Beam Node Tutorial By Fiberpunk
parameter description Working voltage 4.75-5.25V best working distance is 5~15cm from the printing platform (the distance should not be too far) 32Mbit default RAM Internal 520KB + external 8MB PSRAM Wi-Fi 802.11b/g support interface (2Mbps) UART, IO port support TF card maximum support 4G serial port rate Default 115200bps antenna form Onboard PCB antenna, gain 1.
Beam Node Introduction Node is an ESP32 based board that offers an easy and affordable way to manage and monitor your printing. ● ● ● Robust MCU design. Unique SDIO connector for faster and more reliable printing. Tested up to 120mm/s on Corexy and expected to go faster. Full set of ports for add-ons, including a filament sensor that is included in the shipment.
Beam Node Content In the package you received, the following parts belong to Beam Node: ● ● ● An SD card slot. An OLED screen. Two FPC links.
Beam Node PCB layout 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Reset button. USB Host. (Printer) USB-C power port. SD socket slot. (FPC wiring) OLED socket slot. (FPC wiring) GPIO expansion port. I2C expansion port. UART expansion port. Status light.
Installing OLED Screen and SD slot Your Beam Node should come fully assembled is shown in the picture (connected when you receive it):
Prepare SD card and USB cable 1. 2. Prepare an available Micro SD card. Find a USB data cable based on your printer’s USB connection. There are 3 common types, see examples in image.
microSD card selection Please use either the card we included or use a name brand microSD card from the list on the right We have found some no name microSD cards may have issues with data I/O for printing,
Download and print the Beam Node case Because electronic components are fragile, please download and print the Beam Node case here for protection. Printing Parameters: 0.4mm Nozzle/Extrusion 0.
Beam Node Case After printing the casing, fit the OLED screen and Beam Node motherboard to the printing casing as shown on the right.
Case installation notices 1. The FPC cord needs to be bent; try to fold it at the end side instead of the middle position. The position selected by the red box in the right picture is the position we recommend to be folded 90 degrees. 2. The screen line will inevitably be bent; try to follow the principle of making the middle white segment without creases. 3. After installing the screen, turn on the power for the first time to see if the screen can still light up normally.
Download Node firmware and firmware update tool After receiving Node, the first thing to do is to update the firmware to the latest version. 1. 2. 3. Download the latest firmware (.bin) from this link Download the update tool. (Currently only supports windows) And download and install the USB serial port driver.
Connect Node to the computer After downloading Node's firmware and the firmware update tool, connect Node to the computer through a USB-C data cable. Note: Do not insert SD card into your Node module when updating firmware.
Update firmware As shown on the right: Select the port for Node, select the latest firmware downloaded, and click “Upload”to complete the firmware update. Seeing “Hard resetting via RTS pin…” Indicates that the firmware update was successful.
Download Beam Nexus Please download the Windows version here We only have a Windows version at the moment and we will add other OS later.
Install Beam Nexus Double click on the downloaded installer BeamNexus-beta0.1.8.exe You may receive warning about unknown publisher, please accept. And soon you will see the screen on the right.
Install Beam Nexus Note: Beam Nexus currently only supports Windows versions Note: When running Beam Nexus for set up, please run it with administrator privileges as SD card write access is required.
Prepare Micro SD Card for WiFi Settings Please connect your MicroSD Card to your computer, either via card reader or card slot
Setting up Wifi via SD card. After Micro SD is loaded in Windows as a drive, Open Beam Nexus and Click “Setting” Button.
WiFi Setting After clicking, the window shown on the right will pop up. You need to fill in your WiFI SSID and password here, as well as a name for your Beam Node module (Please keep device name unique for each Node in the same local area network). Note 1: If your computer does not have a wifi module, Scan Wifi will fail and prompt you to enter your router's ssid name manually. If your wired network and wifi are under the same router, the Beam Node can still be accessed.
Install Micro SD card, After filling in the information described above, click Save To SD to save the relevant configuration file to the SD card. Remove the SD card, then insert the SD card into the Beam Node module as shown in the figure below, push it slightly, and feel the spring rebound, indicating that the SD card is inserted tightly.
Connecting Beam Node to the Printer SD Slow There are two small modules connected on Node. The smaller end is the SD Bridge. This goes into the printer’s micro SD card slot. This enables higher data transfer rate which is important for faster print speed, especially on coreXY machines.
Connecting Beam Node to Printer’s USB-Serial See the circled connection. Many printers have their serial connection linked to a USB port. You must connect Node's USB port to the printers serial to USB port using the USB data Cable. This connection is for Node communication with the printer and sending adhoc Gcode commands to printer board. Node does not use a serial connection to send gcode print files.
Connecting Beam Node to Power Node’s USB-C port is the power port. Connect a 5V USB-C power adapter to this port and Node will power up. Make sure use a true 5V USB adapter. Avoid using PD type of adapter for now.
Checking connections This is how all the connection would look like when Node is connected to your printer
Beam Node Power up After the Beam Node is powered on, it will first perform a WiFi network configuration. If the network configuration is successful, the status light of the Beam Node will turn green. If the network configuration is not completed, the status light will be red. If the 3D printer is also powered on at this time, the words "Printer Connected!" will be displayed on the OLED display of the Beam Node.
Connect Node to Beam Nexus Once Node is powered on and connected to WiFi, you can click “Search Devices” on the Nexus main interface, and it will try to find all Nodes in the local area network. Any Node found on the network will be listed as seen on the right. You can double click on the entry and a window will pop up for managing that Node.
Update Baud Rate for Node On first run, please make sure the baud rate is set correctly for your printer. You can find this information in your printer manual. Marlin now mainly supports three baud rates of 115200, 200000, and 250000. The factory default baud rate of Beam Node is 115200. If your printer supports this baud rate, then leave it as it 115200. If not, select the baud rate supported by your printer, and then click Set Baud rate to complete the setting.
Testing Beam Nexus Controlling Node After Setting the baud rate, you can test your connection by click on x/y/z and home on the right. This will show if the connection is working well. Your printer should respond to the movement and homing commands.
How to upload Gcode to Beam Node Click here to upload And you will see a window to select gcode file. Once you select and open a file, Nexus will start the file transfer to Node.
Start Printing via Node Select the file you want to print from the file list, see example image. The file header will automatically generate three random letters at the start of the filename, please ignore. Due to the file system used by Marlin, the supported file name format is MSDOS 8.3. In order to avoid the confusion of incoming file names, we generate three random letters and place them in front of the file name.
Test Print Done Once the print is completed, please check the surface quality to ensure good results. Congratulations, your Node is ready to serve you. In addition to basic printing, Beam Node has many other functions waiting for you to use. You are welcome to continue reading the introduction documents of the other detailed functions! Test video with Ender 3 Sentry Tutorial can be found here.
FCC STATEMENT : This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Warning: Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
