This is the bottom section of the main window (click for a full size image):
The sections are:
1: Log Window
The program shows here the communication to the control board as well as diagnostic messages, measurement results and so on. (To help in troubleshooting, a copy of the log content is most helpful. To get a copy, click in side the window, ctrl+A to select all, copy and paste to a text document.)
2: Camera Zoom, vigorous homing
On this section, you can turn on zoom for the cameras and set zoom factor. The cameras have more resolution than the display window. Normally, the whole camera view is shown, scaled down to fit the window. If “Show pixels” is selected, the display is a small portion from the center of the camera view.
“Vigorous Homing” helps a worn-out machine to “settle”. It does normal homing, then does a little shake of the machine doing some fast moves around the table, and finally homes again. The idea is to take any drift out before actual use. (NOTE: This seems to be not as useful as I thought, and it might go away.)
3: Coordinates and homing
This section shows the current coordinates of the machine and the currently loaded nozzle. (If the nozzle in the nozzle adapter is not what the program thinks it is, you can set it right on the Setup Nozzles page.)
Below the coordinates display, there is a “Home” button. If the machine is not homed, the button is red. You need to home the machine before you can move it.
The “Measure and Set Zero” button is is the homing operation without the slow mechanical phase. The button takes the machine to zero position, measures the true position using vision and sets coordinates to the result. With this, you can check and zero out small drift, if any. Note, that this works only for normal use. If the machine stalls, you need to do full homing.
Note, that after homing or this operation, the coordinates are not zero until you are lucky. The cameras have more resolution than the mechanics; therefore, the process to search the origin is done only with “good enough” precision. When on top of the homing mark, the final position is measured and machine coordinates are set to the remaining difference.
4a: Bookmarks
The bookmark button labels are set on the basic setup page (see here). You can move the machine to the pre-set locations by clicking on these buttons. Ctrl+click on any of the buttons sets the current machine position as the bookmark position.
4b: Send to control board
Below the bookmark buttons, there is a “Send to control board”. Normally you don’t need to use this function, although if you know what you are doing, it can be helpful in experimenting and troubleshooting.
Note: Sending text $$ makes the TinyG board to dump all its internal settings to the log window in human readable form. This can be helpful in troubleshooting.
5: Manual movement section
Please see this page.
6: Test buttons
Please see this page.