GRBL v1.1 Machine Control and GCODE sender Plugin

[karst.drenth]

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

[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.

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

[BR52]

@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.
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+ 1 

   Armando

[karst.drenth]

Hi All,

I've seen 13 downloads of v0.9.2 so far   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

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


(click for the full picture)

The plugin can now, in realtime, track the movement of the machine's tool in the CAD-View
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:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/jYw22HQvBY8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/jYw22HQvBY8</a>
https://youtu.be/jYw22HQvBY8

@David

Thnx for putting it on the Plug-in site !  


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

Karst

[dh42]

Whooo 

++
David

[EddyCurrent]

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.

[tau]

Hallo Karst(en)?!

auch wenn ich nichts mit GRBL anfangen kann...

Die Integration deines PlugIns in CamBam ist eindrucksvoll! 

[Bubba]

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.
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+1 

[dave benson]

Without doubt the most sophisticated plugin I've seen. mmm..... you seem to have "raised the bar" quite a bit.
Kudos to you. 
Dave

[karst.drenth]

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  

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  

@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

[lloydsp]

"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."
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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

[dh42]

Hello

@david
I guess you liked it ?

Yes, I can't use it ... but I like  

very nice job !

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

[karst.drenth]

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

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

[tau]

Karst,

thanks for publishing the sources as well!

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

Cheers,  Tunc

[lloydsp]

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