Esp32FeederController

The Esp32FeederController project allows controlling of multiple 0816 Feeders using four wire cables.

Supported Feeders

At this time the following feeder designs should work:

• Original 0816 Feeder.
• 0816 Lumen Feeder.
• Max Feeder.

The Max Feeder is the preferred version of the feeder design as it supports adding a QR Code to the feeder that can be used for automatic part identification.

Feeder modifications / Addons

• Reel holder
• Vertical tape puller

Non-automatic feeders

• Lumen Push/Pull Feeder

Adding Esp32FeederController to OpenPnP

Adding Esp32FeederController to OpenPnP consists of three steps:

• Create GcodeDriver.
• Create Actuators for Feeder actions.
• Create Feeders.

Creating the Gcode Driver

Each Esp32FeederController PCB should have it's own GcodeDriver.

Steps to add a new GcodeDriver for Esp32FeederController:

• Navigate to the Machine Setup tab
• Traverse the list to the Drivers section, select and expand it.
• Click the + (add) icon and select GcodeDriver.
• Select the newly created GcodeDriver GcodeDriver entry.
• Set the Name so it can be easily identified later.
• Set Communications Type to tcp.
• Scroll down to the TCP section.
• Set IP Address based on the reported IP address in the serial output.
• Set Port to 8989.
• Click the Apply button to save the updates.
• In the File menu select Save Configuration to ensure settings are not lost when restarting OpenPnP.

Creating Actuators

Each Esp32FeederController PCB requires two Actuators:

• Feeder Advancement
• Feeder Post Pick

The following steps should be executed for the two Actuators:

• Navigate to the Machine Setup tab
• Traverse the list to the Actuators section, select and expand it.
• Click the + (add) icon and select ReferenceActuator.
• Select the newly created ReferenceActuator ReferenceActuator entry.
• Set Driver to the Esp32FeederController driver created previously.
• Set the Name so it can be easily identified later.
• Set Value Type to Double.
• Click the Apply button to save the updates.
• In the File menu select Save Configuration to ensure settings are not lost when restarting OpenPnP.

After the two Actuators have been defined it is necessary to configure the Gcode commands to send for actuation, use the following steps to configure this:

• Navigate to the Machine Setup tab
• Traverse the list to the Drivers section, select and expand it.
• Click the GcodeDriver Esp32FeederController (or whatever name was provided previously).
• Navigate to the Gcode tab.
• In Head Mountable drop down select Default.
  • In Setting select COMMAND_CONFIRM_REGEX and enter ^ok.*, be sure to click Apply before moving further.
  • In Setting select COMMAND_ERROR_REGEX and enter ^error.*, be sure to click Apply before moving further.
• In Head Mountable drop down select Actuator: [No Head] Feeder Advancement.
  • In Setting select ACTUATE_DOUBLE_COMMAND and enter M610 N{IntegerValue}*, be sure to click Apply before moving further.
• In Head Mountable drop down select Actuator: [No Head] Feeder Post Pick.
  • In Setting select ACTUATE_DOUBLE_COMMAND and enter M611 N{IntegerValue}*, be sure to click Apply before moving further.
• In the File menu select Save Configuration to ensure settings are not lost when restarting OpenPnP.

Configuring Feeders in OpenPnP

There are two types of feeders that will work well with Esp32FeederController:

• ReferenceAutoFeeder
• ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder

Both operate similarly using the Actuators defined above.

• Navigate to the Feeders tab
• Click the + (add) icon and select ReferenceAutoFeeder or ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder.
• Select the newly created ReferenceAutoFeeder ReferenceAutoFeeder or ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder ReferenceSlotAutoFeeder entry.
• Double click on the newly created row in the Name column and rename it for easier identification.
• Set Feed Actuator to Feeder Advancement (or whichever name you provide the Actuator)
• Set Post Pick Actuator to Feeder Post Pick (or whichever name you provide the Actuator)
• Set Actuator Value on both Actuators to the feeder number on the Esp32FeederController PCB minus one (zero indexed).
• Click the Apply button to save the updates.
• In the File menu select Save Configuration to ensure settings are not lost when restarting OpenPnP.

Use the Test Feed and Test post pick to confirm the feeder is responding correctly.

Supported Gcode commands

The Esp32FeederController supports multiple Gcode commands, many of which are not directly used by OpenPnP. Many of the commands are intended to be used with substitution of values within { } marks, anything within [ ] are optional arguments.

Feeder Movement (M610)

M610 N{feeder} [D{distance}]

• {feeder} is the Feeder to be moved forward.
• {distance} is the distance to move the feeder and is optional.

Feeder Post Pick (M611)

M611 N{feeder}

• {feeder} is the Feeder to be moved as part of post-pick.

Feeder Status (M612)

M612 N{feeder}

• {feeder} is the Feeder to retrieve status for.

Feeder Configuration (M613)

M613 N{feeder} [A{advance angle}] [B{half advance angle}] [C{retract angle}] [D{degrees}] [F{feed length}] [S{speed}] [U{settle time}] [V{min pulse}] [W{max pulse}] [Z{feedback enabled}]

All parameters except {feeder} are optional.

• {feeder} is the Feeder to be configured.
• {advance angle} is the angle to move the servo to for full extension.
• {half advance angle} is the angle to move the servo to for half extension.
• {retract angle} is the angle to move the servo to for retraction.
• {degrees} is the maximum number of degrees to move at one time, set to zero to move immediately.
• {feed length} is the number of millimeters (pitch) to move the feeder forward when moving to the next part and must be a multiple of 2.
• {speed} is the interval at which to move the servo between two angles, used in conjunction with {degrees}.
• {settle time} is the number of milliseconds to delay between servo movements.
• {min pulse} is the minimum number of pulses to send the servo.
• {max pulse} is the maximum number of pulses to send the servo.
• {feedback enabled} is used to enable or disable feedback checking as part of movement, set to zero to disable or one to enable

Enable Feeder (M614)

M614 N{feeder}

• {feeder} is the Feeder to enable.

Disable Feeder (M615)

M615 N{feeder}

• {feeder} is the Feeder to disable.