Hi guys, I work for The Boeing Company as a CNC machinist/Programmer and also program and run a CNC router building guitar necks and bodies. I just bought a FoxAlien 3018 just to make some small wood projects but would like a way to run a GRBL or compatible software for my G-code. Any help would be great. Thank you. Rod.
Did a quick Google search to check the machine…it is a grbl based machine.
What are you having trouble with?
Hi Neil, when I try to run the program I made in Mastercam, the spindle turns on and the axis barely move and it is finished. Just using Candle to open the program and run it. The code is full of errors too. I’m just using the generic router Mastercam post.
Somehow missed you’re using MasterCam. If there’s no grbl post available, is there a Linux CNC or maybe a fanuc post would work.
I will try those. Thank you very much. No luck yet finding a GRBL tweaked for Mastercam.
If you post gcode here, I’ll take a look and see what the issues are.
test error errors.txt (3.4 KB) I marked the errors. This is just a little circle contour.
It’s useful to know what codes Grbl likes.
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Did you try the fanuc post processor? If you get close and share the post processor, we might be able to fix it.
I don’t have MasterCam… What format are post processor files? Can you open with a text editor?
Hi Neil, still working on it, here is the GRBL sample/test program that came with the software. Pretty basic code for sure. Yes, notepad will open and edit the code.GRBL WORKING GCODE.nc (5.2 KB)
Thank you Martin.
@RodWeflen I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. I was wondering about the post processors. I have experience in writing/modifying post processors for Fusion 360 and V-Carve. If you can get me the actual post processor file, I may be able to modify it to work with grbl. Ideally, you’d get grbl compatible gcode straight from the post, rather than having to edit after the fact.
Ok, here you go, and thank you.I gave you a couple in case one is less work. Generic Fanuc 3X Router.pst (68.9 KB) MPROUTER.pst (111.4 KB)
Hey @RodWeflen, I’ll give it a look. Can you generate gcode with the “Generic Fanuc 3X Router” post processor, so I can compare the output to post?
This may be one of those things where I’d have to have MasterCam to figure out…since that won’t happen, I’ll do my best. 
Ok, and thank you again, here is the straight post code, I removed the line numbers, and the GRBL code with errors.try generic.NC (582 Bytes) Candle Fanuc Generic with the errors…nc (577 Bytes)
@RodWeflen I’m sorry if I got your hopes up, but I’d need to really just play with it to figure it out. Looks like you have a billion options in MasterCam based on the post processor. Unfortunately, MasterCam is not on my list of available programs.
Ok, thank you for trying. I have a 3d project to run, or I could use Easle or Vecrtic or something just for flat pattern stuff with the Candle/GRBL post. If you come up with something great, if not, thank you very much for your time and efforts.
@RodWeflen Most of the issues are in the header. In the example you sent, I was able to quickly get a grbl compatible file by just removing the non-grbl gcode. There are also things you must be able to configure in MasterCam like the use of G8. In the post processor, it appears that you must’ve enabled that for it to appear.
If you open your gcode up in wordpad, you can use the Edit/ replace function to take a code and replace it with an empty space. I routinely do that with anything that I run on Mach3. Look through the list that I linked to above and scan through your gcode for things that aren’t on the list.
Thank you guys, I would need to know what to change the error G-code to, that would keep my design intent.