CamBam

Resources => Scripts and Plugins => Topic started by: karst.drenth on March 14, 2017, 21:38:46 pm

Title: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 14, 2017, 21:38:46 pm: Hi Guys,

I am Karst Drenth, pretty new on this forum. As a matter of fact my very first post ;)

While being a professional electronics engineer, I nowadays do a fair amount of programming professionally, that is.. since 35 years now.

So what does an electronics engineer do on a machinists forum ? Well, my big passion and hobby is modelrailroading. For that I design and build pretty much all of my own rolling stock and buildings.
Used to do that by means of the old handcraft of cutting styrene sheet in pieces and then glueing them back together again ;)

Until a week ago my machine-parc existed of a Silhouette Cuttingplotter and a 60W Lasercutter... For working on metal parts I own a mini-lathe and a small mill, both from Proxxon.

Then for a week or two I stumbled into EleksMaker's EleksMill, bought it from Banggood , assembled it and started playing with it :)

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4284.JPG)

To play really nice I had to find some good software, since the EleksMaker soft is real crap.

As I also want to use the little baby for milling PCBs, I looked and found a Plugin for CadSoft's Eagle which produces nice clean GCODE. For operating the machine I used the Universal GCODE Sender...

After that, since I design all my stuff in AutoCad, I looked for good DXF to GCODE converters... alas... all free stuff looks crap to me.
Then I found CamBam... ;D ;D Took the 40x run free trial, and immediately was impressed with it. I made some train-window-glazing from clear 1.5mm acryllic... just using CamBam's GCODE uploaded by UGS.

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4285.JPG)

Then I started to look around in the CamBam doc's ( pretty impressive also btw ;) )and...

Found this board ! About Plugins for CamBam. Immediately the idea of having an integrated GCODE sender inside CamBam kept my mind busy for a day or two. Then I sat down and wrote the plugin which I would like to share here with you guys :) Of course in the meanwhile buying The CamBam full Licence ;)

The Plugin installs a 3rd tab in CamBam's tabpanel. Inside the tab you'll find a couple of expanders:

Display --> Shows an LCD display with the most important, realtime, data directly from the machine
Production --> This will be the actual GCODE sender. It's filename is integrated with CamBam's generated CGCODE file
Jogging --> Lets you run around the machine, set it's working origin etc.
Console --> Shows a commandline, from which you can enter and send GCODE directly to the machine and a log window for the commununication between the Plugin and the machine.
Connection --> Lets you select a comport and connect really to the machine. It has an auto USB recognition feature
About --> Some words about the Plugin ;)

In addition to all those screens, I implemented the whole $?? properties to show in the CamBam Propertygrid. From where you can view and (!!) change the machine's settings.

https://www.youtube.com/v/iBq3JN3S3mY
https://youtu.be/iBq3JN3S3mY

So... feel free to try it out and please give me your opinion, tipos, tricks, bugs, etc :)

Grtzz,

Karst

P.S. ~~The Plugin is far from ready. The Production Expander does not yet send anything to GRBL... ;) That's up for the next preview ( when and if you guys like my work ;) )~~ The plugin is ready as software can be ;)

[History]

15th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.0 (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51815#msg51815)
16th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.2 (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51826#msg51826)
19th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.3 (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51898#msg51898)
20th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.4 and v0.9.4 source (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51923#msg51923)
20th Mar 2017: Re-uploaded v0.9.4 source (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51923#msg51923)
21st Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.5 and v0.9.5 source (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51964#msg51964)
24th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.6 and v0.9.6 source (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg52012#msg52012)
26th Mar 2017: Attached v0.9.7 and v0.9.7 source (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg52075#msg52075)
30th Mar 2017: Attached v1.0.0 and v1.0.0 source, including CamBam.CAD.Solids (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg52255#msg52255)

[/History]
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 14, 2017, 22:16:41 pm: Karst,
Welcome to the forum from a 'semi-retired' old EE. I now make tools for the manufacture of fireworks... but since I've seen a bit of "fireworks" in my electronics background, it wasn't too great a leap.

Thank you for coming into the group with an offering! It looks interesting (and looks like you did your homework!).

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 15, 2017, 00:21:22 am: Hello

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for this nice plugin :D ; I think it will be of interest for a lot of people.

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Bubba on March 15, 2017, 00:23:40 am: Karst,
Welcome to the CamBam family.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 15, 2017, 00:32:05 am: Re

I do not know if it is because I run it on Win XP (and CB 1.0), but after the plugin is installed, the Cambam colors are changed and the small icons for drawing objects, machining operations, layer, etc .. have disappeared from the tree at the left side (picture)

++
David

Edit: same with CB 0.98
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 15, 2017, 00:36:13 am: Hi,

Must be XP.

I switch CamBam into 'UseVisualStyles' to get nicer graphics.

But I'll make that configurable and off by default on XP ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 15, 2017, 00:42:03 am: Re

Ok, no pb on W7 all the icons are present ;)

Quote
I switch CamBam into 'UseVisualStyles' to get nicer graphics.

how did you do that ?

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 15, 2017, 00:52:04 am: Since 'InstallPlugin' is called with still no UI elements active, it is still timely enough to call Application.EnableVisualStyles. That's possible in all Windows Forms applications .

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.application.enablevisualstyles(v=vs.110).aspx
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 15, 2017, 02:13:19 am: Oh, Karth! You're going to be a treasure around here! :)

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on March 15, 2017, 08:48:25 am: I am impressed. Nothing more to add.
And I think the forum got a valuable new member.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: jk on March 15, 2017, 11:41:31 am: It's the most radical integration in cambam I've seen )

I'm not in grbl, but think grbl users must be very interested.

IMHO machine control plugin shouldn't touch the visual style of host, it's the machine control plugin, not
a gui tweaker after all ) Better to hand off this job to another small and self-sufficient plugin.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 15, 2017, 12:19:00 pm: Hi All,

Thanks for the warm welcome :) 8)

@jk,

Agree, maybe it should in a separate plugin... although the machine control needs some UI tweaks by itsself. Anyway, in the version that will be here tonight, it's configurable ;)

I'll consider releasing the EnableVisualStyles plugin also separately ;D
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on March 15, 2017, 13:33:44 pm: A question a Grbl. I understand it is motion control software for the Arduino? I am guessing it doesn't have a user interface as such, hence your desire to build one in CamBam?
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 15, 2017, 13:54:04 pm: Hi Gary,

Yep, that is correct. GRBL is motion firmware for Arduino based CNC-controller boards. It's only interface to the outside world is a serial connection, usually via USB.

So no (G)UI whatsoever. Of course, one could build another Arduino sketch which has a display, buttons etc. This sketch would then talk to the GRBL Arduino trough their serial interfaces.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 15, 2017, 16:22:31 pm: Hi Karst,

Excellent idea, very radical!
Please see here: http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3675.msg31647#msg31647

Armando
Title: [UPDATE] GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 15, 2017, 21:47:41 pm: Hi All,

I posted a new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

-- The VisualStyles option is now configurable by an advanced property in (General) and is by default turned off on Linux and XP.

-- The complete UI is ( should be :P ) fully functional now
-- Most work was done on the Display Expander. There are a lot of tooltips and context menu's now

Next job is to make the GCODE-streamer, so that we can also really machine some stuff ;)

@Armando

Thnx :) Yes, I've seen that one. Not bad at all on first sight. Although I would never program in VB ;) But it still is an external program... and as quoted here: "...We've got a lot of real programming 'gurus' here, but not everyone is even comfortable with downloading software, much less copying and renaming files by hand..." (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6368.msg50958#msg50958)

@David

To start from 'clean' on your XP box, please remove GRBLMachine.config from the %ProgData% directory ;)

@All

Happy trying out to you all ;D

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 16, 2017, 21:24:09 pm: Hi All,

I've seen 15 downloads so far :) 8) 8) great !

So then for all of you downloaders ( and of course others ;) ) .....

Version 0.9.2 is there !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

The GCODE streamer is in ! ( and working ) As far as I could test it with my little EleksMill, it seems to run quite nicely 8)

So if anyone has a machine with GRBL v1.1 sitting around and could do some tests on it... I would be really gratefull.
Using the 'default' postprocessor, I needed to filter out all officially documented unsupported GCODEs (https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/G-Code#G-code_Not_supported_by_Grbl) from the stream.
Further more, comments are also filtered out. This feature although is not yet 100% bulletproof --> ( comment ) comments are taken away, but also any following valid GCODE :(
Finally all white-space is removed from a code line, to maximize throughput and keep GRBL's path-planner busy.

Toolchange M6 is intercepted and skipped. Toolchange will be something I will very probably implement in GRBLMachine, since I gonna need it for PCB drilling... ;) ( any suggestions how to do it are welcome )

The GCODE sender is fully multi-threaded and runs completely in the background. While machining, CamBam can be fully used ! You might even open other files/projects. Until the job is finished, GRBLMachine latches the original file in memory.
Note that while the machine is NOT IDLE, some of the UI options are disabled ( since e.g. $ codes are not permitted on a rinnung machine ).
The Commandline however stays open... commands entered and sent from there will be inserted in the currently executing job !!!

Well, that's it for now, here is a little movie:
https://www.youtube.com/v/AlxNpKsV2qI
https://youtu.be/AlxNpKsV2qI

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 16, 2017, 22:12:32 pm: Karst,
We VERY much appreciate your contributions. It is amazing that you've delved so-deeply into the inner-workings of CB.

IF it does not conflict with your professional relationships, it is usual (but not demanded) that you eventually also publish your source-code. That, because so many folks can learn from it.

We're a 'close' community here, and anything anyone ever has written has become the basis for other, more imaginative creations. Heck! I'm an electronics tech, not a 'programmer', per se (although I must do it to make my projects work)... and even I have written a handful of useful - if primitive - additions to CB.

We are both amazed by your first contribution here, and (for me) humbled. PLEASE consider what I've said as only constructive, and not any sort of demand.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 16, 2017, 22:20:44 pm: Hi LLoyd,

Will do :) No problem nor offence at all ;) But first need some feedback from here... with 'buggy' source-code nobody is helped ;)

Question: Would it be appreciated if I would put a 'Donate' button on my 'About-Expander' ? :P

And yeah... delving into 'foreign' software is kinda my job ::) But I really have to make compliments to the creators of CamBam. Although scarcely documented (API), all the names and classes speak for them selves ;) It was not hard to find out where and how to intercept and install stuff ;) Very cool indeed !!

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 16, 2017, 22:35:40 pm: <Big Smile>!

I agree, buggy software will only serve to confuse future perusers of the code!

Give kudos to Andy for his marvelous work on this project.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: gerritv on March 16, 2017, 23:31:05 pm: Very slick integration into CamBam.

To save you some effort, there is not supposed to be any gcode after a comment. Grbl happily discards it anyway but removing them in the GUI will of course save transmission time.

Also I would think it best to not allow MDI/gcode entry while the job is running. I can't imagine how that would be predictable as to where the line comes into the stream. Most or all of the GUI's block direct input when running a file.

Gerrit
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 17, 2017, 11:27:33 am: Hello

Yes, as say Lloyd, very amazing job :o

Quote
So if anyone has a machine with GRBL v1.1 sitting around and could do some tests on it... I would be really gratefull.

My CNc don't work with GRBL, but I wonder if, maybe, my 3D printer can be used to test ? (Melzi Ardentissimo motherboard)

I'm not sure to understand the workflow :-[ ; It's the plugin that do the Gcode ? or the workflow is the same than with other machine, so we must do the Gcode as usual with a GRBL post pro then run it with your plugin ?

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on March 17, 2017, 11:54:12 am: At least one person here uses GRBL. I remember someone asked about a GRLB post in the PP section.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 17, 2017, 12:09:19 pm: onekk (carlo) have a GRBL machine

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 17, 2017, 12:09:51 pm: Hi,

Thnx for the credits ;)

You can try to connect to any device. Before connecting, open the console. If the device is GRBL driven, it will display a welcome message in the Console Window. GRBLMachine scans for that and will recognize that message and then start operating.

Workflow:

-Create/import a drawing,
-Add MOPs
-Generate Toolpath
-Generate GCODE

uptil here, just normal CamBam workflow. ;)

The last item (Generate GCODE) is monitored by GRBLMachine and will show the just generated file in it's Production-Expander.

then cont'd worflow:

- Select Machine Tab,
(optional)
- Open Jogging-Expander
- Setup Machine origin
(/optional)
- Open Production-Expander
- Press the Play button
- Wait until ready / Do something else with CamBam 8) ( exept closing it ;) )

... that's all ;)

In the meanwhile you can enjoy looking at the Display-Expander and/or the Console-Expander where all kind of info is displayed.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 17, 2017, 12:15:22 pm: Quote from: dh42
... my 3D printer can be used to test ? (Melzi Ardentissimo motherboard)

AFAICS that board runs Marlin, not GRBL.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 17, 2017, 12:29:51 pm: Quote from: karst.drenth on March 17, 2017, 12:15:22 pm
Quote from: dh42
... my 3D printer can be used to test ? (Melzi Ardentissimo motherboard)

AFAICS that board runs Marlin, not GRBL.

Grtzz,

Karst

Ah OK, so I can't test ..

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 17, 2017, 12:50:27 pm: I'm tempted to buy something GRBL-driven, just to test this module. IIRC, I think SparkFun has some little GRBL robotics devices.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 17, 2017, 13:13:50 pm: Quote from: dh42
Ah OK, so I can't test ..

Quote from: lloydsp
I'm tempted to buy something GRBL-driven, just to test this module. IIRC, I think SparkFun has some little GRBL robotics devices.

@both

Simplest thing is to hook-up an Arduino-Nano ( clones are available for a couple of bucks from Banggood (http://www.banggood.com/ATmega328P-Nano-V3-Controller-Board-Compatible-Arduino-p-940937.html?rmmds=search)) and load it with GRBL v1.1 (https://github.com/gnea/grbl/releases)

That will let you test the majority of the functionality. All normal stuff works, except Hard- and Soft Limits wich depend on Limit Switches as does the Homing-cycle. Of course you won't see anything moving ;)

Grtzz,

Karst

P.S. for a bit more, you can have a complete CNC board with Stepper drivers etc. (http://www.banggood.com/CNC-Shield-V4-Expansion-Board-With-Nano-A4988-For-Arduino-3D-Printer-p-970335.html?rmmds=search)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 17, 2017, 14:47:19 pm: Bingo, Karst. If I purchase the steppers, too, I'll have the beginnings of a small desktop multi-axis machine of my choice!

Thanks again.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 17, 2017, 21:12:32 pm: Hi Lloyd,

take care with the one I mention in the link. It seems to be not 100% compatible with GRBL. It's only possible when you hack the GRBL distribution. ( which is not rocket science ;) )

On the same site ( Banggood ) there are more which are really 100% compatible. And... include a power PWM for the spindle speed. ( or laser intensity )

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: onekk on March 18, 2017, 08:22:22 am: Very nice addition, I want to see the code as your integration is great, many of the plugins writers I suppose will want to take inspirations of your code.

I use GRBL 0.9, but I'm running it on a Stand alone machine equipped with and SOM running debian for arm so no luck on running cambam on it (few horsepower and i doubt Mono don't work on Arm).

But indeed the concept is very interesting, with an "old" laptop and a GRBL you can run a semi professional machine with cambam that control the cnc directly, very promising approach.

About the "buggy" code, it's better to have a buggy source code than nothing, expecially when the API is not well documented.

CamBam is a great piece of code even if it is not developed by a great company (I think the company is composed only by Andy), but has the great advantage to bring a decent CAM software that work both on Windows and Linux (I think the it is the only "serious" Linux CAM software available).

Regards
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 18, 2017, 13:13:36 pm: @Carlo (onekk)

Very nice addition, I want to see the code as your integration is great, many of the plugins writers
I suppose will want to take inspirations of your code.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1 ;)

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 19, 2017, 17:05:08 pm: Hi All,

I've seen 13 downloads of v0.9.2 so far :) 8) 8) great !

So then for all of you downloaders ( and of course others ;) ) .....

Version 0.9.3 is there !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Next to some enhancement/fixes in the main part of the plugin, I added ( I think :P ) an awesome cool feature...

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/screenshot-2.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/screenshot-2.png)
(click for the full picture)

The plugin can now, in realtime, track the movement of the machine's tool in the CAD-View :) 8)
In addition it is able to show the machine's bounding-box ( that is Maximum Axis Travels ).

Of course you can enable/disable all these features from the property inspector ;) (Tip: Press the 'Advanced' button and walk through them ... )

I use this feature with the steppers off, but the Arduino powered to check my GCODE.

Workflow:

- Load a drawing,
- Switch to ISO view-mode
- Press ^T ( Generate and display Toolpaths )
- Press ^W ( Generate GCODE )
- Turn on 'Track Machine Tool in Drawing' in GRBLMachine
- Turn on 'Draw Machine Bounds in Drawing' in GRBLMachine
- Jog to your origin with GRBLMAchine
- Set your 0,0,0 point
- press 'Play' in the production-Expander

Known Issue: The bounding-box is still always in Millimeters ( GRBL defines them that way ;) ) so when you have a drawing in Inches, your displayed bounding box will be off by a factor of 25.4 too large ;)

Suspected Issue: With Homing Cycle enabled, it might be that the boundingbox is not in the correct position. As soon as I have my limit switches installed, I will know ;)

Well, that's it for now, here is a little movie how it shows up:
https://www.youtube.com/v/jYw22HQvBY8
https://youtu.be/jYw22HQvBY8

@David

Thnx for putting it on the Plug-in site ! 8)

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 19, 2017, 18:37:22 pm: Whooo :o

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: EddyCurrent on March 19, 2017, 20:22:07 pm: Though the control and interface is very good, I'm not a fan of the integration into CamBam and agree with jk's comments on that subject.
This simulation part though is very impressive and I like it a lot, but GRBL is not something I'll be using.
With the arduino and simulation it could be adapted to work as a mini SCADA system.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: tau on March 19, 2017, 20:51:52 pm: Hallo Karst(en)?!

auch wenn ich nichts mit GRBL anfangen kann...

Die Integration deines PlugIns in CamBam ist eindrucksvoll! ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Bubba on March 19, 2017, 21:38:30 pm: Though the control and interface is very good, I'm not a fan of the integration into CamBam and agree with jk's comments on that subject.
**********************
+1 ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on March 19, 2017, 21:43:38 pm: Without doubt the most sophisticated plugin I've seen. mmm..... you seem to have "raised the bar" quite a bit.
Kudos to you. :)
Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 19, 2017, 22:47:19 pm: Hi All,

Thnx for all the Kudos :)

@Eddy & Bubba

I already agreed upon JK's remark. That is I think he only meant the VisualStyles ;)

I myself like to work from integrated environments. By now, CamBam is for milling what my LaserCutter software is for lasering :) So I am happy ;D

But soon I'll release the source-code, so whomever may want to use, parts of it, for his own plugin(s) is welcome.

@tau

Ja, es ist Karst. Danke fuer das Kompliment 8)

@dave

That was not intentional, but I hope I gave some idea's to other Pluginners ;)

@david

I guess you liked it ? :)

Grtzz,

Karst

P.S. In 0.9.3 long diagonal tool moves are still a bit jerky, I already solved that. Comes with 0.9.4 :P
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 19, 2017, 23:34:41 pm: "I myself like to work from integrated environments. By now, CamBam if foor miling what my LaserCutter software is for lasering Smiley So I am happy Grin

But soon I'll release the source-code, so whomever may want to use, parts of it, for his own plugin(s) is welcome."
---------------------

For me, the mere idea that one CAN 'integrate' into CB is a revealing thing, and although I could not say whether I prefer it or not, I am certain that your code will be a wonderful addition to our art.

Thanks for your work!

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 20, 2017, 13:02:53 pm: Hello

Quote
@david
I guess you liked it ?

Yes, I can't use it ... but I like ;D

very nice job !

Quote
With the arduino and simulation it could be adapted to work as a mini SCADA system.

some time ago, Andy say me that He was able to run CB (linux version) on a rasberry Pi

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 20, 2017, 15:12:22 pm: Hi All,

As promised,

Version 0.9.4 is there, now including sources !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Only one small fix: Smoother movement of the tool in case of non-quadrature moves...

And of course the complete sources, project and solution files. Just unpack into an empty directory.
Note that the project was made with Visual Studio 2015. So you might need to upgrade your environment to be able to open and build the solution.

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst

Note: Probably due to my code re-organization, GRBLMachinePage cannot be opened anymore in the designer... it let's VS crash :'(
I am looking into it ;)

It's fixed now, uploaded a new zip ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: tau on March 20, 2017, 17:32:56 pm: Karst,

thanks for publishing the sources as well!

I think this will be of great value to all 'Pseudo'-Programmers like myself! :D

Cheers, Tunc
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 20, 2017, 18:25:57 pm: Karst,
I've downloaded your code, and in the next few days I'll begin to explore it.

Again, I think what you've done is amazing. We, as a group, will get great benefit from some features you've uncovered that (I think) no one -except maybe Andy- actually knew existed!

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on March 20, 2017, 20:37:05 pm: Karst,

Thank you so much for your efforts and contribution to the CamBam 'family'. Your plugin will allow me to test GRBL along side my Mach3/HobbyCNC setup using the same base program. While my Mach3 setup was/is working ok, I am venturing into the Marlin/GRBL/Smoothie world and this will definitely help.

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 21, 2017, 01:32:39 am: Hi Karst,

I've downloaded your source code, and compiled in my Visual Studio 2013
I added a few things, that was missing!

I have two 3D printer, I will install: CNC Shield + Arduino Uno + https://github.com/grbl/grbl

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 21, 2017, 06:46:33 am: Hi Armando,

COOL ! ;D 8)

I am curious what was missing... ;)

But better take GRBL frome here: https://github.com/gnea/grbl/releases ( that's v1.1f )

Grtzz and have fun with it,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 21, 2017, 15:35:26 pm: Karst,

Maybe it's my compiler that does not recognize the "using static GRBLMachine.GRBLMachinePlugin".

For example the "ConnectionExpander.cs" file, I had to manually put the class "GRBLMachinePlugin"
that was missing.

See image above. 8)

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 21, 2017, 19:24:08 pm: Hi All,

And still going strong,

Version 0.9.5 is there, as usual also including sources !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Fixes this time:

- Re-did the sources to remove "using static". Pre 2015 Visual Studio's compilers do not understand that...
- Animation is again smoother than before. It proved that the Windows timer is not always
ticking at the same rate ( +15, - 0 ms :o ) so compensation is built in for that
- When the tool does not move, refreshrate is 10 times slower than while moving. Saves precious CPU cycles
- When switching away from the 'Machine' tab, the tool tracking is hidden ( so one can work on the drawing )
- Since I started testing and using plain, elsewhere generated GCODE files ( Eagle in this case )
I saw that these imports do not contain any elements, only toolpaths. The plugin however is
tracing them perfectly, there is no problem. And I can use them. However CamBam also does
not fill it's 'Outfile'. GRBLMachine is adapted to now see also the GCODE file that was imported.
Maybe some might consider it as 'CamBam-mis-use' but it's very handy for me. Working in this
mode CamBam is for me THE GCODE Sender DeLuxe :) :P 8)
- As while tracking the machine, it is very nice to see the drawing in 3D, now when pressing
the 'Play' button, the View is set to 3D and 'Zoomed to Fit'
- But... 'Zoom To Fit' does not take toolpaths into account... So, I wrote an extension
called 'GetScreenExtentsEx', which in addition to the standard call also measures toolpaths
when present. 'ZoomToFitEx' is the logical consequence... this has also been written ;)
- Some namespaces have been renamed, so that they may also be used by other pluginners ;)

@Armando

I hope your problem is solved by the changes in this release.

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on March 21, 2017, 22:18:12 pm: You know Karst if you don't stop showing off we are going to have to throw some really tough coding tasks your way! But please finish what you've started first.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 21, 2017, 22:29:19 pm: Hi Gary,

Willing to do so ;) :P

Albeit that I prefer some UI stuff ;) Doing all those Matrix Math is not really my kinda thing... ( allthough I manage, the knowledge about it is/was burried 35 years in the back of my memory ;) )

But indeed, first finish this project, the Tool Change is on schedule right now ;) Basically it's already working, just have to do some GCODE parsing to give the user a clue about the tool CamBam wants him to put ;)

Once again I must give many, many Kudos to Andy !! It's a breeze to program to the CamBam-API !! 8) 8)

Grtzz,

Karst

[edit]

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/screenshot-3.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/screenshot-3.png)
(click for the full picture)

That's the message right now... note the tool moved to the tool change position ( lower left in the propinspector )

[/edit]
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 23, 2017, 23:33:14 pm: Hi All,

Just to show ( off :P ) my proceedings on the toolchanger :)

https://www.youtube.com/v/iBq3JN3S3mY
https://youtu.be/iBq3JN3S3mY

As you can see in the video, there are quite some new features in this version.
Figuring out how the ToolDefinitions, MOPs, Parts and Machining options work, was quite a job ;)
But.... I managed.

V0.9.6 will come with it's own Post Processor, which will be automatically installed by GRBLMachine ( and eventually updated when a new version is there ) This processor generates some special comment for the tool changes which can be picked up by GRBLMachine. There is also an option to ignore any tool changes or to pass them just on to Grbl.

For the rest there has been some smoothing on the UX part (a.o. enabling disabling buttons in the right moment, error and alarm messages in the display Expander)
Code-wise the number of CamBam-Extension have grown considerably ;)

I'll post the update soon, including source.

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 23, 2017, 23:48:18 pm: Karst,

You may just go ahead and "show off" all you want! Your contributions are much more than just 'appreciated', they're very valuable to our collective efforts.

Thanks!
Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 24, 2017, 01:07:08 am: I installed GRBL https://github.com/gnea/grbl/releases ( that's v1.1f ) on Arduino Uno already tested.

Hope the next version works!

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 24, 2017, 05:52:54 am: Hi All,

@Lloyd

Thanks ! :)

@Armando

Does v1.1f not work ? I have it here on a Nano, works like a charm :-\

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 24, 2017, 07:37:48 am: Hi All,

Looks like we are changing tools now,

Version 0.9.6 is there, as usual also including sources !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Mods: see above (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg52005#msg52005) + parsing of grbl-data is now done with en_US culture, might solve problems if you don't have your PC set to see '.' as decimal point.

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: michel on March 24, 2017, 22:53:02 pm: Hi Karst,

I tied the plugin but was not useable for me and i removed the dll file from the pluginfolder. I have since that plugin now an error message in cb when I use the zoom to drawing button ??

how can this be fixed ?

regrads
Michel
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 24, 2017, 23:09:04 pm: Hi,

It seems you have V1.0 running ?

And have the Zoom To Drawing plug in for v0.9.8

In v0.9.8 LineColor is a field, in 1.0 LineColor is a property.

To me it seems that it has nothing to do withyou removing the GRLBMachine dll

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: llamatrails on March 24, 2017, 23:38:58 pm: First off, thanks for this fantastic plugin!

Not to be picky, but I just loaded the version 0.9.6 and can't find the grbl Machine tab 'About' dropdown anymore. Is there another way to verify the installed version of the plugin?

TIA,
Rick

CamBam plus [1.0] Rel 12 on Windoze 10
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 24, 2017, 23:47:32 pm: Hi,

Maybe it's hidden under the PropertyEditor ? ( close some of the other dropdowns )

But I just saw that the interal version number has not been bumped... :'( Even if you see it, it will show 0.9.5

When however you right-click the GRBLMachine.dll in your plugins folder, you'll see 'FileVersion' under 'Details', there it says 0.9.6.0 ;)

Oh... by the way.. If you have the Tool Change button in the Production Tab, you have 0.9.6 ;)

Grtzz & thnx for the feedback !

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: llamatrails on March 25, 2017, 00:46:38 am: Yep, there it is, buried under the Property Editor. Agghhh, hate when that happens ...

Rick
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 25, 2017, 10:37:04 am: ;D

btw, there should have been a scrollbar on the right of the 'grb Machine' Tab... :-\

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on March 25, 2017, 18:45:33 pm: Michel

Yes, you could do that, or you could use the CAMotics plug in to feed your gcode (and tools) directly to the CAMotics simulator. Works great. There is also an interface to Cutviewer (another CNC simulator) in CamBam.

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 25, 2017, 19:22:54 pm: just buy yourself a Arduino Nano clone from Banggood, load it with GRBL v1.1f and plug it in.

see a post from BR52 some pages back in this topic.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 26, 2017, 14:40:36 pm: Hi All,

Getting to finalize the product... :) ( no more feature wishes left on my list ;) )

Version 0.9.7 is there, as usual also including sources !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Mods:

All the mods involve the visuals of the tool. For that I wrote a couple of new CamBam Extensions as well as some 'Surface' derived primitives like Cylinder, Rod, Disc and Sphere. I needed them all to construct the tool visuals, but I guess they might also be usefull for some 3D-CAD stuff... So anybody ever wanted to add a 3D SPhere, Cylinder, Rod, Cone or Disc to a drawing ?? ( I could make a separate Plugin, which would allow them to put in the drawing ;) ) In addition to all that I needed an Extrude function where 'taper' is working. So I also wrote that in a CamBam Extension.

Some pics of the various tools:

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/Endmill.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/Endmill.png)
(click for the full picture)

The Endmill. Note the Cone between Shank and Flute ;)

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/BallNosemill.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/BallNosemill.png)
(click for the full picture)

The BullNose mill. Note the ball ... :P

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/vcutter.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/vcutter.png)
(click for the full picture)

A V-Cutter. Note the ring around the cone...

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/drill.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/drill.png)
(click for the full picture)

And a drill...

Then some Lasers...

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/laser-off.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/laser-off.png)
(click for the full picture)

GRBL has a special Laser Mode with which it can control Laser Intensity. Here the intensity (settable) for 'off'

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/laser-on.png) (http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/laser-on.png)
(click for the full picture)

... and here it's full on 8)

GRBLMachine recognizes wat GRBL is doing to the laser and shows it in the tool.

So... have fun with the plugin and/or the sources !

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst

P.S. Did anybody ever find the 'Subtract' function for Surfaces ? The 'Join' exists and I used it extensively ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on March 26, 2017, 15:08:58 pm: Hello,

Amazing job as usual :o

Quote
P.S. Did anybody ever find the 'Subtract' function for Surfaces ? The 'Join' exists and I used it extensively

I do not think there are any subtract function for Surfaces. Only join and explode works on surfaces.

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on March 26, 2017, 15:18:37 pm: DAMN, Karst! That's absolutely amazing!

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on March 26, 2017, 15:56:18 pm: Karst,
For those that don't have 3d cad what you have done would be huge. Three things missing that I see. Extrude Polygon, especially with taper. Revolve to create a round shape from a polygon. Difference so you can subtract the solid from another solid to create a cavity.

Nice job!
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Bubba on March 26, 2017, 17:30:28 pm: Karst,
Even tho I don't care about the CB merger to CnC Controll I must say, this is impressive piece of work. 8)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 27, 2017, 14:29:23 pm: Hi,

Quote from: Garyhlucas
Karst,
For those that don't have 3d cad what you have done would be huge. Three things missing that I see. Extrude Polygon, especially with taper. Revolve to create a round shape from a polygon. Difference so you can subtract the solid from another solid to create a cavity.

See the pictures below for what I meant :) And yes, revolve would be n.t.h., but subtract and union is a must !

For the pictures:

- the first one shows 4 'Shapes' constructed from code. Of course it should come with an UI to create the shape
- the second one is how the resulting .cb looks like.

Code: [Select]
public class Shape : Surface { public static void AddExtraTypes() { CADFile.ExtraTypes.Add(typeof(Cylinder)); CADFile.ExtraTypes.Add(typeof(Rod)); CADFile.ExtraTypes.Add(typeof(Disc)); CADFile.ExtraTypes.Add(typeof(Sphere)); } [XmlAttribute(AttributeName = "type", Namespace = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance")] public virtual string TypeName { get { return GetType().Name; } set { } } } [Serializable] [XmlRoot("cylinder")] public class Cylinder : Shape { ... ... ... }
... and this is the way it is done in the shape's code. Needed only some XML annotation and CamBam did the rest ;) :P

Cool thing of course is, that CB can also read-back it's own file ;)

Another approach could be:

Code: [Select]
[Serializable] [XmlRoot("surface")] public class Cylinder : Surface { ... ... ... }
... which will return all shapes as surfaces upon reading the .cb file.

For me the first approach would be the preferent one. The Shape class could then carry more of it's own attributes

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 28, 2017, 18:19:40 pm: Hello

Arduino UNO or Arduino NANO are similar, works well with GRBL with other applications.
It does not work with GRBLMachinePlugin, see the two screenshot below.

Please, for the person who worked, manifest here!

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 28, 2017, 18:31:29 pm: hi Armando,

it looks like you do not have Grbl v 1.1f on the Arduino. GRBLMachine does not work with Grbl versions below 1.1

please right-click on the console and select 'Verbose' to see more detail.

grtzz,

karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 28, 2017, 19:41:34 pm: Hi Karst,

I selected 'verbose' on the console.
Okay, except the g-code run very fast on the console and did not move tool on the Cambam screen.

Does not work! :'(

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 28, 2017, 20:36:24 pm: Armando,

Quote from: karst.drenth
... it looks like you do not have Grbl v 1.1f on the Arduino. GRBLMachine does not work with Grbl versions below 1.1...

To verify this,

- Start CamBam with GRBLMachine enabled
- Close 'Production'
- Close 'Jogging'
- Open 'Console'
- Open Connection
- Connect
- Scroll console up to the beginning
- Please post a picture of what you see.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: gerritv on March 28, 2017, 20:58:04 pm: The current version of GrblPanel shows the Grbl version in Settings page. Also if running Grbl 1.x then the Overrides controls show on right hand size of display, since those are not showing dh52 is Grbl 0.9x

Gerrit
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on March 28, 2017, 23:21:38 pm: Karst,

Sorry the error was mine, I changed the folders by mistake, I had the old one.
I confirmed the version with GeblPanel, thank you very much Gerrit.

Works perfectly, Karst you are a very valuable jewel.

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 29, 2017, 06:04:31 am: Hi Armando,

Good to see it works there for you.

But I still see some exceptions... and... no Speed and Feed readout.

I will check if it's possible to make GRBLMachine (partially) compatible with lower versions of Grbl.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 29, 2017, 11:04:54 am: Hi All & Armando,

Good news !

I just completed making GRBLMachine compatible with versions from 0.8a upwards :D

Version 0.8x and 0.9x have limited functionality, since they do not send speed and feed data. This makes the animation a bit more jerky/shaky. For full functionality it is still advised to have Grbl 1.1f on your machine.

I will post the update later on this day.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on March 30, 2017, 21:23:56 pm: Hi All,

Well, AFAIC it's done :P ...

Version 1.0.0 is there, as usual also including sources !

I posted this new version at the bottom of this post: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6482.msg51798#msg51798)

Mods:

- Solids have been separated from GRBLMachine
- CamBam.CAD.Solids.dll MUST also be installed in 'plugins' ( since GRBLMachine uses it ! )
- GRBLMachine has been made 'tolerant' for Grbl versions from 0.8c ( reduced functionality )

Note: CamBam.CAD.Solids.dll installs the Solids plugin, you can switch off the menu's to create the solids by simply disabling them from the 'Plugins' Menu ;)

So... have fun with the plugin and/or the sources !

Grtzz and please keep me informed about what you think of GRBLMachine,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: BR52 on April 01, 2017, 01:51:02 am: Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to inform you that GRBLMachinePlugin works perfectly.
I did several tests gave OK.

Many thanks Karst.
Muito obrigado Karst. <-- Brazil

Armando
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on April 01, 2017, 08:01:54 am: I've been following the thread with my mouth open, figuratively speaking :) Amazing what a man who's deep into the internals of programming can do in short time.
Time to give a try to the solids since I don't have GRBL control.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: sraney on April 03, 2017, 15:40:41 pm: Amazing work and I was surprised it just worked once I dropped the files in the plugin folder. No magic needed. I've been using CamBam for my ShapeOko for ages and I was glad to see I can get even more use out of it.

I was hoping I could scrape a bit of information from you about the EleksMill, would you be so kind to export your EleksMill machine definitions for it? XML or text would be great.

Also, the VBits they include, are they 45 or 60 deg?
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on April 04, 2017, 06:23:23 am: Hi,

Thnx for the compliment ! 8)

Well, in the meanwhile I 'extended' my EleksMill a little bit ...

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4296.JPG)

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4297.JPG)

... I replaced the complete Y-axis with 400mm long parts from AliExpress. Rendering a lot more travel in that direction.
However rigidity suffered from that and therefore the milling capabilities degraded even further. I also tried the laser.

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4300.JPG)

... that one is really nice, used it to cut sticky foil. Somewhere this or next week I'll post that work in 'Member Projects' ;)

But... a 3040Z-DQ is on it's way into my workshop. ETA tomorrow afternoon ;D ;D Then I can do some real milling. But not before I have made a GRBL-to-Parallelport converter ( No parallel port present on my laptop...) In that way I can continue using CamBam + GRBLMachine instead of Mach-3 :P :P

Anyway,

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/IMG_4298.JPG)

... the V-Bit are about 20 degrees and merely engraving bits.

My Eleksmill settings:

(http://www.sleutelspoor.nl/img/CamBam/EleksMill-Settings.png)

... aside from the Axis parameters and dome direction bits, it is still default as Grbl v1.1 comes out of the box.

In text:

Code: [Select]
**** Connected to COM170 @ 115200 baud **** Grbl 1.1e ['$' for help] >G21F100:ok >>> $$ $0=10 $1=25 $2=0 $3=6 $4=0 $5=0 $6=0 $10=1 $11=0.010 $12=0.002 $13=0 $20=0 $21=0 $22=0 $23=0 $24=25.000 $25=500.000 $26=250 $27=1.000 $30=1000 $31=70 $32=0 $100=400.000 $101=400.000 $102=400.000 $110=3000.000 $111=5000.000 $112=4000.000 $120=100.000 $121=100.000 $122=200.000 $130=132.000 $131=93.000 $132=35.000 ok
Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 04, 2017, 22:42:26 pm: Well, I have run into a couple problems. The first may be plugin related, the second is probably my fault not understanding how GRBL works.

#1 is a problem that seems to be associated with the GRBL Machine Control and GCODE Plugin. This problem occurs with version 9.6 and V1.0 of the plug in. And this occurs with both latest releases of CamBam 9.8P and Version 1.0. As soon as I install the plugin from either version of the GRBL plugin I start getting a WMI Provider Host task running (shows in Task Manager). And it uses 30-40% of the cpu until I shut down CamBam. I can remove the plug in and the issue goes away. PC gets very sluggish with the WMI Provider Host task running. Any ideas?

#2 Have been trying to get the GRBL Machine Control to work with an Arduino board (no CNC shield attached) just to see if I can get it to recognize the Arduino board, send gcode and display machine movement. No luck yet. It recognizes the Com port and seems to get ready to send the gcode but nothing happens after that.

Thanks
Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on April 05, 2017, 05:48:42 am: Hi Don,

Although not obvious, both problems might be related...

GRBLMachine opens two WMI queries to get notified of USB insertion and removal. That's functionality to detect an eventually plugged in Arduino while GRBLMachine already running to update the 'COMPort' combobox. It could be that there is a driver issue with the Arduino, since it apparently won't send data.

1) Please take a look in the console to see whether there are any exception messages.
2) Which version of Grbl do you have loaded into your Arduino ?
3) What Baudrate do you use in GRBLMachine ? ( 9600 for 0.8/0.9 and 115200 for 1.1 )
4) Which version of Windows are you running ?

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 05, 2017, 17:41:33 pm: Karst

Thank you for the quick response. I am running Windows 10 and thought I had uploaded the latest GRBL however I am not sure that was successful. To verify communications was working, I uploaded my latest Marlin firmware for my 3D printer to the Arduino board and it is working fine. I can communicate with the board fine.

Will go back to square 1 for the GRBL upload and make sure that is correct before attempting CamBam again.

Once again, thanks for your help. And thank you for the work you have put in on this plugin for CamBam. If I can get it to work, I may abandon Mach3. Mach3 has worked well for me but hardware/software technology has moved away from the serial port and dedicated (real time) information being sent from the 'PC'.

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on April 05, 2017, 18:13:52 pm: Hi Don,

Quote from: atwooddon
...Once again, thanks for your help. And thank you for the work you have put in on this plugin for CamBam...

... you're more than welcome ;)

Quote from: atwooddon
...If I can get it to work, I may abandon Mach3. Mach3 has worked well for me but hardware/software technology has moved away from the serial port and dedicated (real time) information being sent from the 'PC'...

... that might be a (very) wise thing to do... I will be shortly facing the same 'problem' as soon as my new 3040Z-DQ arrives... It comes from China with merely a parallel port (and a 'copy' of Mach3). First thing to do is build a Grbl Arduino into the controlbox. So stay tuned, there will also be some hardware stuff here to convert a Mach3 machine to Grbl :P And... I am planning full support for tool-length probing, including Auto-Levelling. Of course with the help of CamBam to include the auto-levelling info into the GCODE ... 8)

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Bubba on April 05, 2017, 20:06:23 pm: I may abandon Mach3. Mach3 has worked well for me but hardware/software technology has moved away from the serial port and dedicated (real time) information being sent from the 'PC'.
*******************
You are right Don.

Except, since changing from paralel/serial port to ESS (ethernet smooth stepper) Mach3 still rock. For me at least. ;D
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on April 05, 2017, 21:48:16 pm: Yep, although old Mach3 is still superior in functionality. I've been thinking why for all those years no one produced a PCI I/O card suitable for Mach3. Instead of going the more complicated way of coding and driving data through a serial connection and decoding it again.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 06, 2017, 19:52:38 pm: After several days of testing various combinations of firmware, it seems my Aurduino Mega2560 board(s) may not be compatible with GRBL. They work fine with Marlin and basic Arduino Sketches but do not respond to any GRBL based firmware loads. I can load Marlin and then use Gcode Sender and when opened the Marlin firmware responds with the typical response messages but with GRBL loaded no responses. So, it appears my problem is not with CamBam or the GRBL plugin. I used multiple versions of GRBL so my troubleshooting efforts have been fruitless so far. Others have said the Mega2560 should work fine with GRBL/RAMPS but for me, no luck. Arduino boards are cheap so another board may be in my future.

Thanks for everyone's help

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on April 06, 2017, 20:44:32 pm: Hi Don,

There is a special Grbl version for the 2560....

Find it here: https://github.com/gnea/grbl-Mega
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: gerritv on April 06, 2017, 20:45:54 pm: It is not clear which 'grbl' image you are installing. If it is not from here, then it won't work at all: https://github.com/gnea/grbl-Mega .

Gerrit
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 06, 2017, 21:09:00 pm: gerritv

That is one that I tried along with about 3 others.

thanks
Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: gerritv on April 06, 2017, 21:20:51 pm: mmnn, then I would ask questions on that GitHub. I don't have an ATMega so not much further use to you :-)

Did you try using just a terminal program such as putty? I had to add a start up delay to GrblPanel for ATmege2560 as its initialization takes longer than the other chips.

Gerrit
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 06, 2017, 21:45:25 pm: I tested using the basic Gcode Sender and the terminal program in Arduino INO but no change. It seems there is no response after initial power up. The board see data coming from the PC but never responds. Not the board, like I said the board communicates fine using Marlin firmware. Like I said, if I load Marlin frimware, when I use any type Gcode sender, on initial open of the board it responds with Marlin 'wake up' response. You may be right on start up delay. Haven't used it but will look at GRBL Panel to see if changing start up delay works. My problem does seem to fit that symptom.

thx
Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: sraney on April 07, 2017, 04:00:08 am: Thank you for the information, and I'm surpised to hear yours came with GRBL v1.1, mine had an 0.9x version on it that was quite buggy. I'll have to upgrade it to v1.1.

I was thinking of also expanding my mill, but I had concerns that lengthening might sag and cause drag on the screw.

Thank you again for the masterwork on the plugin. Now I just need stop playing around drawing squares and circles and do something real!

- SRANEY

Quote from: karst.drenth on April 04, 2017, 06:23:23 am
Hi,

Thnx for the compliment ! 8)

... aside from the Axis parameters and dome direction bits, it is still default as Grbl v1.1 comes out of the box.

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 10, 2017, 15:45:37 pm: Quick update.... I gave up on the Arduino Mega2560 board I have. I ordered an Arduino Uno with a GRBL shield, no sense wasting any more time trying to get the Mega to function. The Mega works fine with Marlin but my particular board does not want to cooperate with GRBL. Looking forward to testing with the Uno GRBL shield combo. All the problems I have experienced trying the Mega board have nothing to do with CamBam or the GRBL Machine Control and GCODE sender.

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on April 10, 2017, 22:53:40 pm: Hi All,

While setting up my 3040Z-DQ (http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6537.0) if discovered that the Z-axis resolution setting has a BUG in GRBLMachine... :-[

So shortly there will be an update ;)

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: atwooddon on April 12, 2017, 15:02:07 pm: Karst

Quick update Received the Uno/GRBL boards, loaded the GRBL hex file (version 1.1f) on the UNO and bingo everything seems to work as expected running a simple file. Have not attached the GRBL board nor any steppers yet.

Thanks again for your efforts

Don
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: MrJTJinx on May 28, 2017, 19:04:26 pm: Hi Guys
I'm having a problem with this GRBL Plugin
every time i open Cambam, it immediately shuts down again with this plugin in the plugin folder.
when i remove it Cambam opens OK again.
any help would be appreciated.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on May 28, 2017, 19:20:28 pm: Sir,
You need to inform us of which version of CB you're using, and which version (if more than one) of the GRBL plugin.

Thanks,
Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 29, 2017, 07:21:59 am: HI all
I had spare atmega 2560 so thought i would give the plugin a burl screen shots below.
this took a little bit of noodling as it wasn't as straight forward as i'd hoped , I did get a few warnings but you can ignore these.
Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: MrJTJinx on May 29, 2017, 11:02:18 am: Hi Lloyd,
My current set up is
Cambam version CamBamPlus-1.0-alpha12
OS Windows 7 32 Bit SP1
GRBL Version grbl_v1.1f.20170131
GRBL Plugin GRBLMachinePlugin-V1.0.0

I have no issues with CamBam.CAD.Solids.dll being in the plugin folder but when I copy GRBLMachinePlugin.dll into the folder cambam opens momentarily then crashes.

I clicked on the debug in the hope it would give you more information
I do not actually understand any of it, i'm just a clanky

It said something like
Code: [Select]
'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: DefaultDomain): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_32\mscorlib\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: DefaultDomain): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\CamBam.exe'. Module was built without symbols. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Windows.Forms\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Windows.Forms.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Drawing\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Drawing.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\CamBam.CAD.dll'. Module was built without symbols. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\CamBam.Geom.dll'. Module was built without symbols. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Xml\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Xml.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Configuration\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Configuration.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Core\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Core.dll'. Symbols loaded. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Design\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Design.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CADExtras.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CamBam.CAD.Solids.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CamBamLathe.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CamBamPlus_Toolkit.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CamBamPrintV3200.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CAMToolbarAddins.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\cb2cm.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\CutViewer.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\DigitizePlugin.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\ExcellonIO.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\GRBLMachinePlugin.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\HeightMapPlugin.dll'. Module was built without symbols. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\PluginManagerRegister.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\RadiusPlugin.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\Slotter.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\TapMate.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\trochomops.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\ViewToolbarAddins.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\plugins\Zoom.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Program Files\CamBam plus 1.0\OpenTK.dll'. Cannot find or open the PDB file. A first chance exception of type 'System.DllNotFoundException' occurred in OpenTK.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Accessibility\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\Accessibility.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_32\System.Web\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Web.dll'. Symbols loaded. The thread 0x1450 has exited with code 259 (0x103). 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_32\System.Data\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\System.Data.dll'. Symbols loaded. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Drawing.Design\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Drawing.Design.dll'. Symbols loaded. A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.NotSupportedException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'Microsoft.GeneratedCode'. 'CamBam.exe' (CLR v4.0.30319: CamBam.exe): Loaded 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Management\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\System.Management.dll'. Symbols loaded. A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in System.Management.dll The thread 0x148c has exited with code 259 (0x103). A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in System.Management.dll A first chance exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in CamBam.exe An unhandled exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' occurred in CamBam.exe Additional information: The executable program that this service is configured to run in does not implement the service. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007043B) The program '[4760] CamBam.exe' has exited with code 0 (0x0). The program '[4760] CamBam.exe: Program Trace' has exited with code 0 (0x0).
Hope this helps

Thanks
Jason
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 29, 2017, 11:08:36 am: HI Jason
upgrade your windows 7-32 to service pack 3 and all will be fine.
Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: MrJTJinx on May 29, 2017, 12:17:28 pm: Thanks Dave,
I realised it was a windows issue, iv'e just tried it on another machine which worked like a dream.
I was about to report back my progress, your suggestion beat me to it.
I will thank you in advance as i have every confidence it will work.
Cheers
Jason
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 30, 2017, 04:12:56 am: NO worries Jason, Until sp3 win7 wasn't so good with comms the clue was in this pic.
Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: sprocket on July 15, 2017, 01:41:02 am: Hi,
Awesome plugin!

Have found a small bug:
When you hover mouse over the Z+ job button the tip says "Step in X+ direction"

The problem is line 165 of JoggingExpander.Designer.cs:

this.TheToolTip.SetToolTip(this.Z_Plus, "Step in X+ direction");

Cheers,
Scott
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: llamatrails on July 29, 2017, 18:29:52 pm: CamBam plus [1.0] Rel 12 installed today on Ubuntu 17.04
mono-complete installed

1:46 rick ! > cambam.sh
[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
at CamBam.CamBamMain.Main () [0x0007f] in <612b7799b19b4659ac8a6192eb490ddb>:0

If I rename the GRBLMachinePlugin.dll to something else, CamBam starts up perfectly. CamBam.CAD.Solids.dll doesn't cause any problem.

I changed the cambam.sh to enable the mono debug, and get the same output as above.

Any ideas on how to further debug and fix this?

TIA,
Rick
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on July 30, 2017, 06:43:33 am: Hi Rick,

GRBLPlugin was not tested under Linux (Mono)... that's obvious ;) (at least I did not)

Most probably the WMI stuff used to do the USB-check (insertion and removal) is not implemented in Mono... and as far as I know also Serial Port enumeration isn't.

So, you might want to dig in the CommunicationPanel source to comment out the stuff related to that.

as-is, the supplied DLL won't work :'( You'll need the sources and re-compile them...

Grtzz,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: llamatrails on July 30, 2017, 14:33:18 pm: Thanks for the reply, I couldn't find anything that said anyone had even tried it. Figures I would ... ;D

Rick
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on August 01, 2017, 09:17:30 am: Ok ;)

With this statement:

if (Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.Unix)
{
... do something usefull
}

You can check the platform you're running on.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: jbellein on August 20, 2017, 09:30:28 am: Hello, I just bought cambam and plug in gbrl machine.

I have a problem, with the plugin GRBL machine regarding its setting. The image of the tool is offset from the CNC.

I think I understood that it is necessary to adjust the zero point of the cnc on the zero point of the drawing. But on grbl machine, the picture a little black what appears to correspond to coordinates is then also shifted.

Problem setup or procedure certainly, but I can not seem to understand.

But I am very happy with Cambam and in particular the plugin.

Thank you for your advice. I tell you, but you must have noticed, I do not speak English, only French, it's google who made the translation!

Thank you very much for your clarification
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: onekk on August 24, 2017, 10:46:54 am: I use CamBam and GRBL almost daily, but as my setup use a SOM computer (A little card with a version of debian linux for ARM) to control the GRBL card, i use a sender for GRBL.

1) use Cambam to generate the GCode file
2) transfer the Gcode file (.ngc) to the "sender" machine
3) cut the object.

as for 2) i have two option, use a usb stick or send it with WiFi to the machine itself that as a running ftp server on it.

All is Linux driven (Cambam on the PC and the sender on the SOM).

Plus on the SOM I have a little "python CNC" environment to make some simple (and not so simple) Gcode generation on the fly (I modified an old an unmantained "Python GCode generator" program)

As my two machines are Linux only I can't give a try to GRNL machine, but as in Mono there are some crashings due to the Mono implementation I think it is not a viable idea to control a CNC machine within CamBam on Linux.

Regards

Carlo D.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: FAXE on September 21, 2017, 09:46:14 am: Hi everybody!
i'm new to cambam, i've just finished my 40 trials and i've bought the license.
I haven't found this forum yet, so here's my question (a really noob question i suppose)
I've downloaded the last version 'cause i'm using a v 1.1 grbl, and i've extracted the files in the cambams plugin folder...but when i start cambam nothing changes, there's no new tab....what i'm doing wrong? ???

sorry for my english, i'm italian
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: EddyCurrent on September 21, 2017, 10:16:10 am: Maybe these will help ?

http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5986.msg50892#msg50892
http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6294.msg50090#msg50090
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: FAXE on September 21, 2017, 11:47:03 am: ok now...i'm a real noob ;D
i had not downloaded the .dll files
Title: Re : Début v1.1 Machine Control et GCODE expéditeur Plugin
Post by: rogerj on April 14, 2018, 20:50:36 pm: Bonjour
Je suis débutant dans l'utilisation d'une CNC
J'ai acheté depuis une semaine une Woodpecker 2418 GRBL (V 0.9j) et je commence à graver des étiquettes
J'ai acheté Cambam il y a 2 jours et je trouve ce logiciel très commode (surtout les traductions en français)
Je suis très satisfait de votre plugin GRBL
Ainsi avec CamBam je peux dessiner, écrire et graver la pièce donc tout faire mon travail avec un seul logiciel
Existe-t-il une version française de ce plugin ?
Je n'ai pas encore compris tous les réglages et celà serait plus facile pour moi en français
Avez vous écrit un mode d'emploi (anglais ou français) ?
Amitiés
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on April 14, 2018, 21:13:05 pm: Hello

Quote
Existe-t-il une version française de ce plugin ?

Non, je n'ai pas pu le traduire car les textes à traduire n'apparaissent dans le système de traduction que s'ils sont affichés au moins une fois à l'écran ... et comme je n'ai pas de machine GRBL, pour moi le plugin est "grisé" et inutilisable.

PS: Il vaut mieux poser tes questions en Anglais sur ce forum ;)

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on April 14, 2018, 21:20:24 pm: Amazing, David! And thank you. Few of us "Americans" speak more than one language (I have a 'bit' of skill in Vietnamese, but only a bit). We appreciate your bilingual abilities!

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Beermkr on December 17, 2018, 15:23:24 pm: I have this up and running. I like it a lot but noticed that if I create the drawing and then generate code the visulizer shows the drawing but not if I just open the gcode file directly. Any chance that there is a way generate the drawing when you run?
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: karst.drenth on December 17, 2018, 15:28:06 pm: Hi,

Yes, you can open the GCODE file from the CamBam File-Menu. (instead of directly in GRBL Machine)

CamBam will then display the drawing, and GRBL Machine will inherit the filename.

Greets,

Karst
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Beermkr on December 18, 2018, 18:08:18 pm: Brilliant! Loving this plugin. Finally an almost all in one software/hardware control package!
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Beermkr on December 27, 2018, 00:09:45 am: Okay,

When I run a job the machine goes to a spot and stops for a tool change. When I click "ok" it goes back to 0,0,0. Problem is that there is a piece of stock at that position now. Is this something that is hard-coded in the post processor? Is there a way to edit the post so it does not do that or even better have it home the machine (I use the far extents for homing and touch-off) so that would be perfect after a tool change.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on December 27, 2018, 00:26:33 am: Both 'home' and the tool-change position are programmable in the post. 'Simple changes, too!

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Beermkr on December 27, 2018, 20:38:55 pm: Quote from: lloydsp on December 27, 2018, 00:26:33 am
Both 'home' and the tool-change position are programmable in the post. 'Simple changes, too!

Lloyd

Simple you say! Can you point a brother at a starting point?
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: bartekdko on January 07, 2019, 21:07:00 pm: hi

i would like to add compensation G41 G42 then just change in code to G40 with G41/G42 toolpath.

unfortunatelly i have Grbl which doesnt support compensation.

do you know what command i have to add to "cutter comp right" , "cutter com left" to create proper code?

thank you
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on January 07, 2019, 21:47:47 pm: Beermkr (BTW a man after my own heart!),

Give me the link to the PP you're using, and I'll take a look at it. I'm too busy (or lazy) to search for it myself.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on January 07, 2019, 21:59:50 pm: Hello

GRBL do not handle cutter comp, so I assume it's not possible to do ?

https://github.com/gnea/grbl

I think that in this case, the only way is to use compensated toolpath done by CB.

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: bartekdko on January 07, 2019, 23:27:06 pm: Yep its a shame :]

anyway i can see that mach3 postrocessor use G40 for 3D profile so i have the same parameteres in grbl post.
same about poly , we can use offset so thats the good news :]

hope they will add g41,42 and g81-83 soon

thanks for reply
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on January 08, 2019, 19:04:10 pm: I don’t think G41, G42 will appear anytime soon. I used to program by hand and used G41, G42 in virtually every program. CNC hasn’t changed a lot in 40 years. The game changer is CAM that writes code 100 times faster than the best hand programmer in many cases. So I haven’t used G41,G42 since using CamBam. Its also strictly 2D so it is getting less and less important all the time.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on January 09, 2019, 00:30:58 am: Hello

Quote
So I haven’t used G41,G42 since using CamBam. Its also strictly 2D so it is getting less and less important all the time.

same for me ; I've CB installed on the PC that drive the machine so when I need to tweak a profile cut to a precise value, I use the "roughing clearance" and generate the GCode only for the concerned mop.

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: onekk on January 09, 2019, 11:03:11 am: I don't think that the G41 and G42 are added to GRBL, at least not for the 8bit machines, the code is complex and many calculations are involved, and the little 8bit processor is too slow for doing that.

For the future versions, maybe, but as the CAM software nowadays do the calculations for you it's not a "killer features".

I had a talk about it some time ago with chamnit (the GRBL main developer) and i think that the most wanted functions to be added to grbl are:

- Canned cycles
- Tool Change
- maybe hard buttons on the grbl "pcb" to do jogging but not with the Arduino Uno as the pin count is all used.

Regards

Carlo D.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on January 09, 2019, 18:59:04 pm: Yes, canned cycles would rank WAY higher than G41/42 in usefulness. Best canned cycle I have ever seen was on old Bandit controller. Crude control, no display screen just led digital readouts for numbers and lights indicating G, M, T and H as I recall.

The mill/bore cycle was killer. Started at center or a distance from center. and SPIRALED outward to the perimeter and then arced back to center. Constant tool load the whole time and you could even do under cuts or internal ring grooves because of the way it exits.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Beermkr on January 21, 2019, 20:52:55 pm: Quote from: lloydsp on January 07, 2019, 21:47:47 pm
Beermkr (BTW a man after my own heart!),

Give me the link to the PP you're using, and I'll take a look at it. I'm too busy (or lazy) to search for it myself.

Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: lloydsp on January 21, 2019, 22:09:05 pm: OK,
Obviously all the drill cycles in that particular PP are only 'full plunge' cycles.

Unless your machine supports some sort of 'canned cycle drilling', the only way to do it would be to write a post-build processor that created a drilling sequence of short-depth 'full plunges', eventually resulting in the final depth.

But if your machine supports any sort of canned cycle (regardless of the code to do it), then we might be able to incorporate that in the main PP. In any case, a PP coupled with a post-build processor behaves as if it were a simple PP... you get code that works, and the process is (or can be) completely 'transparent' to the user.

Tell us what the machine can do with respect to any canned cycles. Please DO include examples from any programming manual you might have.

Yours,
Lloyd
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 01, 2021, 09:01:12 am: I have not used this plugin live yet but have a couple of simple questions before I do.

1) I don't have any homing switches so I manually homing the the machine. The jog in GrBLMachine seems to have only one setting for movement increments and so it would appear that it would be very tedious to home. Am I missing something? How are others doing this?

2) There doesn't seem to be any pause for the spindle to reach speed and no means to add a G4 command in the post processor. How would I do that?

Thanks.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 01, 2021, 10:01:53 am: Hi Scotty

When you run the plugin, there is a GRBL settings panel among others
see the pics. one image is of the default settings, and the other the jogging panel
where you can change the jogging values.

When you do run it, spend some time working through the panels and settings
pane at the bottom.

This plugin works very well with 3 Axis routers, I have it installed to test my
plugins that are to be GRBL compatible.

However I use another Gcode sender for my GRBL 5 Axis grinder.
GRBLGru.
There are many others as well, some pretty good.
GRBLMachine has the advantage of being integrated into CB through
and once you get the hang of it, (the work flow) it's a very straight forward
process.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 01, 2021, 15:16:36 pm: Hi Dave,

I had taken a good look at all the settings and there is just one setting for the jog step size, as I think you have confirmed.

If, by holding the jog button down, it would do a continuous move, it would be better. Right now, you have to start out with a big step size, repeatedly hit jog, and then gradually reduce the step size to whatever the final tolerance is. This is tedious in the extreme so made me wonder if there is a better way? Maybe estimate the distance with a rule and do a G0 to get close and then a few fine jogs?

Any input on the pause? I see this as essential.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 01, 2021, 21:02:56 pm: I've found a solution for the pause to allow the spindle to run up.

You can edit the M-Code definitions in the GRBLMachine Post Processor to use a G4 code CW and CCW spindle motion, for example see the attached.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 02, 2021, 00:29:46 am: Scotty
You might not realise that nearly all of the (what look like blank) entries
in the panel (for example the footer entry) are populated with text marco's
some of them have quite a bit of text (M and G codes) among other
instructions.

To for example stop the spindle, the M code for this is M5.
Here are some Jogging examples.

Quote
$J= - Run jogging motion Executing a jog requires a specific command structure, as described below:

$J= to indicate the jog. It works like a normal G1 command.
Feed rate is only interpreted in G94 units per minute. A prior G93 state is ignored during jog.
Required words:
XYZ: One or more axis words with target value.
F - Feed rate value. NOTE: Each jog requires this value and is not treated as modal.
Optional words: Jog executes based on current G20/G21 and G90/G91 g-code parser state. If one of the following
optional words is passed, that state is overridden for one command only.

G20 or G21 - Inch and millimeter mode
G90 or G91 - Absolute and incremental distances
G53 - Move in machine coordinates
Example: G21 and G90 are active modal states prior to jogging. These are sequential commands.

$J=X10.0 Y-1.5 will move to X=10.0mm and Y=-1.5mm in work coordinate frame (WPos).
$J=G91 G20 X0.5 will move +0.5 inches (12.7mm) to X=22.7mm (WPos). Note that G91 and G20 are only applied to this jog command.
$J=G53 Y5.0 will move the machine to Y=5.0mm in the machine coordinate frame (MPos).
If the work coordinate offset for the y-axis is 2.0mm, then Y is 3.0mm in (WPos).

From this webpage Here: https://github.com/fra589/grbl-Mega-5X/wiki/Grbl-Commands (https://github.com/fra589/grbl-Mega-5X/wiki/Grbl-Commands) and https://github.com/fra589/grbl-Mega-5X/wiki/Grbl-Commands (https://github.com/fra589/grbl-Mega-5X/wiki/Grbl-Commands)

This website is a treasure trove of tips and info for GRBL that I've not seen put together
in one place.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 03, 2021, 17:48:42 pm: Well I hooked up the machine to try this out for real. The jogging works pretty much I had expected, but you are able to buffer the jogs which helps but you have to be careful not to overshoot. Could be much better. I might change the code but I haven't used Visual Studio for 25 year and C#, well, never so it would be a bit of a learning curve.

What has really got be scrathing my head are the position readouts after setting the WCS origin. If set to display in WCS, then I'd expect it to show all zeros. it's not and it seems to follow no pattern that I have been able to discern. If I query the GRBL status and WCS settings it's exactly as I'd expect. The DRO's just don't correspond. What am I missing?
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 04, 2021, 00:48:39 am: Hi Scotty

I've just ran the GRBLMachine plugin with a spare controller
and all seems fine.
There are settings to change the DRO display and WCS .

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 05, 2021, 06:47:43 am: Hi Dave,

Yes the settings are there but I see no effect on the position readouts. The setting you show just mimics the one on the display expander.

Example, after homing ( top right and up) I jog to (-300,-200,-50) and display machine position (see mpos.jpg attached). I then set the work origin by hitting the set WCS (0,0,0) button and change the display to WCS. I'd expect to see (0,0,0) but I still get (-300,-200,-50) see wpos.jpg.

Also note that the work is not positioned at the tool location in the right hand CamBam window.

To check that the WCS origin was set I use the console to query with $# and it correctly report the origin as (-300,-200, -50) see wcs.jpg.

I've tried on both Windows 7 32 bit and Windows 10 64 bit and get the same results. GRBL version is 1.1h.

The only way I can use this is to jog to the work position, exit CamBam and power cycle the GRBL board and run CamBam again. The MCS will now show (0,0,0).
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 05, 2021, 10:52:35 am: Hi Scotty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGtbkVJBXyE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGtbkVJBXyE)

This is a great video will give you a better understanding of the co-ordinate
systems. and how to set your GRBL powered machine up.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 05, 2021, 19:03:24 pm: Actually that video precisely shows exactly what I've been saying i.e. how GRBLMachine should work, but doesn't.

I was able to build and debug the code and have a working version. The problem is it is not interpreting the GRBL status reports correctly. This may have changed between GRBL versions. It seems as though the parser is not expecting the probe info in the status. Perhaps that was not there in earlier versions but since I'm new to GRBL I don't know.

The new GRBLMachinePlugin DLL is attached is anyone would like to try it out.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: EddyCurrent on May 05, 2021, 19:50:01 pm: ~~It's not a good idea to post the file in this thread, it should exist in just one location and any other reference to it should be in the form of a link.~~
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 05, 2021, 20:19:51 pm: Yes, it makes prefect sense to do that.

Consider this an alpha version. I have some tidying up ans lots of testing to do. I might also have a stab at improving the jogging before considering it done.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: EddyCurrent on May 05, 2021, 21:21:04 pm: I'm sorry I did not read your previous post correctly. Am I right in saying you have modified the original GRBLMachine plugin source code and it's the updated version you have attached ?

I'm also confused now by the thread title, it says version 1.1 but all I can see is version 1.0 in Karst Drenth's first post. ???
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 05, 2021, 21:53:50 pm: Yes, it's an updated version, no number as yet. Maybe call it 1.0a. It supports up to GRBL 1.1h.

I can see the version numbers on the thread are confusing. There is the version of Karst's code 1.0, and then there is the version of GRBL up to 1.1f that it supports.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 05, 2021, 23:17:36 pm: Scotty

I'm not having any issues with the plugin, but I have set the report status variable to 3 (I think)
What GRBL will do is give you status reports with varying degrees of info(for example WCS or MCS or both, maybe worth a look .
I'll have a look at the installed versions on my machines (the grinder and laser) and check the
variable statue value.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 06, 2021, 02:34:25 am: HI Scotty

Quote
Example, after homing ( top right and up) I jog to (-300,-200,-50) and display machine position (see mpos.jpg attached). I then set the work origin by hitting the set WCS (0,0,0) button and change the display to WCS.
I'd expect to see (0,0,0) but I still get (-300,-200,-50) see wpos.jpg.

I've just realised what is happening (why everything works for me and not for you).
By convention the drawing space in cad\cam is X=0,Y=0,Z=0 is the lower left hand corner.
else your drawing will live in negative co-ordinate space.

I've loaded up a Laser Image (which I use in the GRBL laser) sent with LaserGRBL, I"ve made this
many times (very nice).
I also sent it with GRBLMachine and GRBLGru everything was ok.

In the first image you can see that the tool is positioned at XYZ = 0 at the lower bottom left hand corner.
this is the work co-ordinate workspace. In the second image (where i put in a pretend homing cycle and co-ordinates)
you can see the Machine co-coordinates are different (my pretend Homing position position) and all is well
The other benefit of using the convention is that, what you see on the CB screen
is what you see when looking from a position in front the machine, so it's very easy to debug your Gcode
as the CB co-ordinates directly reflect the Gcode XY and Z values.
At no point (except on startup) should the two be the same numbers.
Else your homing position = your stock position.
Hope this helps.
edit to put pics in ::)

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 06, 2021, 06:37:52 am: Hi Dave

If we're talking about the report status setting $10, then that has no effect on the issue.

The legal settings are 0 for machine co-ordinates, 1 for work co-ordinates and 2 for additional buffer use reporting. If you try to use any other value, viz. 3, it is ignored. Perhaps you might try a serial terminal and type "?" a few times to see the format of your status reports. I'd certainly like to see them.

The use of a the positive machine co-ordinate space had no affect. I had wondered about that a few days ago and gave it a try. The new dll works as it should but I do need to more work on it for compatibility with earlier versions of GRBL without slowing it down, then package it up with all the sources and put it in a fixed place.

This glitch has held up progress in the Scotty household so I'll have to play catch up for a few days and come back to it.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: CScotty on May 07, 2021, 20:27:07 pm: Hi Dave

I now know what happened that that caused us to get different results.

During initial trials I had gross noise issues which led to frequent use of my abort button. With various changes I overcame those and went to the live test with the GRBL Machine plugin and had the reported issue. My conclusion that the status result parser had a problem was valid and so the is fix (although I have a better one now). The parser was failing because of the Pn in the status report field and I was assuming that was a GRBL 1.1h revision thing. Not so. My abort button had broken had was stuck on. >:(

That added the Pn field to the status report and led to the failing condition.

In the version I have in the works I've changed the jog to use a drop down list of choices. This is less laborious than typing in the step size.

The other thing I'm wondering about is the work origin setting. This currently uses the G54 fixture setting and causes a write to EEPROM whenever it is changed, which is a finite resource ( 100k writes) . Now, to my way of thinking, it would be better to use G92 to set a temporary offset and then to also have a means of selecting the current fixture and a means of setting its origin. Therefore I'm thinking of adding a fixture selector and a fixture origin set button. I'm just not entirely convinced it's required or with the effort.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on May 08, 2021, 03:01:34 am: Hi CSotty

I'm sorry that you had a problem, but I'm glad you sorted it out as I've spent
more than the odd moment thinking about what the cause might be.

With people starting out in cnc'ing especially if they have built
their own is Ground loops, and dodgy sensors. especially with VFD's

What the saving of the co-ordinates is for, is so that you can for example
start a job,stop it and come back some time later (the machine has been turned off )
and restart the machine and the job without losing your previous position.

Here is a link to some GRBL users discussing this, with a few good tid bits.
https://forum.shapeoko.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2409&p=18585#p18258

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: ubiquity on May 23, 2021, 22:29:22 pm: I just loaded the GRBL Machine plugin and now when I start CamBam the window flashes open and then disappears completely.
I have no icon on the task panel for the open window so can do nothing with CamBam.
CamBam Version 1.0
Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon

Removing those dlls does not change the situation so something fundamental has altered.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dh42 on May 23, 2021, 22:35:00 pm: Hello

Not sure that GRBL Machine can works on Linux ... ???

++
David
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: ubiquity on May 24, 2021, 07:34:24 am: Thanks David,
I see from some later threads that I would need to comment out some code and recompile, which is outside my expertise presently, so I will reinstall CamBam without the GRBLMachine. I don't specifically need to use it on Linux but was curious to see if it would since my primary machine is Linux but I also have Windows 10.
Cheers,
Paul
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 18, 2021, 11:06:11 am: Hi i use Cambam over years with arduino uno or nano.
now i use a F411RE Nucleon board.

when i connect the board i must hit the RESET button on the board to get in contact.

other Programms send from alone the CTRL-X but with this board it doesnt work.

how can i send from GRBL Plugin CTRL-X? from my Keyboard it doesnt work.

any ideas? thanks

Alex from germany
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on June 18, 2021, 12:30:16 pm: Hi Alex

GRBLMachine has an auto connect feature, which is default false see pic.
You can use the console (just expand the console tab) to send commands.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 18, 2021, 12:47:24 pm: hi dave

i know!
the problem is that i cant send crtl-x to the f411re over cambam via keyboard in the console..

i start a quick test..
i edit the config.h and change 0x18 (reset) to ° and 0x19(hardreset) to ^.

now when i send ° nothing happends
but if i send ^ the grbl plugin is connected with the f411re :)

this is my solution for this time...
better is to edit the plugin when its connected that is send ^ instead of ctrl-x.

could you understand my bad english? :P
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on June 18, 2021, 16:11:58 pm: Arduino boards have a small (100n) capacitor tied from the DTR serial signal to the RESET pin of the ATMega MCU. It does automatic reset on port intialisation to let the bootloader be active for a short time after which it transfers execution to the main firmware.
Probably the new board does not have this resetting circuitry. Therefore to establish connection a manual reset is required.
( Anyway, GRBL fills the whole available ATMega memory so there's no place for a bootloader. )
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 18, 2021, 16:51:49 pm: i understand.

this board has no dtr.
but it has the Nrst pin.
but i dont know what i must connect.
i have caps here with 100nf 16v but i dont know how to connect.

:(
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on June 18, 2021, 18:24:58 pm: Just now I payed more attention to what board you are trying to use. I have one Nucleo. Bought it exactly for experimenting with porting GRBL to a STM32 ARM processor.
Very different beasts although they look similar. Compatible with Arduino only by pin function and order. But not all pins on the STM32 board are even electrically compatible - some of them are 3.3 volt and not tolerant to standard 5 volts TTL logic.
As far as I am familiar with it, I don't see a way to make it behave like Arduino.
The small board on the photo is a replica of Arduino Nano with a STM32 CPU. And I made a large enough adapter board to make connections easy. :)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 18, 2021, 21:39:24 pm: yes i understand.

my problem is i need the backlash function.
the 4th axis is a nice to have but if i found a 3 axis arduino grbl with backlash comp. then i would switch. i have some mega2560 boards

my cnc lathe works with mach3, cad cam comes from fusion 360.

but cambam is perfect for me.
i can stop the process,change something in the cad/cam and restart.

this is why i love it.

if i use serialcom or grblsender the ctrl x will work. but not on the cambam grbl.

thats why i change 0x19 to ^ and 0x18 to ° in the config.h.

now i can send it from cambam and all works fine.
but is this the real solution?

a button in the plugin to send reset and hard reset would do it.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: dave benson on June 19, 2021, 01:45:43 am: https://github.com/synthetos/g2 (https://github.com/synthetos/g2)
G2core has backlash comp, might be worth a look.
The source is here, so you could add those buttons to the ui and recompile GRBLMachine
for your own particular needs.
Time has moved on since the original programmer wrote the plugin and he has left his
details in the about box, so maybe you could contact him and he may add this to the original code
for the newer processors.

A note about backlash compensation in general, it's better to fix the lash problem itself
rather than rely on electronic compensation as backlash comp can only do so much and you will
experience some chatter if you are milling harder materials.
Anyway good luck and have fun.

Dave
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Dragonfly on June 19, 2021, 09:31:13 am: Quote
A note about backlash compensation in general, it's better to fix the lash problem itself
rather than rely on electronic compensation as backlash comp can only do so much and you will
experience some chatter if you are milling harder materials.
Anyway good luck and have fun.

What I was going to say too.
Software compensation is very tempting but my experience so far tells that eliminating backlash on mechanical level is the best solution.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 19, 2021, 10:21:40 am: yeah all right what you say.

i only have backlash from 0.05mm in Z and X.

on Z i built a adjustible nut.. now its about 0.01 0.02mm.

but on x and y i have nuts from Pom. if i want to renew them it will work for 1 week.

i built a very cheap cnc mill.
with this mill i can mill mildsteel,alloy,brass,cooper.
works for me over years. i dont want to change something on the hardware.

i got never broken bits or something. and a accuary of 0.02mm in xyz and on circles works for me ;)
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on June 19, 2021, 11:13:14 am: Me again.

i add to the plugin 2 buttons.

and it works perfect.
easy job.

next idea is when i hit connect ..send reset
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Tool-n-Around on August 10, 2021, 01:26:58 am: I downloaded and have been using GRBL Machine and really like it. Thanks so much for developing it.

I don't have much experience but noticed that commands remain in the console command line after being executed and must be erased or overwritten to issue another command. Is that normal?

I can’t click drag and copy text from the console dialogue/report box. I can select/highlight a single line but not a portion and nothing can be copied. Is there a way to copy or display it where it can be copied?

It's Win10.

Best,
Kelly
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: Garyhlucas on August 10, 2021, 22:52:09 pm: Kelly,
The block remaining is common, so you can execute it again. How to do that in your controller I don’t know.
Title: Re: GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin
Post by: hitchhiker on August 25, 2021, 11:25:44 am: hi dudes

i saw on a screenshot someone have a probe button....
how to add this button?
or better....

where can i find this probing button on grbl plugin?!

thanks