SORRY... I'm new here and so I accidentally posted this originally to the Repetier-Host discussion instead of to the Firmware section... Sorry!.
I've found that after a modification, repair or adjustment, if 'Homing'
starts to screw up, eg. some part of the printer jams or hits the
end-stop and goes beyond them, then there is no way to stop
the machine IMMEDIATELY other than to switch off at the mains switch (if
you're lucky enough to have one on the side of your machine!) or run to
the outlet and pull the plug.
For USER SAFETY, no process
should shut out the user or be impossible to stop part-way through using
the control-panel on the machine.
I've had a few occasions
when the bed has slammed to the limit on the Y axis of my homemade
i3-clone and the belt starts stretching skipping over teeth and pressing
the knob on my RepRapDiscount Full Graphic Smart Controller doesn't
IMMEDIATELY stop the homing process as you'd expect, instead it does NOTHING, nor does pressing
the RESET button stop the motors or printer either, instead it does NOTHING... and I can ONLY stop the printer about 5 seconds after I hit the power switch and cut the
power, which I couldn't do if my hand was trapped or something like that.
For safety, and to make the firmware far more professional, these processes MUST be able to be killed by the controls on the control panel.
So...
Shouldn't the reset button be on an interrupt or something in the firmware and so be able to OVERRIDE AND HALT whatever motor or heater process is happening?
In
the loops where the Homing process, or any long process, in the firmware
shouldn't it be checking for the control button being pressed and using
it to ABORT the Homing?
That would be a handy SAFETY feature of the firmware, acting like a BIG RED STOP BUTTON
on professional equipment, preventing injury or damage to the machine
if the operator sees something bad starting to happen.... just like
every other piece of equipment in my workshop.
I like the Repetier firmware and am using the 1.0beta which I find very good and easy to use with an easy to use interface and easy to tweak via the single config header file.
I build my own 3dprinter from scratch and find Repetier much easier to setup without billions of incomprehensible settings to tweak to get the printer moving, like some other firmware.
