By: darioringach
D: Motion Control and Knobby, Uncategorized, , ,

Motor box update

We are asking all Scanbox users to update to the latest version of Scanbox which incorporates important updates to the motor box code, including:

  1. Update of the Trinamic firmware
  2. Update of the motor box application code
  3. Update of the motor box interface code in Scanbox

Please proceed as follows:

  • If you don’t have the Trinamic IDE 3.0 installed, please download and install it.
  • After you launch the IDE select Tools->Firmware update from the menu.
  • Under “select firmware” select $SCANBOX/trinamic/TMCM-6110_V142.hex, where $SCANBOX is the root directory for the latest Scanbox distribution you downloaded
  • Click the update button

Capture

  • Close the Firmware update window
  • Click on the TMCL creator entry on the left column; the Editor will pop up
  • Do File->Open and select $SCANBOX/scanknob/scanknob_v3.tmc
  • Click the download button highlighted in blue below.

Capture

  • Answer the questions that come up in the panels in the positive. In the end, you will see a message saying the code was downloaded successfully.
  • Follow the remaining set of instructions on how to update Scanbox, skipping the line that asks you to update the firmware in the motor box.

Please note

  • The new Trinamic application firmware (scanknob_v3.tmc) includes a piece of code that will prevent you from moving down in the Z-axis too quickly.  So, if you start spinning the Z knob to go down, the box will go into panic mode and freeze all motors.  If this happens knobby will become unresponsive and you need to restart Scanbox to unlock it.
  • If you prefer not to have this feature installed, simply install the previous version (scanknob_v2.tmc) instead
  • Before you go back to imaging, please remove the objective from the scope, start-up Scanbox, and make sure all axes are moving as expected. Image some pollen grains and make sure all is working as expected.  Only after checking everything appears to be working fine, go back to imaging.
  • As you perform these tests, make sure you have rapid access to the motor box power switch so you can turn it off quickly if there is such a need.
  • If, after this update, your z-motor appears to jitter as you move, revert to the scanknob_v2.tmc firmware.