I would like to thank Yuri for all his hard work and for lending his time on the forum. TouchDro is hands down better then any of the other options on the market. Buying one is far better then the fuss of diy, but i'm one of those people that has to make everything so onward. Quinn from blondihacks just posted her video of installing the system on her lathe and shows how easy the touchdro system is to connect and have running. Refer to the information on the TouchDro site before going forward as that info is very good and may work for you.
The following is not for those not used to dealing with programming or wiring electronics. Programming microcontroller boards can be finicky, but they are all doable, just can be very frustrating. I was unable to get the program to upload to my Esp32 boards. So I will post here on how I got mine to work, I will try to help if others are running in to similar issues.
First - download and install Python. Make sure that when you are installing python that you include the PATH. If you miss this it won't work, so make sure you check the box for PATH under install. Once python is install open a command prompt. Windows key, cmd. Once the window opens type pip install esptool. Once installed. Type esptool.py version and you should see the version popup.
Second - using a known working USB cable, I will not tell you how many times in my career as an automation specialist and hobbyist I have been foiled in programming a device due to a bad cable. Connect the ESP32 board to your computer. You should hear it connect. If not please do a google search on how to trouble shoot connections. Once connected open device manager and under ports you should see the ESP32. Funny mine is detected as a teensy. If your not sure unplug and plug the cable back in and you should see it change. My port came up as COM12.
Third - in a folder un zip the files from the touchdro download. Rename the touchdro-diy-universal-v1.4.bin to touchdro.bin. I am not sure why I had to do this, but this was stopping esptool from uploading to the board.
Fourth - navigate to the file area that you have the touchdro files in, inside your command prompt window. Mine looks like this C:\Users\youtname\Desktop\Lathe Mill\TouchDRO.
Fifth - in the command prompt paste in the following, BUT before you hit enter, on your connected ESP32 board click the BOOT button then press enter on your keyboard. I was getting a couple different errors when not doing this part. If correct you will see the program upload to the ESP32 and reset with the blue led pulsing.
esptool.py --port COM12 --baud 460800 --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp32 write_flash --flash_mode dio --flash_size detect --flash_freq 40m 0x1000 bootloader.bin 0x8000 partition-table.bin 0x10000 touchdro.bin
Sixth - Fire up your tablet, go to your bluetooth section and link your esp32 under touchdro. The default password on mine was 1234.
Seventh - start your already downloaded TouchDro App and connect, it should be that easy.
Now on to wiring the board, doing all the checks. Then wiring and testing the scales. Mount the scales to my mill.
The following is not for those not used to dealing with programming or wiring electronics. Programming microcontroller boards can be finicky, but they are all doable, just can be very frustrating. I was unable to get the program to upload to my Esp32 boards. So I will post here on how I got mine to work, I will try to help if others are running in to similar issues.
First - download and install Python. Make sure that when you are installing python that you include the PATH. If you miss this it won't work, so make sure you check the box for PATH under install. Once python is install open a command prompt. Windows key, cmd. Once the window opens type pip install esptool. Once installed. Type esptool.py version and you should see the version popup.
Second - using a known working USB cable, I will not tell you how many times in my career as an automation specialist and hobbyist I have been foiled in programming a device due to a bad cable. Connect the ESP32 board to your computer. You should hear it connect. If not please do a google search on how to trouble shoot connections. Once connected open device manager and under ports you should see the ESP32. Funny mine is detected as a teensy. If your not sure unplug and plug the cable back in and you should see it change. My port came up as COM12.
Third - in a folder un zip the files from the touchdro download. Rename the touchdro-diy-universal-v1.4.bin to touchdro.bin. I am not sure why I had to do this, but this was stopping esptool from uploading to the board.
Fourth - navigate to the file area that you have the touchdro files in, inside your command prompt window. Mine looks like this C:\Users\youtname\Desktop\Lathe Mill\TouchDRO.
Fifth - in the command prompt paste in the following, BUT before you hit enter, on your connected ESP32 board click the BOOT button then press enter on your keyboard. I was getting a couple different errors when not doing this part. If correct you will see the program upload to the ESP32 and reset with the blue led pulsing.
esptool.py --port COM12 --baud 460800 --before default_reset --after hard_reset --chip esp32 write_flash --flash_mode dio --flash_size detect --flash_freq 40m 0x1000 bootloader.bin 0x8000 partition-table.bin 0x10000 touchdro.bin
Sixth - Fire up your tablet, go to your bluetooth section and link your esp32 under touchdro. The default password on mine was 1234.
Seventh - start your already downloaded TouchDro App and connect, it should be that easy.
Now on to wiring the board, doing all the checks. Then wiring and testing the scales. Mount the scales to my mill.
