I'm looking forward to trying out the new update.

I've been building my own vertical plotter and had no luck in running a few previous versions of your controller, as well as flashing my uno r3 with the firmware to run with the AFMS v2.

I was eventually able to flash the firmware, and got the controller running however the controller would either:
- not connect despite the com port showing up and being selected,
- or connect and say it was ready but when a test image was started, no movement on the motors :/

I'm exploring other options as well including writing some firmware from scratch and then passing it Gcode from the laptop, or trying the makelangelo software (which I couldn't get to move the motors either)

Sad times

http://electronicbyte.cc/2014/08/13/plotbot-brief/

I have had limited success with AFMSv2 but with only PIXEL_DRAW defined and the other two commented out. I have not tried vector drawing at all. I know that the different frequency square wave, different size square wave, as well as the scribble will work. I don't think the other drawing styles (sawtooth, spiral...) listed in the controller will work. I don't think those styles are even programmed in the uno version of the server. As I've pointed out on the forum sandy linked, the controller app may not properly send the commands (Those darn SRAM issues...). You can check to see if the arduino is working by opening the Serial Window in the arduino IDE and manually type in a command such as the motor lock command "C09,1000,1000,END" where the 1000's refers to a coordinate and can be changed. If the motors wiggle then your on the right track. Good luck!

Yep I've always been upfront about the fact that Polargraph firmware is NOT efficient. (To be honest, it was one of my first Arduino projects, and bears the scars of that inexperience. I don't even think a modern rewrite would help that much either - I'm just not very good at C++, never learned it properly.)

Other implementations of a dual axis bot like this are a LOT less wordy. A pure G-code interpreter like Dan's (marginally clever) is a far more elegant solution than the polargraph firmware will ever be. That, plus a different toolchain will yield a more efficient process. Marlin-based firmwares will have great features, but add complexity.

Remember that a vector-art drawing machine _could_ be told to draw the pixel shading patterns, if it were worked out in software instead of in the firmware. The same cannot be said of a pixel-art machine.

Unfortunately the Polargraph with AFMSv2 is such a crippled beast that I can not recommend it for anything. I am sad to say (as an Adafruit fanboy) that I don't like the shield: that microstepping squeal and the lack of current adjustment are a bitter pill.

Or invest £15 to get an arduino mega clone, hay presto, [many] problems solved.

sn

Sandy, I've Actually Spent Some Time Reviewing Your Uno code And Found A Lot Of Things To Change That Will Allow Pixel And penlift To Work. How Should I Get The Edited Code Or List Of Changes To You? (Stupid Phone Capitalizing Every Word Lol)

Please see https://github.com/euphy/polargraph/wiki/Polargraph-Server-for-Adafruit-Motorshield-v2