Haas VF-OE Uploader

The Haas uploader provides a web-based file upload interface to send jobs to the Haas-VF-OE CNC mill

The Haas mill is controlled by a ?????? controller. The ?????? is equipped with an RS232 interface that accepts G-code files for upload

This application runs on a dedicated raspberry pi with a touch screen.

Basic Use

• On your PC, Navigate to https://haas.local
• Login with the appropriate username and password
• Upload your file
• Navigate to the SEND page
• Click on START

Installation

• We are using the raspbian buster desktop distro
• sudo raspi-config to set things like wifi network name and password. I typically enable ssh access and complete all setup via ssh. You'll also want to set Boot Options -> Auto Login Desktop
• if this is a new pi do a sudo apt-get upgrade and if this is not a brand new distro then a sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
• install this repo into /home/pi/haas_uploader and cd haas_uploader
• If this was a -lite distro like raspbian buster lite you'll need to do a sudo apt-get install lightdm xserver-xorg lxde chromium-browser You should use doa a sudo raspi-config and select Boot Options -> Desktop/CLI -> Desktop Autologin Then reboot
• install python package installer pip3 and gunicorn3 sudo apt-get install python3-pip gunicorn3
• install python packages with sudo -H pip3 install -r requirements.txt Note since this is a dedicated raspi I don't see the need to use virtualenv
• install boot-time invocations of web server and serial uploader daemons

sudo ln -s /home/pi/haas_uploader/haas_uploader.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo ln -s /home/pi/haas_uploader/serial_sender.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable haas_uploader
sudo systemctl enable serial_sender

• configure the a browser instance to come up on the local touch screen in kiosk mode at boot time.

• LXDE will only start an application once the Raspian UI is up and running, so it avoids race conditions

• If the older style of autostart exists rename it as below. mv /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart-

• If none exists then create directory if needed, and create link Lto the supplied autostart ln -s /home/pi/haas_uploader/autostart /home/pi/.config/lxsession/LXDE-pi/

mkdir /home/pi/haas_uploader/uploads

• do a mv .env-example .env Edit .env and set the USERNAME and PASSWORD values

mv .env-example .env 
vi .env
source .env

• You should start the flask application in the foreground initially to see if it is starting up ok with dbg_start_web_app
• Same for the serial sender with dbg_start_sender
• At this point you should be able to browse to http://YourRaspisIPaddr/ and upload and send files
• If all is well then reboot your pi and the processes should start at boot time via systemd, the browser should come up on the local touch screen

Development Info

This app is written using the python flask framework for web applications. Main code is in the file app.py It relies on a separate process serial_sender.py to send the data to the serial ports. The Flask web app services html, css, and js to render the page. When the user commands an action to send a file or get status, their flask web server instance makes a tcp socket connection to the serial sender on port 1111 and issues a one line command. The seial sender returns a 1 line json-encoded response which is sent directly back to the client's web browser

Handy development debugging commands

You will need to source the local environment variables from .env with source .env

connect directly to serial usb dongle 0 t0

connect directly to serial usb dongle 1 t1

list all available serial ports lp

stop system instance of web app sysctl_stop_web_app

start system instance of web app sysctl_start_web_app

stop system instance of uploader sysctl_stop_sender

start system instace of uploader sysctl_start_sender

start web app in foreground for debugging dbg_start_web_app

start uploader in foreground for debugging dbg_start_sender

Docker

A simple dockerfile has been added for testing purposes. This docker file is based on a Raspbian image built around Python 3.5.

To build the docker image, execute the following from the root of the repository directory:

docker build -t haas_uploader .

Once the Docker image has been created, you can create a docker container with the following command (replace '' with a custom name of your choice):

docker create -p 8080:80 -p 1111:1111 --name <container name> haas_uploader 

Finally, the docker container can be used to test the system by intiating an interactive shell and executing the commands discussed elsewhere in this README file. Namely:

docker exec -it <container name> /bin/bash
source .env
dbg_start_web_app

You should then be able to navigate to the url http://localhost:8080 to see the web interface.

*Note: This is currently only working for debugging the web front end and the serial sender will not execute correctly. This is due to Python version mis-matches which will be cleaned up shortly.