The control board from the factory is the same in all units, so this board should work in all models. I say should, because I have a Basic and do not have access to test it in a Pro.
There is some debate about what the exact difference is between the models. But from the hardware control perspective, the only difference appears to be that the Pro models have a Peltier cooler and the Basic/Plus models do not. The cooler is controlled by a single I/O line and monitored by a single temp input - both of which are present on the test board.
Other than that, everything else seems to be the same.
One other note: The air filter is controlled by an IR serial port. I didn’t buy an air filter, and none of them are out in the wild yet, so there is little information available about controlling them. There isn’t a separate driver for it in the code they released (it is controlled by the Glowforge daemon that they haven’t released). The OpenGlow does drive the IR serial port, but I have no idea how to control the air filter with it - yet.
I have a Glowforge Pro which arrived at the tail end of 2017, which means that my warranty will expire in mid-2019. Given that I have already had to replace my machine twice, I intend to protect the remainder of my warranty.
That said, if I can help in any way by testing the board or related software without voiding my warranty, I would be happy to do so.
I would be in if you need help with user interface work. I have 30 years experience in creating human interface and human interaction user experience. Either way I would like to help out when you get to that stage.
From what Glowforge has said, yes it is a different tube. Though, the specific differences (or, lack thereof) have not yet been independently confirmed.
Re-reading my post now, I realize it may be easy to interpret it differently than I intended.
This highly edited version would be closer to what I meant to convey:
Lately, I’ve had a pretty narrow focus as I’ve been elbow deep in the design of the replacement control board, and I frequently forget there is more to the device than just the electronics.
I’m at the point where this project could really benefit from some more developers, so let’s get this going.
Currently, I have the latest prototype board/software working to the point where you can use it with the GFUI, and it is primed for development of alternate/offline control software.
There are a few key areas that I need to test/refine before I can send off a final version to a board house (notably, camera functionality and focal lens homing), but the the current board blanks I have are more than adequate for development purposes.
Making it work with your Glowforge is currently very easy. You’ll need to console into your existing control board to grab your system’s login credentials, remove and replace the control and head boards (it’s a lot simpler than it sounds and takes about 5-10 minutes). You’ll flash in the new bootloader onto your SOM (super easy, I’ll put up instructions), and console into the new board to add your login credentials and wifi info to the config. After that, it will boot and work with the GFUI.
Development from there is similar to any other embedded system, and I’m happy to help get you started.
So, if you are a developer (hardware/software) and you want a free (as in beer) prototype control/head board to tinker with, speak up*.
*These do cost me a considerable amount in parts each, so please be someone who plans to contribute development effort.
Any chance you are still looking for testers??
I have a background in building and maintaining 3d printers, flashing and updating Arduino based control boards. Manipulating and updating Arduino firmware for 3d printers. Basic component level repairs.
Please feel free to let me know if you are looking for testers in the future I would be interested in boards that may not necessarily work with the stock Software (long story short I got a 2nd hand unit with a broken lid. For the life of me can’t find the camera module and the system will not work with that stock.) so I am trying to find alternatives to repairing the unit without having to gut it entirely and replace everything. It would be great if I could find someone with a camera module and ribbon cable that would be willing to sell it. I have tested everything else as far as I can right now without the camera module. And it all appears to be working perfectly. I wish Glow forge would get back to me on just that unit (and not require me to spend 200 to ship it plus repair fees plus parts on top of that… )
What’s the status here? I suggest opening discussion and making an attempt to widen the reach of this project, as it seems that so warranties expire this will become… Interesting.
I put this aspect of the project on hold. There was very little interest.
Instead, I turned my efforts to developing firmware that will run on the factory board. My goal there is to ultimately have firmware that will run work with third party laser CNC software like LightBurn.
Once that is accomplished, I may start back up on this part of the project, as the same firmware will work for both (with a little modification).
I finally created an account over here. I bought a second-hand GF Plus around the start of the year, and although it’s working well now, I know someday it won’t. Not my first cutter, I’ve got a couple K40s and a few open frame solid state units that I run from Lightburn. I also do 3D printing and am getting more adept at using my CNC router.
I’m a software/firmware developer with a decent amount of embedded experience, but I also do applications. C/C++ is my main language, but I am fluent in over 4 billion dialects… or something.
I see that this thread is probably obsolete, but just wanted to say “hi” and let you know that I’m game to help develop some code.
I halted progress on the OpenGlow control board for now. I’ve been focusing my efforts on a firmware image for the factory board.
There is a working image over at my Github that has most of the basics to make the thing move. Installation instructions for dual boot are here.
The existing image uses a horribly slow Python based program to control the unit. It currently is able to connect to the Glowforge service and mostly work.
I am in the process of writing control software for it in C. My goal is to provide a REST interface to the unit for third party software.
I went down a rabbit hole, and started developing a full fledged C REST API platform that is driven by OpenAPI v3 schema files. I’m about halfway through that now. Once that is done, I’ll switch back to finishing the control software work.
This really looks awesome! I’m sure I’ll be able to help out with the coding and testing effort once I get up-to-speed on the basic development environment.
I haven’t taken my machine apart far enough yet to know if it has the USB ports installed or not, but I will start there and maybe add the SD card reader while I’ve got it open. Then I’ll install your firmware image and check it out.
Once I have a working image and am comfortable with the update process I’ll start digging into the code to get familiar with what you’ve done. I’m really impressed with everything you’ve managed to figure out and document.
I’m really excited by the idea of having a G-code API available. It would be interesting if there was a way to operate the cutter directly from Lightburn without having to go through their proprietary sandbox. It’s unfortunate that they require a wifi connection, let alone solid internet.
