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OpenBuilds CONTROL Software

Discussion in 'Control Software' started by Mark Carew, Oct 8, 2018.

  1. Steveathome

    Steveathome Well-Known
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    OK Here comes my dumb post of the month.

    just started recently, ( last few weeks ) after a cut I hit the home switch and machine takes off as per normal, and then 3/4 s the way to home I get an error.

    was unable to get pic, screen froze. Alarm 9 homing fail. could not find limit switch within search distance. defined as 1.5* max travel on search and 5* pull off on locate phases [$H]

    Why does these feel like a setting was changed (Not Me, No Way. it was working fine )

    I checked my home switches, they check out ok. Also, when I hit home 2nd time it resumes and homes ok. More of a nuisance than a real problem.

    Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks Steve
     
  2. Steveathome

    Steveathome Well-Known
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    finally got a pic. Alarm 9.jpg
     
  3. txcomp

    txcomp New
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    I'm more of a trap/skeet guy vs a precision rifle shooter, hence my problem I guess.... :)
     
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  4. sharmstr

    sharmstr OpenBuilds Team
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    The error is telling you that it cant find the switches. It also says that it will only go 1.5* your max travel to find them. It does this so it wont run forever. So what you need to look at is your max travel settings. Go into the settings tab and scroll down settings $130 and $131. Are those set correctly?

    If not, that's 1 - the reason for the error and 2 - you were probably closer to the switches when you homed before and thats why they worked.

    If that's not the problem, report back and we'll do some further digging.
     
  5. Wyatt Hughes

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    Hello Everyone

    Very new to this, hope I'm posting in the right area.

    Just got my BlackBox Motion Control System setup and wired, Installed the drivers, and install OpenBuilds CONTROL software.

    When I plug in the USB cable I get a successful message, but when I go to start the User Interface GUI, I get a White Windows and nothing more happens.

    What did I miss?

    Thanks in advance

    Wyatt
     
  6. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    PC specs? White screen crash most often comes from 'i dug out a 12 year old laptop from the pile' hehe.
    More seriously though, you want a GPU capable of WebGL Extensions and 3-4gb of RAM. Preferably. If the PC is old/slow and you dont have another around, you are not tied to CONTROL, any Grbl host software works with BlackBox so try GrblPanel, bCNC or Univeral Gcode Sender Platform, etc
     
  7. Wyatt Hughes

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    Lol I hear what your saying.... but no... I'm a computer guy :)

    PC running I7 3.4 GHz, 64GB RAM, with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 video card, only a year or so old.

    Thanks for the reply, I will try a one of the other Grbl host you recommend.

    Wyatt
     
  8. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Sweet, so i can send you down a rabbit hole:

    - fire up Chrome to http://<ip of pc>:3000 with control running in the systray
    - see if that gets you the gui?
    - Does the white screen come up immediately or only after loading gcode
     
  9. Wyatt Hughes

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    lol yup

    Chrome gave me "This page isn't working" error after a min or so.
     
  10. Wyatt Hughes

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    ok, now not getting the above error, but just sitting at a white screen in the browser.
     
  11. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Well :) that eliminates electron and puts the blame squarly on the webgl/gpu side of things on that PC
    Sorry!
     
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  12. Steveathome

    Steveathome Well-Known
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    Thanks, that got it.
    for some reason values were $130 = 290 mm and $131 = 290 mm
    changed to 839 and 335 respectively and worked great.
    how would these change, I haven't been in these setting since setup. Cause I had to look around to figure out how to save the changes.
    Is it possible the last update brought them in?
     
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  13. Wyatt Hughes

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    So I updated all the drivers on this PC and still no luck, so I decided to try a older laptop that I had sitting around (about 6 years old), Installed drivers, installed Controller. Plugged in USB and everything works perfect.

    Just goes to show us that even a high end computer is not always the best one for the job. :)

    Thanks for your replies and time Peter
     
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  14. sharmstr

    sharmstr OpenBuilds Team
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    Nope. They were probably never set correctly in the first place.
     
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  15. Steveathome

    Steveathome Well-Known
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    Because of my advanced age, and ability to forget just about anything, I have resorted to writing stuff down. The picture attached is my note from the last times I reset the GRBL settings. I always write them down prior to changing as I would get lost otherwise.
    I'm grateful you got me back on track so fast.
    But I cant figure out how I could get into the settings go down the page, change 2 settings then save them.
    Any ideas?
    other than early onset?
    Because of my advanced age I can't remember stuff for long, so I have to resort to writing stuff down.
    When I'm in a setup page, and expect to change stuff I write the stuff down. So I can go back when I screw up. ( please note.. when not if )
    So I checked my notes. Nope I didn't screw up.
    So thanks again for getting me back running smoothly again.
    My typical job action on the machine is:
    Screw board to spoiler, make big X to find center, load a vbit find center, put setting into macro called board center, hit home and hit board center macro to verify.
    when it comes back to center I know I'm good to go.
    I've been doing this for a year, it works, then it didn't, I believe if I went to the setup, changed 2 settings and then saved them I could remember some of that. I didn't.
    Maybe I have early onset, dont know.
    Included is my note from last year. 20190929_124229[1].jpg 20190929_124229[1].jpg
     
  16. sharmstr

    sharmstr OpenBuilds Team
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    Maybe at some point you loaded a profile? The 290 and 290 seems like some sort of default setting, but the grbl default is 200 and 200.

    @Peter Van Der Walt can confirm this or not, but updating control doesnt touch grbl. The values you see in settings are what grbl is telling control they are. As an example (and I'm not saying this happened) if you were to connect to the BB using a different interface and change a grbl setting then reconnect with Control, you will see that changed setting. Control doesnt keep those settings on your computer, so updating control doesnt change settings.

    Really what I'm trying to say is I have no idea :ROFL: But I'm glad you are sorted.
     
  17. Steveathome

    Steveathome Well-Known
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    Again thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction, and so quickly. Thats whats great about Openbuilds
     
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  18. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    100% confirmed. The ONLY thing that can change settings is a user, and it needs at least two clicks (click once to select a profile, then click save) or two clicks and some keyboard action (scroll to input, click in it, type, click save), or click in serial console, type a $x=? Command and press enter. NOTHING else touches the settings. And never will.
     
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  19. jeffmorris

    jeffmorris Journeyman
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    When Openbuilds Control Software stops responding, I see either "web server or web socket is disconnected" in the serial console window. Why?
     
  20. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Because the web server or web socket is disconnected from the frontend (; (Like the error says)

    More importantly, lockups should be quite rare, so specs of your PC?
     
  21. jeffmorris

    jeffmorris Journeyman
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    I'm not sure if the problems are caused by the 3D view window being opened or another program like VCarve 9.5. I don't have the correct specs for the computer at the program for mentally-handicapped people right now. If I change Openbuilds Control to Serial Console window, it worked.
     
  22. Giarc

    Giarc OpenBuilds Team
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    I use Estlcam not Openuilds's software. However, I have had a similar problem where many times I had my file crash when cutting if I forgot to close another resource intense program like Sketchup on the old laptop I use as a controller for my CNC. This also happened when I used to use GRBL Panel. So maybe closing all unnecessary programs before cutting may be a big help. It works for me.
     
  23. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    Your PC only has so much ram, cpu and other resources to go around, so at some point somethings got to give.
    A reboot before a known problematic job will help too.

    Other tips:
    Start, run, msconfig, startup: turn off all the unnecessary preloaded crapware, driver utilities you never use, acrobat reader and all those other things that run in the system tray and do nothing but waste resources

    Turn off all the windows effects: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/disable-visual-effects-windows

    If you are not on windows 10, surprisingly 10 runs a little better on old hardware once you get used to its other negatives.

    Update all device drivers

    If you dont have a GPU, a $30 Radeon 560 card will do wonders
     
  24. RodS

    RodS New
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    Newbie here and need some guidance. I have lead 1010 with a black box controller. I’m using vector Aspire. When saving files in Aspire there are a lot of file types to pick from, which is the best?
    I’ve looked on YouTube for OB control tutorials but couldn’t find any.
     
  25. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    BlackBox runs Grbl so include that in any software search terms to get more relevant results

    Use the Grbl Mm or Grbl Inch processors.
     
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  26. Corey Applegate

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    Maybe the BlackBox is not compatible but how do I interface the Start, Hold, Rest buttons the Troubleshooting tab displays?
     
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  27. sharmstr

    sharmstr OpenBuilds Team
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    "Start, Hold, Rest buttons the Troubleshooting tab displays" Are you sure you are talking about the OB Control app?

    In any case, the BB doesnt break out those connections for buttons. You have 4 options. 1 - Use the buttons in the OB Control app in the Control tab. 2 - Use the keyboard (you can customize this by going into Wizards & Tools -> Customize Shortcut Key Assignments). 3 - Use a usb keyboard emulator that will translate button presses into keyboard strokes (again, you can customize in the Wizards menu). 4 - Use the Jog widget on your phone.

    I used a Shuttle I had laying around and mapped buttons to keystrokes as mentioned in $3 above:

    Shawn Armstrong on Instagram: “Got the spare shuttle working with #openbuildscontrol #openbuilds #workbee #chickchips”
     
  28. johnmich

    johnmich New
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    I have v 1.1.106 and want to update. Each time I start Openbuilds Control, I am prompted with a message to update and I select the option to install. When it restarts, I get the same message, and am in an infinite loop. The version number never changes. I next tried to uninstall using the Windows uninstaller, the reinstall from a fresh download. After install the shortcut icon looks different, but after startup the version number is the same and newer features are not present. Is there something special I need to do to get a clean install?

    Also, is there a way to find out which version of grbl is installed on my xpro?

    Thanks!
     
  29. Peter Van Der Walt

    Peter Van Der Walt OpenBuilds Team
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    V1.0.106 is almost 84 versions behind the current release (v1.0.190), probably why the update fails, you missed so many in between!

    Control panel, add/remove software, Uninstal CONTROL

    Then cleanup the Appdata/Install directory for OpenBuilds CONTROL

    Heres how to find you install / appdata path before uninstalling it:


    Go to software.openbuilds.com and download latest

    Install it.


    Re Grbl Version: Serial Terminal, send "$I"
     
    #869 Peter Van Der Walt, Oct 6, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2019
  30. Don Goodwin

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    screen resolution is 1920x1080, 15" wide screen. HP EliteBook 8570W. I measured and it's 3 inchs of grid that I can see. Way more space available on the right or left sides.
     

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