartridge area. Right now I don’t have it hooked up. All in all though I would say its very cool. Certainly a fun desktop gadget to go with the printer …

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Mini F2 Video

#5

Hi guys - i can’t get this to do anything other than light up white - is there any troubleshooting i can do to figure out where the problem is? dashboard is showing the print is underway but no response from the mini form 2. I’ve tried my username as both the email address and as the username. definitely got the correct details in there. not sure what else to do.

#6

Ive now established that its displaying soft white and playing the happy sound but then it gets stuck. any help much appreciated. how can i tell if its logging in ok?? Thanks

#7

Hmm, there are a few things that I messed up when putting mine together so hopefully that helps you a bit,

The webhooks don’t need to be modified at all and can be left as is. I was modifying the username and password fields in the webhooks which isn’t necessary.

The .ino file does use your username rather than your email. Make sure you keep the quotes and only modify the text. Hopefully one of those things helps! The printer should be blue when you have a print running and you’ll see a purple ring of lights between layers.

#8

Thanks for those suggestions - they all seem to be ok, web hooks are left alone and the username password are all correct. looking at the data being gathered by the webhook i can see the printer, and all the other details, shows the print time left etc so it seems to be working, just nothing happens with the lights. stays on soft white the whole time. the physical setup seems to be ok too because i can manually use other code to change the colours of the lights. i’ll try and learn what the code does and see if i can establish why its getting stuck. Thanks

#9

So I just dusted my mini-f2 off and it had stopped working. I was able to get mine working again by using the following code for the status integration:
{
“eventName”: “deep_status_go”,
“url”: “https://api.formlabs.com/printernet/v1/my/printers/?form2mini=1”,
“requestType”: “GET”,
“headers”: {
“Authorization”: “Bearer {{access-token}}”
},
“responseTemplate”: “{{0.printer_status.status}}~{{0.printer_status.current_print_run.currently_printing_layer}}/{{0.printer_status.current_print_run.layer_count}}”,
“mydevices”: true,
“deviceid”: null
}

#10

Hi! Is this instruction still relevant? Thanks!