# Input needed on my wireless DRO project



## ycroosh (Jul 16, 2013)

Good part of the day,
I'd like to peek your brains about my little DRO project. (details here: http://www.yuriystoys.com/p/android-dro.html )
I'm working on the next set of features and want to make sure they are done the way that would make them usable for other people.
The two attached screenshots show hole circle and hole pattern functions. Does the layout make sense? Is there something missing?
The third functions (or possibly third and fourth) is tool offset/locate edge. That one I haven't figured out how to do in a way that avoid screw-ups.

I would really appreciate some input, especially form the people who built or are thinking about building one of these in future.

Thank you in advance
Yuriy

P.S. By the way, if you have suggestions for other functions - please let me know....


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## Rennkafer (Jul 16, 2013)

Looking at the two displays I'm gathering that you'd use them to give you an X-Y coordinate for a hole pattern, correct?  If that's the case (and given the displays are touch screens) would you just touch the particular hole that you wanted and it will give you coordinates?

Another thing that would be a useful feature for me (and anyone with a variable speed lathe like mine or a VFD) would be an option to display rpm (with proper hardware, of course).

Edit: Thought I'd let you know the app seems to run beautifully on my Nook HD+ in case you hadn't tried one of those.  Looking at EBay they're running  ~$140... with a nice 9" screen.


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## kd4gij (Jul 16, 2013)

Looking good so far. L plan on building one when you get the USB version out. I have a 10" tablet with no blue tooth.


I can post an accu-rite manuel If you would like to see how thay do things


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## kizmit99 (Jul 16, 2013)

Yuriy,
I don't have any input for you, but I just wanted to say that I think what you've done looks great.  I am definitely planning on putting one together, but it's not likely to be for a couple of months.  Again, just wanted to say THANK YOU! for what you've done...


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## ycroosh (Jul 16, 2013)

Rennkafer said:


> Looking at the two displays I'm gathering that you'd use them to give you an X-Y coordinate for a hole pattern, correct?  If that's the case (and given the displays are touch screens) would you just touch the particular hole that you wanted and it will give you coordinates?
> 
> Another thing that would be a useful feature for me (and anyone with a variable speed lathe like mine or a VFD) would be an option to display rpm (with proper hardware, of course).
> 
> Edit: Thought I'd let you know the app seems to run beautifully on my Nook HD+ in case you hadn't tried one of those.  Looking at EBay they're running  ~$140... with a nice 9" screen.


 Rennkafer,
I'm not yet at the point where I can display "real" hole pattern (the image on the left is a graphic I've made to illustrate the feature). The version I'm working on will create the pattern (once a user enters the parameters) and add it to the selected workspace as a list of holes. You would then be able to select any hole from the list on the right of the DRO etc. 

I have a lathe that will be using a VFD once I get a chance to add 220V outlet in my garage. Tachometer is definitely on the short list. I added the provisions for tachometer input to the communication protocol and the new board has two pins reserved for it. Still trying to figure out the UI (I've made a LOT of changes in the upcoming version to make user-configurable layouts possible but I don't think I will get there in the next few months.

Thank you
Yuriy


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## Codered741 (Jul 17, 2013)

The only thing that I would suggest, which has not already been suggested, is to change the wording of how you refer to the starting point of the arrays.  You are currently saying "Current" and "Relative".  If I am understanding correctly, "Relative" uses the current X and Y zeroes as the starting point for the array.  

I feel that it would be more correct to say "Absolute", instead of "Relative",  and the "Current" position would become "Relative", as in relative to your current position.  

I realize this is minor and somewhat picky, but I feel it would make more sense, and is more technically correct.  

I could also see use in being able to specify a set of starting coordinates.  Yes, I realize that you could just move to the desired position and use the "Relative" (what I would call relative) option.  

Just my 2 cents, and it looks GREAT btw!

-Cody


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## ycroosh (Jul 17, 2013)

Codered741 said:


> The only thing that I would suggest, which has not already been suggested, is to change the wording of how you refer to the starting point of the arrays.  You are currently saying "Current" and "Relative".  If I am understanding correctly, "Relative" uses the current X and Y zeroes as the starting point for the array.
> 
> I feel that it would be more correct to say "Absolute", instead of "Relative",  and the "Current" position would become "Relative", as in relative to your current position.
> 
> ...



The idea was to either center the circle around the current position (whatever it might be) or the point currently set to be (0,0). The 0,0 would likely be the zero point in relative mode, though. Take a look at the screenshot below. I left "Current" intact but replaced the "relative" option with a set of user-provided coordinates. If left intact it will be 0,0 but can be changed to any other coordinate.

Thank you
Yuriy





- - - Updated - - -



kizmit99 said:


> Yuriy,
> I don't have any input for you, but I just wanted to say that I think what you've done looks great.  I am definitely planning on putting one together, but it's not likely to be for a couple of months.  Again, just wanted to say THANK YOU! for what you've done...



Thank you for the compliment. I'm glad that the project is turning out to be useful to the community 

- - - Updated - - -



kd4gij said:


> Looking good so far. L plan on building one when you get the USB version out. I have a 10" tablet with no blue tooth.
> 
> 
> I can post an accu-rite manuel If you would like to see how thay do things



A manual would be great. That way I can try to stick to "industry standards" a bit more.

As far as the USB version goes... I got it working to a degree but its still pretty clanky. I'm hoping to include it in the upcoming version but I'm not certain I can make it stable enough.

Thank you
Yuriy


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## kd4gij (Jul 17, 2013)

Here is the DRO200m manuel


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## PurpLev (Jul 17, 2013)

looks good!

I would second the use of "Absolute" and "Relative" terms as those are standard terms used in the industry and could cause confusion if used differently.

other useful feature that I like is the 1/2 feature. (find middle of part/measurement) -should be fairly simple to implement (just halve the axis value)


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## ycroosh (Jul 17, 2013)

PurpLev said:


> looks good!
> 
> I would second the use of "Absolute" and "Relative" terms as those are standard terms used in the industry and could cause confusion if used differently.
> 
> other useful feature that I like is the 1/2 feature. (find middle of part/measurement) -should be fairly simple to implement (just halve the axis value)



The 1/2 feature is already there. You get to it by long-pressing the axis display. Look in the middle of this post: http://www.yuriystoys.com/2013/02/new-version-of-android-dro-coming.html

Here is where I'm a bit confused with Absolute/Relative: there are three kinds of position I keep track of. The "real" absolute which is dictated by the encoders; the "datum" position (i.e. work space origin point) and the "incremental" or "relative" position. I don't think many people would use the "absolute zero" point for the hole circle center, so if a "zero" is used it would be the relative/incremental zero point. (unless relative and incremental are two different concepts and I'm mixing them together erroneously).
I would imagine three scenarios:
1. I want to create a circle around the current zero point
2. I want to create a circle around the position I'm at right now
3. (as suggested below) I wan to create a circle around an arbitrary point somewhere else.

Would it make sense to call those cases:

*Center Location*
1. Current zero
2. Current point
3. Custom coordinate

Thank you
Yuriy

P.S. This is one of the reasons so many user interfaces suck: programmers design them for themselves, so your collective input is very much appreciated


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## kd4gij (Jul 17, 2013)

Page 14 of the Acu-rite manuel I posted explains how thay do it.


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## Rennkafer (Jul 20, 2013)

Ok, I've ordered all the parts for the Launchpad version... thanks for developing this Yuriy!  :man:


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## ycroosh (Jul 21, 2013)

kd4gij said:


> Page 14 of the Acu-rite manuel I posted explains how thay do it.



First of all, thank you for the manual. It helped a lot...

I tweaked a few things on the hole circle dialog (added a way to do a partial circle) as shows in the first two screenshots.
The last screenshot shows a prototype of the tool offset dialog.

Please let me know if that makes sense.

Thank you
Yuriy


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## kd4gij (Jul 21, 2013)

Looks good to me. Keep up the fine work


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## Sharky (Aug 6, 2013)

I'm very interested in this project (it gives me an excuse to buy a tablet!)

My problem is that I have no experience with programing the boards and what is needed to do so.
Can you reccomend a "tutorial" or place to learn how this all works?  I'm not looking to become a programmer, but I think this could be a fun place to "play" with some electronic circuitry.  Looks like this is also the jumping off point for a future CNC conversion?

Thanks in advance!


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## stupoty (Aug 7, 2013)

Sharky said:


> I'm very interested in this project (it gives me an excuse to buy a tablet!)
> 
> My problem is that I have no experience with programing the boards and what is needed to do so.
> Can you reccomend a "tutorial" or place to learn how this all works?  I'm not looking to become a programmer, but I think this could be a fun place to "play" with some electronic circuitry.  Looks like this is also the jumping off point for a future CNC conversion?
> ...



Hello, the main audrino site has a good basic intro on what you need , http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/HomePage

their should be a link to your computer system your using (mac / pc).

The basic audrino boards start about £20 so their a good low initial investment way of programing embeded stuff as the programing system is built into the development bord and that makes them very play compatible 

Stuart


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## caveBob (Aug 7, 2013)

Sharky said:


> I'm very interested in this project (it gives me an excuse to buy a tablet!)



I kinda felt the same way going into this... picked up the tablet at a local Walmart:

Hisense Sero 7 Pro 7" Tablet Quad Core Processor with 8GB Memory, M470BSA - $149
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hisense-Sero-7-Pro-7-Tablet-Quad-Core-Processor-with-8GB-Memory/24805142

then popped in a 32 gig memory card. Really happy with this tablet (my first), and for this project alone, you don't really even "need" the extra memory card... but it was cheap so figured why not.

A couple recent reviews:

Hisense Sero 7 Pro Review
http://www.androidcentral.com/hisense-sero-7-pro-review

Hisense Sero 7 Pro review: a newcomer tries its hand at Android tablets
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/25/hisense-sero-7-pro-review/



Sharky said:


> My problem is that I have no experience with programing the boards and what is needed to do so.
> Can you reccomend a "tutorial" or place to learn how this all works?  I'm not looking to become a programmer, but I think this could be a fun place to "play" with some electronic circuitry.  Looks like this is also the jumping off point for a future CNC conversion?



Good link that stupoty posted... select what OS your computer is running and follow the instructions from there... once you have the Arduino dev software installed on your computer go here:

DRO Project Downloads page
http://www.yuriystoys.com/p/downloads.html

get the Current Version: Arduino Sketch V2.2 (is current now)

You don't actually have to "program" anything for this project. Simply use the Arduino dev software to download the sketch into the controller. (think transferring a file from a flash drive to your desktop)

hth


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## Sharky (Aug 7, 2013)

Thanks for the "programming" links, I think I'm going to have to give this a shot really soon!


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