Hey all,

I thought it was nice to give some update on the progress. Most of the work I did was in the software domain.

• beaglebone now works with cape universal and not with a predefined cape  
  pins can be changed on the fly without booting linux.
• if the machine turned on the laser turned on as well, the startup procedure has been changed so the laser doesn't turn on by accident
• in the proof of concept experiment, the laser module was turned off after each lane and turned on before a new lane. With the new software you can continue to expose without turning of and on the scan head.
• the c++ library for the TMC2130 stepper has been wrapped in python
• I have added the possibility to expose with a single facet. In my earlier post, I outlined this can be done via the facet times. I have however chosen to do this by an internal counter which simple counts the facets and assumes a facet is never lost.
• variables are now centralized in one location. They used to be sprinkled all over the place. You don't need to recompile the assembly to change the variables of the scanner
• The assembly code of the scanner and the python code have been refactored. I would say the code is much more readable now
• The spinup state changed. The laser is spin up and then it is tested whether it passes a threshold check. The laser turn on time is however much smaller than this threshold. This used to be the same.

I have also build a second laser module and fixed the z-endstop in my test setup.

As always let's create some more prior art;

Blackbelt has a patent called for an infinite conveyor belt printer see https://patents.google.com/patent/NL2018728B1. This was scrutinized by Hackaday. The patent so far only seems valid in the Netherlands and the conveyor belt has to be planar with the horizon, see words  ".. parallel met de horizontaal is gelegen..." at the end of claim 1.
As such, I claim a machine in which the belt is not planar to the horizon but under a tilt angle.
I claim an infinite conveyor belt printer in which both a laser head and extruder is mounted. Possibly the extruder deposits a polymer which is polymerized by the laser. This polymer can be viscous so it stays on its place.

I also claim the use of a prism scanner in data gloves. This can be used to write or read from a substrate from a glove. I earlier claimed the Hexastorm was connected to a robotic arm like the Dexter.
In industry 4.0, workers are equipped with data gloves to check wether they are operating within requirement. In the proglove as shown here https://www.proglove.com/ a camera is added to the hands of an operator. I can imagine a prism scanner is placed in this data glove.  This prism scanner could record information or write information on substrates. It could detect biological markers, or QR codes. It could detect cells or give a marking to a product. It could be used to determine the final position of a product which has to be precisely placed.