TouchDRO Version 2 Now Available

Sunday, November 9, 2014

It's been a year since I released the last version of TouchDRO, and it's definitely time for some updates. If you've been following this blog, you might recall that I made "Beta" version available at the end of last year, and was planning to push a new version out around February of this year. Well, it's the end of October, but finally I got it stable enough that I feel pretty good about letting it into the wild. There is a ton of changes, including many new features that people have requested. I will try to cover the important ones in this post, and over the next couple of weeks (as the time allows) will dig deeper into some of them.

Multiple Preference Banks

The app can store up to six preference banks

This is one of the most fundamental changes to the application. In a nutshell it allows you to set up up to six different configurations and switch between them at will. This means that you can share the same tablet between up to six different machines, each with it's own configuration, even if the machines use scales with different resolution, or even a different number of scales.

Configurable Readout Display

TouchDRO with all axes enabled TouchDRO in Lathe mode
with two axes and tachometer

The old version of the application was designed to work with a vertical mill, so the readout display was pretty much hard-coded to display three axis readouts. In the new version I scrapped that approach and re-implemented the user interface from the ground up to be dynamically configurable. In plain English this means that except the X axis, all other readouts can be shown or hidden to suit your needs. For instance, you might want to see only X and Z axes on a lathe, or all four readouts on a knee mill.

Another, somewhat related feature, is the ability to change the readout display font. In addition to the traditional 7-segment font, there are two more choices: default system font and a generic monospace font. The latter two options don't have the "shadow" characters and stand out much better on the black screen. Finally, the fourth ["W"] axis can now be shown as a standalone readout or be summed with one of the other readouts. This setup might be useful on a knee mill with scales on the quill and the knee itself.

Lathe Mode

DRO In "Mill" Mode DRO In "Lathe" Mode

At the first glance it might appear that the only difference between a lathe-only and a mill DRO is the number of axes. The "Lathe" mode goes further, though. First of all, it removes the unneeded functions, such as hole circle and hole array, and adds a new "Radius/Diameter" switch. Second, the "Tool Offset" function is revamped to work better on a lathe. Third, point list and "Add Point" command are reconfigured to use only X and Z axes. Finally, the "Axis Details" screens behave differently on different machines. On a mill all enabled [linear] axes use the same dialog, while Z axis in "Lathe" mode can toggle between three feed rate modes: inches per minute, inches per revolution and turns per inch.

Lathe mode uses a different Tool Offset dialog.

Tachometer Support

Tachometer support was by far the most requested features, and the new version of the app now has it. If enabled [via the app settings], tachometer output will appear as the "RPM" axis. Additionally, tachometer input is used to calculate real-time chip load. In "Lathe" mode, in addition to chip load, the DRO can display feed rate in units/rotation or rotations/inch.

Feed Rate/Chip Load are shown on the "Axis Details" screen that can be accessed by touching the axis readout.

Tool Library

Another frequently requested feature is the tool library. In a nutshell this feature lets you predefine a virtually unlimited number of tools that can be then used for setting the tool offset or calculating chip load. Tool library is linked to the selected preference bank. Thus, there are really six different tool banks that are machine type-aware.

Other Changes

Dimension preset dialog can take arithmetic equations

In addition to the major changes above, I've made a number of small changes and adjustments, including the following:
Depending on the selected machine type, touching an axis readout brings up "Axis Details" dialog that can be used to preset dimension, enable near-zero warning etc.
For people that use the DRO primarily in metric mode, there is now a global "Metric Mode" setting. When enabled, the application will start in metric mode, which is not tightly integrated throughout the whole app, so all dialogs use the same units.
Preset dimension function (activated by long-pressing any of the axes) can take simple arithmetic expressions. This can be used to do on-the-fly conversion from fractional dimensions or even unit conversion.
As I mentioned above, the "Axis Details" dialog has a few new features, such as chip load, feed rate and audible near-zero warning.
Finally, since I've received hundreds and hundreds of emails complaining that the DRO is inaccurate, I added a "nag" startup screen that reminds the user to perform basic configuration and calibration before using the DRO.

Sumarry

As you can see from the list above, there is a lot of changes, big and small, that will make TouchDRO much more usable and flexible. Many of those features are hidden in the settings screen or behind other user interface elements. Based on the questions I've been getting, vast majority of the users doesn't get past the initial display. Even though the app is usable with only the basic functionality, the additional features are there to make things easier. If you're upgrading from the older version, you might not even notice most of those features, but hopefully this post will inspire you to poke around and see what the TouchDRO can do to maximize your productivity.

Finally, I would like to give credit to the members of the "TouchDRO Beta Testing" Google+ community. For close to a year they have been providing invaluable feedback, helping me with testing, and helping each other with troubleshooting various issues. I don't want to mention names here out of respect for their privacy, but in short: "Thank you, guys! The app would not be what it is without you."

37 comments :

  1. Regarding the Z axis in lathe mode: does the "Add Point" command and Z axis details work on the axis labeled "Z" or do they work on the scale attached to pin D4 on an Arduino?

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  2. Zoltan,
    It's the position that is transmitted with "Z" prefix. Axis label is a purely cosmetic things (i.e. it only affects the main DRO display).
    Regards
    Yuriy

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  3. Hello
    Is this version also working with a usb connection ? ...my app don´t work .. it will be closed if i connect...

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    1. Hi Yuriy: For some reason I can not get your latest update to connect to Bluetooth. I have down loaded a Bluetooth app and the data is being transmitted from the transmitter, but when I enter the pass word, it does not connect and gives a message that DRO has stopped. Not sure why it connects with the Bluetooth readout but not with Touch DRO. Regards, Harry

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    2. Hi there: Some more information.
      1. Samsung Tab 2 (It worked fine with the previous version)
      2. Running 4.0.4 Android Version, Kernel 3.0.8
      3. After downloading app. from Google, it did not work, I rebooted the tablet, still did not work.
      4. I downloaded Blue Term and it sees the Arduino and Bluetooth and displays x's y's etc.
      5. For some reason when I start the Touch DRO app, it asks for the password, and seems to try to find the Bluetooth data, and then times out. Giving a message, "Unfortunately DRO is shut down"
      Looking for a solution, since it worked on the previous version. Is there a way I can download and install the previous version app, I can not find it on Google Play. Regards, Harry

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    3. Harry,
      This sounds like a bad setting in the app.
      If you don't have any workspace data (point, etc.), try deleting app data: Go to Settings, Apps (or Applications), find and click TouchDRO). There should be a button "Clear App Data" or something similar.
      Please let me know if that gets you anywhere.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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    4. Hi there. You may get this twice, my internet went down as I was send it.
      Here is what I have done.
      1. Downloaded and installed a new sketch 3.3 dated 7/15/14 from your website. Uploaded it on my UNO (Bluetooth removed).
      2. Removed my copy of TouchDRO from my Sampsung Tab 2 and installed a new copy from Google Play.
      3. Started TouchDRO, hit connect, entered my password, and got the Unfortunately DRO has stopped.
      4. I went to the app manager, cleared the data, verified it was 0, then went back to Touch DRO.
      5. Hit connect, entered password, and got the Unfortunately Message.
      6. Started Blue Term and verified that the Tab 2 is seeing the x's and y's etc
      7. When I unpair the Bluetooth and start Touch DRO, I get a screen that says "Select a Device" however there is no device shown, ie my Bluetooth HC-05 is not indicated. I have to go to the Bluetooth settings to pair the device, then it is shown.

      I have made a movie of this and will try to upload it to a file transfer service

      Is there any way I can get the old DRO application. That was working fine but I decided to upgrade and now have lost that app. I do appreciate the work you have put into this and thank you for the effort. Regards, Harry

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    5. Movie uploaded and emailed to ycroosh on gmail. Harry

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    6. Hi Yuriy: Here is the latest, forgive me if I am learning as I go here. I have downloaded version 1.0.2 from your web site, removed the TouchDRO version 2 which I could not get to work, installed version 1.0.2 with NO changes to the Samsung Tab 2, and it worked perfectly. At least for the Samsung Tab 2, there is an issue with the current TouchDRO app on Google. I will look for an update if you post it and will try it again, but for now, the old version is working for me. Regards, Harry

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    7. Harry,
      I can't reproduce your particular issue on any of my tablets (I don't have Tab 2, unfortunately). I've received 3 crashes since the release that are related to app settings and will be releasing a fix for those shortly. It might or might not be related to your issue, though.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  4. i have try'd the app with 2 Tablets and 1 Phone, and with all 3 Devices the Connection via USB is not working... can anybody give me a hint regarding this Problem or is the USB not working .?...!!

    Thanx Michael

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  5. I have the same problem as Michael in that I can not get version 2 to connect via USB to an Arduino basic controller. I have tried both a Trio Stealth 7 inch pad as well as a Samsung S4 phone. This is a new project for me, so I have not tried the older Touch DRO version to see if that works.
    I am waiting for the Bluetooth module to arrive, hopefully that will work no problem.

    Regards,

    Lars

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    1. Lars,
      The old version is available in the downloads section as an .APK file. You can use it while I'm trying to figure out what's going on.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  6. First let me thank you for all your great work. A guick question, My tablet doesn't have Bluetooth so I will have to go usb. I was wondering if WIFI could be made to work. Thanks, Carl

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  7. Carl,
    In theory WiFi is possible, but would require a good amount of work on both ends. I played with the idea some (using a Raspberry Pi as the reader), but that made the whole thing pretty complicated.
    Thank you
    Yuriy

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  8. Thanks for the great project. I just passed the smoke test. Running V2 on a pro mini board. It out performs my Shumateck 375 so that will be moved to another project. I am running Ryszard Malinowski's sketch and it is also a ROCK . One thing I would like to do is rename the six preference banks from A, B, C, to the machine I am using. I can't find a way to do that. Is it possible? I can't thank you enough. All I can do with an Arduino is make a LED blink like crazy. Carl

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  9. Do I have a bug? I'm running V2 using USB. Every time I open TouchDRO there is no option to connect, if I click on settings and back to main screen I now have the option to connect. I click on connect and about one second latter the program closes. Then I start TouchDRO again, no option to connect, go to settings and back to main screen have option to connect, click on connect and the program works and stays up. EVERY time I have to open the program twice for it to work and every time I have no option to connect without going to setting and back. While it is usable I don't know why it is behaving like this. I did uninstall and reinstall it with no change. Any help? Carl

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    1. Carl,
      This sounds like a bug. The app shouldn't be doing this, so there must be something screwy going in the start up code. I will try to figure it out ASAP.
      As to your earlier question, no, there is no way to rename the banks, unfortunately.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  10. I am having the same issue as Carl. Exactly. I am on Kit Kat 4.4.2

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    1. Les,
      I'm trying to get the fix out ASAP. There are a few more bugs people found, so it will be a few weeks, though.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  11. Hi Yuriy,
    Great project. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    Is there a reason you've not implemented absolute rather than incremental measurements?
    Also, I'm trying to make some scales using Bogen 1mm pole magnetic strips and the AS5311 encoder chip. I'm concerned about accuracy in my lathe cross slide.
    Thanks
    Doug

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    1. Doug,
      Mostly because I don't have a scale that uses absolute readout.
      According to the chip's datasheet it can resolve down to 488nm. I don't know if a cheap MCU will be able to read that, but in theory that's "pretty good".
      Regards
      Yuriy

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    2. Hi Yuriy,
      I think the AS5311 is good, but I'm struggling with finding precision multipolar magnetic strips.
      Bogen has 1mm scale material for ~$30-40/M (small quantities ok) but I'm not sure how accurate this will be. A canadian firm manufactures a linear magnetic scale that is based on a rotary scale coupled with a rack and pinion assembly. They claim to have taken out the backlash between the pinion gear and rack.

      Thoughts?
      Doug

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  12. I'm not sure if my previous comment got lost or not, so I'm trying again...

    Yuriy,

    I was one of the "my DRO is inaccurate" crowd until today. I now understand how to calibrate my scales and hopefully life will be much nicer!

    I did a rough calibration using a 6" ruler and arrived at 2558/inch before I ran across the 2560/inch spec for the iGaging scales. Can I just enter 2560 into the x/y/z fields and call it good or do I need to truly calibrate the scales against a micrometer? Asking this another way - is the 2560/inch number reliable or will there be some variation?

    Thanks for a truly great resource!
    Brandon

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    1. Brandon,
      I've see scales that were 12 thou. off at spots. In my experience Shahe's scales (iGaging, accuremote, etc.) wary in quality from batch to batch. 2558 is pretty good, actually. When I had a set of iGaging scales on my mill I assumed them to be accurate to +/- 0.001. When I needed more accuracy I used the dials for the final adjustment, but in practice, unless you have a Bridgeport mill or larger, the machine will flex more than that anyway. In short 2560 is a good starting point.
      Regards
      Yuriy

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  13. Hi Yuriy,

    Thanks for your efforts to help the community. I have recently attached some iGaging scaled to a Jet 626 knee mill using your display on a cheap 7" tablet from Amazon. I have a few observations to share. First, I echo Carl's situation. I am set up via Serial. When I first start TouchDRO it will always ask me for USB permission. I can't seem to make this go away. Then it always regrettably crashes. The second or third time it starts okay but the connect button isn't there until I go into the settings menu once and come out. From there, sometimes it will crash as I push connect but usually it initializes.

    I began adjusting the scales/CPI by referencing a dial indicator. Over an inch of steady travel I have them very close. However I observe that if I move the table very slowly I can get up to .003 of travel on the dial before the scales read .001. I am going to put the iGaging LCD back on to see if the problem follows.

    Best,

    Dave

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  14. Does touch DRO support compensation for backlash for quadrature encoder
    based machines?

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  15. Hello Yurly,
    Thank you for your very useful work! I appreciate it very much.
    I will likely build one of your DROs for my mill using magnetic scales with read heads (reinshaw LM10) that have very short cables. I would like to avoid having to lengthen the cables and get into cable management issues. My plan is to have the magnetic read head be stationary while the magnetic strip moves. To accomplish this I would like to use one MSP430 controller per axis and to equip each controller with WIFI so it feeds data to the tablet from a single axis. Each controller would be co-located with its corresponding magnetic read head. I do not yet understand if your TouchDRO is capable of managing such multiple controllers (one per axis for up to 3 axes) per machine at the same time. Is this configuration one you support? Thanks in advance.

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    1. HI,
      Right now it's not possible. In theory the program can read more than one BT device, but there is no user interface to do it currently. I might add it in future, since this seems to be one of the common feature requests for the app.
      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  16. Hello,
    Is it possible to hide or turn off the points & tools panel on the right side, so that the DRO axes scales take up the whole width of the display screen?
    Thank you.

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    1. Not in the current version, but will be in the next version.

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  17. Hi Yuriy,
    My system seems to have fired up ok and I am still learning how to use it.
    While setting high hole punts in the PCD feature so that I could check it out for cutting rads on conrods, I noticed that on some hole numbers it gives the correct number of holes, but spaces them incorrectly, like one is left out!!! Is that me, or a glitch?
    For the future, could it be set up to do rads, and join them up tangentially to lines or even other rads so complex con rod shapes can be cut by drilling multiple holes? Not everyone has CNC which would be the better way to do this, so it would be a useful feature.
    Also, is anyone writing an instruction manual, cos finding stuff by pressing random buttons is ok for experts, but us novices are none the wiser even when we find the features! I hope that makes sense, as it is very hard for you clever buggers to comprehend just how thick some of us normal peeps are :o)

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  18. Hello Yuriy,

    after few months of inactivity i continue work on my lathe/dro project.
    what is the current beta update version ?
    I only have 2.0.0 on my pad and i am a member of the "beta opt in"
    is it possible that the tool offset fields also accept arithmetic equations ?
    everything else works fine ( except that I have to connect bluetooh every time when i start the app )

    thank you
    Roland

    sorry for my bad combination of google/brain translation

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  19. Hello Yuriy,

    I bought the new AbsoluteDRO Plus scales from iGaging, and after a bit of detective work I was finally able to decode the protocol & build the DRO, which is working perfectly. The scales can be read from any of the common boards (I used the Arduino) with no additional components required. I'd be happy to send you a writeup along with the sketch and photos if you want to post them.

    Thanks very much for what you've done with the DRO project. I've made a donation & am very grateful for your clear and concise explanations & photos.

    regards,
    Craig
    craig.feied at gmail

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    1. Craig,
      I've emailed you a while ago, but on an off chance that you haven't gotten that message: I'd love to get a write-up from you and post it on the blog.

      Thank you
      Yuriy

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  20. Craig,
    I would love to see what you have done to get these to work. We have a separate discussion thread on this topic here
    http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/does-it-exists-3-axis-display-4-igaging-dro.37555/page-5#post-333584

    There is a lot of interest on this subject and look forward to seeing your work.

    Thanks Mike

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  21. Bonjour
    J'ai installé touchdro sur ma tablette Lenovo et l'écran est incomplet .Je ne comprends pas

    merçi

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