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Blackbox and Dragonframe

Discussion in 'General Talk' started by rocketmark, Jun 20, 2019.

  1. rocketmark

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    I've searched the forums but haven't found anyone using the blackbox controller with Dragonframe. Has anyone successfully done that? I know for arduino based systems you have to upload a sketch to it to get it to work properly, but not sure if the same sketch would load to the blackbox (or if it's even arduino based).

    Any help would be appreciated. I'm building a motion controlled video rig, and really like the build quality of the blackbox controller - plus it saves me some headache for building it all from scratch :)
     
  2. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Yeah, BlackBox is essentially an Arduino Uno with accessories. Should work fine.

    We cannot help with the DragonFrame specifics, but checkout the Grbl Pinout to get you started: github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki > Connecting Grbl
     
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  3. rocketmark

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    Awesome. Thanks for the quick response. That's all I needed to know :) There's so much out there on arduino and Dragonframe that I'm sure I can sort that bit out. I really liked the contained package you guys have for the controller, so I'm glad it will work out.
     
  4. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    If you get it all working, hit me up on PM :) would love to add it to the Docs at some point, you were not the first to ask
     
  5. rocketmark

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    Will do - just gotta wait for it to restock first :)
     
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  6. Max Bridge

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    Hey, did you ever manage to get this working? I'm doing something similar soon and just want to know the blackbox will work.

    Any advice would be great!
     
  7. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    As the BlackBox is basically an equivalent to an Arduino Uno, loaded with Grbl, with onboard stepper drivers and accesories, you can technically use DragonFrame (As it can run on an Arduino Uno), but we have never done it ourselves, so you'd need to figure it out from there.
    a) The pinout is stock-grbl, so refer to gnea/grbl for which pin number corresponds to which accesory
    b) Note the Drivers on the arduino needs an ACTIVE LOW signal on Enable (In Grbl we use $4=1 gnea/grbl - so make sure to set it similarly when configuring DragonFrame or the drivers won't enable

    If you get it running - do post about it on our Forums at OpenBuilds.com/forums so we can have a writeup to refer other DragonFrame users too. Also if you need help with the finer details, post about it on the forums and our technicians will be happy to assist
     
  8. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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  9. Max Bridge

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    Thanks for your replies.

    I had a quick look at the DFmoco link. In the README file it says:

    "Note: This is NOT a REAL TIME solution.

    This is a simple, low cost, motion control solution for stop motion and time-lapse.

    Dragonframe will move all of your motors to position for frame 1, then shoot, then

    move all of your motors to position for frame 2."

    I need to use this for real-time video shooting, not stop motion. As such, I'm not sure it's going to work and I really need to figure this out before committing to the build. I'm asking in another forum to see if anyone knows the answer. Here's a link to that in case I forget to post the answer here:

    Configuring CNC shield V3 for use with Dragonframe animation software - Page 4
     
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  10. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    There may be more realtime sketches floating around, DragonFrame has a huge community - someone might have a better example
     
  11. Max Bridge

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    Thanks Peter, I'll keep digging. Dragonframe have their own device for this but once it's shipped to the UK with import fees and VAT it'll be close to £2000, which is almost my entire budget
     
  12. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    I totally get that...they might play a hostage game and only allow ‘their’ hardware (and partners who pay expensive licences) the realtime features then :(

    Any other alternatives to DragonFrame lol
     
  13. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    I can't promise I'll look into it this week, maybe next week, but, I found this guy's video:



    Where he is doing realtime moves
    At 1m03s he is holding a PCB with an Arduino Nano on it.... Little ray of hope

    So digging deeper, he has a company called Stepoutmoco.com and I found this PDF https://www.stepoutmoco.com/manual.pdf - Page 17 - which shows they install the stock DFMoco firmware that ships with DragonFrame (c:\program files (x86)\DZED\DragonFrame\Resources\Arc Motion Control\DFMoco\DFMoco.pde (Arduino Sketch)

    So I may be wrong, but looks like that version of the DFMoco sketch can run Realtime?

    I'll take a spin at it with a DragonFrame trial version and see if we can make it work with the BlackBox - reassign pins to match the stepper drivers on the BlackBox's allocation etc
     
  14. Max Bridge

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    That would be amazing Peter!

    I have seen this video. I feel as though I've spent the last week of my life scouring the internet for any piece of info.

    In that video the guy is only "jogging" forward one keyframe. From memory, he even talks about tricking the software for timelapse. I'm not sure his method would work for real-time video. There should be a button you press in Dragonframe which plays through all the keyframes you have set, not just jogging from one keyframe to the next. Jogging is a Dragonframe term for moving to the next keyframe.

    If you can set something up and test it out thought that would be fantastic!
     
  15. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    See my lack of knowledge on Dragonframe itself gets me here lol. Oh well, then I guess they have you on the hook for their hardware
     
  16. Max Bridge

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    I could be wrong though. Honestly my only experience with the software is looking at a few videos online and chatting to people.

    I wouldn't want to put you off giving it a try to see if it works! :)
     
  17. Dr. Woohoo!

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    I'm curious if anyone has an example of Dragonframe talking to BlackBox yet?
     

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