Grbl issues after adding laser?

X-Carve Troubleshooting
1

Hello all,

I am getting some very odd problems that I have not been able to resolve through searching the forums, and was hoping that someone may be able to assist me. I recently added the 2.8W Jtech laser to my x-carve and am still getting everything dialed in, however I am running into an issue where some functionality has changed in Easel when trying to use the xcarve.
I am using Easel for the operation of my router, and I am using Picsender for use of the laser. I keep a change log on my computer of modification, so I have copied and pasted what I have in this. Hopefully someone may have ran into this before, and help is appreciated.

12/3/2016
• Installed J-Tech Laser kit. Flashed Arduino to Changed to Laserinkmaster 0.9 Gbrl (GitHub - nickw89509/LaserInk: Branch of Grbl 0.9G provides planned spindle control for lasers)
• Installed picsender demo, Laser etch demo, and Picengrave 5 demo.

12/6/2016
• Was finally able to get acceptable engraved images with laser. Cut some ornaments with Easel and noticed that the movement speed of axis was extremely fast and jerky. Also noticed that when going in to click the Carve button for the first time after connecting the xcarve to the computer, the home/unlock without homing were not displayed when clicking the green carve button, unit also would not allow me to jog the machine. Had to click >Machine>Home to get unit to home and unlock. A few cuts had issues that seemed like the bit moved or was misaligned, only on the x axis cuts, like the y axis did not go far enough, or went too far.

12/8/2016
• Went to cut file saved in Easel that was used before flashing the arduino, and noticed when in Easel that the unit move speed is very fast and jerky. Started having issues where the y axis was no longer staying in the same position and causing step like carving, however this was limited to only the x axis. Made copy of file and created .5’ circles, these did not cut good in Easel, they had marks where the bit was not going in a circular motion. Exported gcode from the advanced tab in easel and loaded to Picsender. It cut perfectly round. Opened easel again and once it recognized the xcarve, I again had the (Home/Unlock without homing) options, and the speed was back to normal? Ran the same test and this time the circles were perfect. Tried cutting the 8” 4x4 frame file and it worked with no issues. Not sure what led to having these problems. Will continue to monitor.

12/9/2016
• Cut files in Easel, no issues noticed. Ran laser after, no issues noticed.

12/10/2016
• Ran laser, no issues noticed. Ran easel, missing home / unlock without homing again. Clicked home in the machine tab, unit homed and was using very fast jogs again when moving? Restarted computer, no change. Not sure what is causing this to occur.

Ideas?

Thank you,

Devin

2

I recommend you use Larry’s MultiMode grbl 1.0c from here:

https://discuss.inventables.com/t/xcarve-jtech-grbl-update-11-12-2016/28943

1 Like
3

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for the response. This is the grbl that is installed from out previous conversations last week. I just checked the link and it is the same as the one I posted.

Any other ideas?

Thank you,

Devin

4

Xcarve_JTech_grbl_11_12_2016.zip is not the same thing. Which one do you have installed?

1 Like
5

Hello Larry,

I installed the Grbl from the following link: GitHub - nickw89509/LaserInk: Branch of Grbl 0.9G provides planned spindle control for lasers

Thank you,

Screen Shot 2016-12-12 at 5.49.58 PM.png2880Ă—1800 380 KB

6

Here is the info from the Picsender window.

USB Connection Successful

Grbl 1.0c [’$’ for help]

modified by Larry Mayberry

[’$H’|’$X’ to unlock]

[1.0c.20151109 J Tech 11/12/2016 18:30

7

Did you follow the instructions for setting up the Laser.txt and Spindle.txt files in PicSender?

More information here:

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8

I never suggested using the Laser Ink grbl. The PWM frequency is not set correctly for the J-Tech laser and it executes the feedrate slower then Larry’s MultiMode grbl 1.0c.

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9

Larry,

I believe that I have set them up correctly. I have added both files for you to review.

I have the IOT relay to turn on and off my Dewalt router, did I read the note right that I can change these settings and the relay will stop clicking on and off? “control a solid state relay for turning a spindle/router on/off and you do not use a variable speed spindle you can use $30=255. and $31=0.” I have been turning the switch off to the IOT relay when using the laser?

Thanks,

Devin

Laser.txt (1.1 KB)
Spindle.txt (1.1 KB)

10

Jeff,

I am sorry, I must have missed something then. I though that was what you were telling me to do. That is where I got the link for that Grbl. I must have misunderstood something? I was able to get much better results with Picengrave though. I am still having some issues, but don’t have all the pictures. I will post a question once I get my pictures.

Thank you,

Devin

"Ideally with the J-Tech Laser, I recommend you use a version of grbl that compadible with the J-Tech laser like Larry’s MultiMode grbl 1.0c. The PWM frequency is set at 1khz with it. PicSender is setup to switch and change the grbl settings automatically when switching back and forth from the two different modes if setup properly. It also executes the S commands it real time without any dwelling when raster engraving photos using the S0-S255 commands in Laser Mode. If you go to flash Larry’s grbl to your board, before you do, select the GRBL settings button in PicSender and copy/paste your grbl settings to a text file and save it. You will need these settings for setting up Larry’s grbl.

Xcarve_JTech_grbl Update (11/12/2016)
Upgrades
Continuing the discussion from J Tech Laser integrated with X-carve grbl (Inventables/Master version 1.0c) This is an update to the Xcarve_JTech_grbl multimode version of grbl for Xcarve and JTech laser users. This version is a recommended update for those still running the 9/28/2016 version. Those users that have upgraded to the 10/12/2016 version do not necessarily need to update to this version. If you have issues to report then my first suggestion will be to upgrade to this version. Th…
If you need anymore help, let me know.

Jeff"

11

You do need to have some switching mechanism so that the PWM signal only goes to one device at a time. You don’t want the PWM signal to go to both devices at the same time with both of them powered on.

You can control this by turning the power off to the device that you are not using.

I’ll take a look at your configuration files shortly.

12

Larry,

Thanks for the help.

It is much appreciated!

13

@DevinBrenneman

The parameter files look ok.

Since you are homing your machine I would recommend that you turn soft limits on for both spindle and laser. ($20=1)

In the spindle file I would recommend that you change $10 to 115 ($10=115). This is useful if you use Easel with the probing feature.

15

Great information Larry.

Thank you,

Devin

16

Hello Robert,

No I am not. After the laser operation homes, I exit Picsender, and then open Easel.

Could this be the issue?

I am currently out of the state, so I can not test this at the moment.

Thanks,

Devin

18

@DevinBrenneman

That’s the problem.

As long as you stay in PicSender and select the appropriate device for your job (ether spindle or laser) then PicSender will load in the correct grbl parameters for that job.

If you use any other program to access Xcarve_JTech_grbl then you have to make sure that the parameters that are loaded are the correct ones for the device that you are going to use.

The easiest way to do that is to select the device that you want to use with the other program before you leave PicSender.

That’s what I was attempting to say in the link provided above. Maybe I did that poorly.

Here it is again. If it’s not clear, please give me some idea as to how to say it that makes it easier to understand.

thanks…
Larry

1 Like
19

Larry,

Great. I understood that the grbl was still present even after power cycle, but not that I had to switch back prior to entering Easel. I presumed since I had to modify the laser, spindle.txt files that this is where both programs looked to for parameters. I did not fully understand how it operated.

I have modified your wording if you would like to use it.

For those of you that use multiple programs (Picsender, Easel, INSERT OTHER PROGRAMS) to send your g-code to the X-carve remember that the grbl settings are persistent even through a power off cycle.

If you use any other program to access Xcarve_JTech_grbl then you have to make sure that the parameters that are loaded are the correct ones for the device that you are going to use.

This means that if you intend to use another program for the spindle such as Easel, you must select the correct parameters for the device you will be switching too. As example in Picsender you must click on “Spindle” prior to leaving the Picsender program so that it will properly load the spindle parameters and there will be no issues when opening your other program such as Easel.

I am still a bit confused though. You mentioned that "If you use any other program to access Xcarve_JTech_grbl ". When I added the laser I flashed the Arduino with your "Grbl 1.0c " As this is flashed to the board, am I still somehow switching back to the Xcarve_JTech_grbl?

Just trying to understand how exactly this works.

Thank you again for all your help!

Devin

21

Thanks Larry,

We have the same Automatic Spindle/Laser Mode grbl setting change support in PicSender for the Official MultiMode grbl 1.1e. It supports the Feedrate & PWM overrides too.

We did a reliability test recently with Larry’s MultiMode grbl 1.0c & PicSender where we loaded and ran a 427MB, 22,136,016 line file. It was a dry run test without the gshield stepper driver powered because our Shapeoko 2 does not have the travel area needed to run this file through all the motions. The feedrate was set at 200 IPM and it took 16:21:50 in time to complete. Our testing PC is a Win8.1 Lenovo Desktop with an Intel i3 3.50Ghz processor & 8GB of Ram.

PS22MIL.jpg1017Ă—697 113 KB

I did not do this test with the Official MultiMode grbl 1.1e because any set feedrate over 194 IPM in Laser Mode, it starts to run jerky. For this reason, I prefer to use Larry’s MultiMode grbl 1.0c with our Shapeoko 2 6W laser diode machine to engrave photos/images.

3 Likes
22

Larry,

Great news, as you already knew. That is exactly what the issue was. I just tested the system by opening Picsender, changing the grbl, exiting the port, and then opening Easel and you were correct!

Thank you so much for your help, and everyone that chimed in on this topic!

Thanks,

Devin

3 Likes
23

@DevinBrenneman

That’s great Devin.

But, just to clear a point, when you select a device (spindle or laser) in PicSender it is not changing grbl, but it does reload the grbl parameters.

A fine point to be sure, but a clarification of the process.

Hope you enjoy your machine…

1 Like