8 Leaf Pi Zero Bramble

Let's get a common filesystem going. Some of these things, you'll have to do after you get an actual Pi Zero going,like anything using the HEAD_IP, which will be the Raspi B. Right now, I am still on the Raspi B, building the final image which I will then copy to each SD card.

install/setup nfs clients

apt-get install nfs-common -y

mkdir -p /mnt/nfs

chown -R pi:pi /mnt/nfs

mount [HEAD_IP]:/volume1/nfs /mnt/nfs

Add this to /etc/fstab

[HEAD_IP]:/volume1/nfs /mnt/nfs nfs rw 0 0

After rebooting from that, I hooked up the ethernet and an old WIFI dongle that I KNEW would work, and made sure that I could move to the kitchen table (Gotta watch that the chili won't bubble over!)

I used putty to ssh into the Raspi B via the ethernet connection and then enabled the wifi dongle:

setup the wifi on /etc/network/interfaces

allow-hotplug wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

setup the wifi on /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

network={

ssid="Whatever Your ESSID IS"

psk="YOUR WIFI PASSWORD"

}

I Let the Raspi B simmer for a bit, and discovered that the Wlan0 adapter picked up and IP address from my router just as well as you please...

Once I had the IP for the wifi, I used that address in a putty terminal to verify it did work. NOTE: Wifi is NOTICEABLY slower than a native ethernet connection, but I am stuck on this, as I don't have much left to buy the right equipment (the wifi adapters were cheap, I knew they worked, and I wanted to make sure I had SOME connectivity at least, since I now couldn't get ethernet that I KNOW will work and it would take too long for me to solder them up).

I used "sudo raspi-config" to enable things like the SPI, ISC, SSH and enabled some of the memory to the GPU (16MB) because I've read that it can stutter without that after a while. I also expanded the image to fill the card. No overclocking yet. Let's get this stable first...

I had to give up on the rails for now. I need to perform a deep clean of the Hotend, and also the feeder pulleys. Sigh...

Anyway, I just finished downloading the latest Jessie Lite from Raspberrypi.org and loaded it via Win32DiskImager to one of the SD cards. Booted fine on the Raspi Model B.

I'm going to use the Raspi B to build the packages up that I want, as it has the same basic architecture as the Zero.

I found 4 SD cards (16gb class 10) at Office Depot $9/piece. Good enough!

My eBay luck is a little better. My OTG cable came in. Even though it's labelled Samsung, it still checks out. The HDMI is just an HDMI.

Still having printer issues. All I need is 2 rail prints and 1 more leaf to finish prototyping this design so I can hit the power.

Terrific. I let the rail print go over night and the extruder got blocked again. I have a feel8by it's the last 10 meters of PLA that is the problem. I've read that the end of a roll is the worst for problems due to moisture, etc.

We're going to a craft store later and I'm getting a container and a bunch of silica gel. I think moisture might be an issue. Looks like unloading will have to be part of my routine...

Yesterday was my birthday (& Thomas Edison, one of the original prolific makers). Since I spent it working in the day and trashing my Bramble rail system on the Davinci Junior in the evening, the Potts, inc CEO took me to Spa World today.

Getting my luxuriate on, yo!

Oh, I did visualize some spacing issues I hadnt thought of. Like with the latest rail design there is a stopper so the leaves dont fall out the back. Well that stopper makes the leaves hang out instead of just the pull tabs.

Also, that rail that got messed up: i must have left an errant line in my sketchup model because the XYZ version of slicer just mangled the output on the screen. Interestingly enough when it was still an stl it looked fine! Oh well, I needed to do another redesign of the leaf anyway. I'll incorporate it into the rebuild of the rail. The laminate version is still the most stable printout.

UPDATE 11 MINUTES LATER

You know, it just occurred to me: I could make these REALLY modular by vertically mirroring the rails, and putting keys on the sides, similar to a breadboard... As small as these things are you could get a pretty dense bramble!

So, I finally got bitten by the Shenzen Bug. I had ordered a bunch of OTG ethernet dongles and they turned out to be junk. I'm just going to harvest the usb connectors and make OTG extenders and maybe desolder the ethernet jacks.

So, it looks like I'm just going to have to hit a basic concept here and use wifi on my leaves: not ideal, I know. But I'll have something to show!! ;-)

I still say slot loaders will work. I think my proof-of-concept will be the power distribution to each leaf...

The 3D printer is humming along. Mostly. I'm in my 3rd attempt on the second side wall. FRUSTRATING! Getting close to the end of the PLA spool! Stupid unflashable DRM printer...

Lastly, 2 things: I think I can shave another 2 mm off the fence where the pi zero will rest length-wise, and I need to design a decent, basic cap to snap on over the fence. Should help make this an almost completely tool-less design (not counting glue for the rails and walls)

I am obssesed (sp? )with getting the dimensions JUST RIGHT. Not so worried about the schematic for the connections of the Zeros. I'll throw that together this weekend (Maybe I'll even have learned enough Eagle to get a proper file together!

Any way, I am currently Printing my latest leaf version with the fence and the clearance holes I forgot about for the usb jacks.

So, I decided to remove one of the laminates of the leaf on my Bramble design. I made a simple box fence around the open area of the middle laminate to eliminate one of the layers. Once I figure out how to affix the pi within the fence and on its supports, I will be able to eliminate both smaller laminates. If you get on Thingiverse, Look for my STL titled "Bramble Box - II".