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Discussion in 'Control Software' started by Sonny Jeon, Aug 12, 2015.

  1. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    Yes it has been tested with direct IO serial. See Raspberry Pi Shied by Protoneer. I strongly suggest you check your streaming source code and follow the advice I’ve already given you.
     
  2. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    The Raspberry Pi is just one example. I have personally used a spare Arduino to convert the Wii joystick input to a stream of serial commands directly through IO. If you search the web, there are numerous other examples like people connecting an ESP chip to it to run Grbl via WiFi or Bluetooth etc etc etc.

    The one piece of advice I mentioned following is to eliminate all other variables, like your streaming code and building on something you know that works. It’s far more likely you have been doing something wrong from some assumption you have made about Grbl or your electronics. For example, like not following the streaming protocols outlined in the wiki exactly.
     
  3. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    I'm perfectly willing to accept there is a problem, if there is one, but it's not clear that there is one at all. First, given the fact that I've personally got it working with two Arduino Uno's with a joystick, along with many other people having success as well, it leads me to believe that it's not Grbl. Second, I am the sole developer of Grbl. If anyone, I know more about the source code and the issues related to it more than anyone else. Third, every time I make a suggestion, it's not been the most pleasant. I am unable to read your mind and know exactly what you have done before you tell me. At this point, it's clear that you've been working hard at this. Again, please try looking at your source code on your host controller. It's much more likely that is where problem is coming from.
     
  4. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    The USB serial device in the Arduino is directly connected to the external RX and TX pins. It's exactly like what you are trying to do with your additional controller. If it's working through USB-serial, then Grbl is working just fine. Once again, there is something wrong with your setup, methodology, or streaming from your controller. Not sure why you don't think there isn't a problem on your end and insist that it is Grbl, when there are a ton of evidence that it works fine in a wealth of other cases, such as my own experience.

    If you really want to look at the source code, you can. There's nothing stopping you doing so. It's all there, well-commented and well-organized. There's really not that much code. It won't take you long to find what you are looking for. Literally like a few minutes.

    Once again, there is nothing in the Grbl code that will cause corrupt messages to be returned, except in the things I asked for you to check for in the very beginning. Outside of that, perhaps its what you're doing to the Grbl code when you changed it to run at 20MHz, or how and what you are compiling it with, or setting the AVR fuses. If you are using custom hardware, you have to ensure that all these other variables are in line with the assumptions Grbl was built on, as in any software project. If that is the case, then it sounds like you didn't take these into account.
     
    Giarc likes this.
  5. Giarc

    Giarc OpenBuilds Team
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    Can't say I have ever had an issue with GRBL. Thanks for everything you do Sonny. You have made my life more fun with this cool open source stuff.
     
  6. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    I’m sorry that you’re giving up. But in my defense, I have also repeatedly given you my advice. Each time, it’s been clearly ignored.

    Again, there is overwhelming evidence against you case that there is something wrong with Grbl. This includes personal experience and the experience of many many others, which also includes yourself. You stated that with an USB serial chip (which on an Arduino Uno is actually another AVR to behave like an FTDI), Grbl works, but your approach doesn’t work. This is a clear indication that you are doing something wrong. Speed of communication or or direct wiring changes nothing with how a serial port fundamentally works.

    Also you keep asking about where to look in the code. Once again, if you had took the time to actually look, there are clear labels to the file names that denote what they do, like serial.c and report.c. If you insist that the problems are there, feel free to take a look, but I still strongly believe you won’t find what you are looking for there.
    It’s indeed sad to see you go to these depths. I will say that I do openly accept help with Grbl, but the pull request code that I often receive requires complete rewrites due to important things the author didn’t account for, rejected due to being outside the scope of the project’s intent, or the code isn’t efficient/stable enough, which is a very strict requirement due to the limited space on the 328p AVR. This usually leads me to completely rewrite and insert the proper code into Grbl myself.

    I’m sorry that you are having so many troubles diagnosing your comm issue on your custom setup. However, please refrain from scapegoating Grbl and myself with your issues. Grbl has been quite stable for several years and I have devoted years of my free time to this work and to helping others to get their Grbl issues sorted.
     
    HPB, Scotty Orr, Giarc and 3 others like this.
  7. Gary Johnson

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    I have a lot of problems getting a computer to work with Grbl. My last message was, Grbl Panel .exe is not a valid Win32
    application.
     
  8. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
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    Satzklauer, Is not here to help and therefore is no longer welcome here in the OpenBuilds community. Hope he finds happiness soon.
    Props out to @Sonny Jeon for keeping cool & calm and trying to be helpful as best you could.
    Thanks @Rick 2.0 for the shout out :thumbsup:
    @Gary Johnson Please send me a message and I will help to get you set up brother.
    Moving forward again guys :)
     
  9. Metalguru

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    Sonny, to change to a happier (hopefully) topic, how goes the battle with GRBL for the Leonardo or other higher power Arduinos? I started hearing about the port a long time ago, but have seen no recent updates...

    MG
     
  10. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    Still ongoing and pushing hard to get it done. The port to ARM is done, and hardware abstraction layer is also done. Close to completing the new settings method, which will have a configuration document that you stream to Grbl and allow you to configure the entire thing without having to re-compile anything.

    However, most of my time has been involved with working on the 3rd order planner and, this week, I ran into a road block. My Python simulation shows that it works perfectly for 99% of cases. That final 1% is a bit of a bear to solve analytically to ensure optimal motion. I've been looking for a fast, approximate solution for it, but haven't found one yet. So at this point, I'm installing a special set of motion commands that can have Grbl trace any motion profile with a 3rd order polynomial. This is common on industrial machines like assembly line machinery and such. It allows you to test and hone in a custom motion profile for a specific task or application. In my case, it'll buy me a bit more time to test and proof out the final bit of the 3rd-order planner that I've been working on. On the plus side, I can see this being a great tool for others to use too. Particularly for OEMs and research institutions. Anyway, there still much to do, but I'm hoping to get it out by the fall sometime. Before our family gets one larger around Thanksgiving and my time that much less free.
     
    HPB, MaryD, Mark Carew and 2 others like this.
  11. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
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    Having a tool like this to use with the modular nature of the OpenBuilds system seems like a perfect fit, especially like you say for OEM which a lot of the community here are.This is going to be exciting and helpful. Looking forward to it.
    Congratulations Sonny! :thumbsup:
     
    sharmstr likes this.
  12. Jesse Mccabe

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    new build of a 1510 the github link wouldnt launch any gui. found a c beam control package release 8_22_16 on a forum that runs grbl panel i can connect but not jog or anything Help!!!
     
  13. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
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    Hello @Jesse Mccabe I see you have reached out to the Part Store and they are taking care of your board issue. :thumbsup:
    Let us know how you make out
     
  14. Jesse Mccabe

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    i make out disappointed
     
  15. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
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    Hello @Jesse Mccabe
    I know it can be frustrating when something goes wrong with a build and delays it. I apologize that this happened.
    From what I understand Spark Concepts says there was a firmware issue with your board and so the Part Store is sending out a new one right away.
    Hope this helps to get you up and running quickly so you can start making projects and enjoy your machine.
     
  16. DarkPenguin

    DarkPenguin Well-Known
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    So,

    I really want $1=255, right?

    Any reason to not do this other than the motors and drivers melting?
     
  17. Sonny Jeon

    Sonny Jeon Well-Known
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    Yes. Make sure your are setting your motor drivers to the below the rated current for your motors. They tend to get hot when you put too many amps through the coils.
     
  18. Metalguru

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    https://openbuilds.com/members/darkpenguin.88250/:

    If you set $1 to 255, (Read the GRBL Wiki on this setting) you need to have the enable inputs to your stepper drivers wired up to the Arduino motor enable pin, D8. This means that your motors will shut down when not moving to prevent overheating. If you don't have the enable lines wired up, it's not recommended to set $1 to 255 for the exact reason you stated - they will remain energised at full current and probably melt something down.

    Of course, this is also a function of your stepper drivers. Some, like the TB6600 based drivers, automatically throttle back to 50% current setting after a delay with no pulses detected, even if the Enable is not connected. (there is usually a DIP switch to enable this)

    TB6560 based drivers have a dipswitch setting to set the standby current to 20%, 50%, 75% or 100%. I prefer using the TB6560's for this reason among others. 20% current is usually enough for leadscrew based machines, and it keeps things cool. If it's belt drive I would go with 50%.

    I prefer using the motor enable since it allows me to max out the motor current to spec for maximum torque, but still preventing overheating.

    MG
     
  19. DarkPenguin

    DarkPenguin Well-Known
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    Hmmm.... I'm running a Gradus M1 Pro board with bigfoot steppers. If they are throttling down then they are throttling down to the point a hard look will move the gantry.

    Might consider going TB6560s once I fry a few more bigfoot steppers.

    Thanks for the input!
     
  20. Metalguru

    Metalguru Veteran
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    Hmmm..., I kind of like the Gradus M1 pro, it's 4 times the board that the Xpro is, and it has replaceable drivers.

    With the Bigfoot drivers, you really do need to have active (fan) cooling on those or they will let out the magic smoke. Especially if youleave them enabled at full current for more than a few seconds.

    I don't know for sure if they support the Enable line. That would be a question for Panucatt, if you are prepared to wait for a couple of months for an answer. For sure they have the WORST customer service ever...
     
  21. DarkPenguin

    DarkPenguin Well-Known
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    I turned it on and ran a bunch of stuff. Seems like the motors stayed cool.

    I'd ask Panucatt but I don't want to overwhelm them before I get an answer to my 0-10v line question. That's only been there for like 2 months.
     
  22. blindflight

    blindflight Well-Known
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    Have an error when trying to connect to my cnc pro board: detected unsupported version of Grbl , please update to 1,1 or better.
    How do I load a newer version of Grbl to my cnc xpro board?
    Thanks
     
  23. HPB

    HPB Well-Known
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    Found this.
     
  24. blindflight

    blindflight Well-Known
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  25. Rendermandan

    Rendermandan Well-Known
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    So I finally got around to updating my GRBL panel to the latest version 1.09.17. Now when I start Grbl Panel, the Home button is no longer there. I also updated the firmware to 1.1

    Is there a setting I'm missing or is this something new? (Kind of a PITA!)

    Thanks.
     
  26. Metalguru

    Metalguru Veteran
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    When you update GRBL firmware, it wipes your configuration memory. You have to go back in and reload all the settings you had before. I hope you wrote them down somewhere...:eek:

    You have to go to the Settings tab and reload all the values in the GRBL Settings window. One of them is Homing Enable. It should be set to 1. I suspect you'll have a lot more settings to fix than just that one, however.

    MG
     
  27. Rendermandan

    Rendermandan Well-Known
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    Metal guru, I’ve been bitten by not recording my settings on far to many things before. I always take screen shots of everything before I do an update. But still good to mention for others that haven’t been bitten yet....

    I have updated my settings in the new firmware. Once I go back to the main page, the home cycle button will appear along with the new override section on the right side. The problem I’m having is upon first startup of the program. The home and override section are not there until I manually go in and hit get Grbl settings... after that, it’s ok. I didn’t have to do that before. So I’m wondering if something else changed. Or is there any way to get panel to read the Grbl settings on startup?

    Thanks again.
     
  28. Metalguru

    Metalguru Veteran
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    Hmmm... Not heard of that one before. I know the GRBL Settings changed from V 0.9 to V1.1, they added the laser stuff. That's why they force you to redo your settings by erasing it, in case they add new items.

    I assume you are hitting the Unlock button on startup. I have had a bug report in for a while now on Unlock, it does not work properly unless you have Homing enabled.

    Do you have an e-stop? is it triggered? Does the position display come up when you connect? Do you have $10 set to 3? That may help. Also check to see if "connect on load" box is checked (middle of settings page) Does it come up correctly if you hit "disconnect" then "Reconnect"?
    MAy also want to see if your USB/Serial driver is up to date. Just spitballing here, nver seen this issue before...

    Other than that, I would suggest reflashing the GRBL, and re installing GRBL Panel to see if it helps.
     
  29. Rendermandan

    Rendermandan Well-Known
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    Thanks again for your help,

    Yes I do have to hit unlock. I have found a way to get it to load by using a macro of $$ then Grbl reports it’s status and the home cycle button appears. Not sure why though.

    I discovered a new issue though. My z end stop is constantly triggered, so it won’t home. This was working before the update. I was on V0.9. Did the pins change again?
     
  30. Metalguru

    Metalguru Veteran
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    Don't think so - Limit Z should be pin 12 from V0.9 to V1.1...

    I find you usually need .1uF caps across each limit input to ground, and sometimes harder pullup resistors to prevent false triggering.

    End stops are a pain with Arduino because it is so prone to false triggering.

    MG
     

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