GRBL Software Suggestions?

X-Carve Pro
21

As a advocate for OpenBuilds I must concede that gSender can be more capable than OpenBuilds. However many of those capabilities come with manual setup by the user, setups that I’ve seen go awry for many users. That said, so long as you’re able to get gSender setup than it’s a great software!!

I’m still trying to wrap my head around why they exactly changed the baud rate on the XCP with that last update, maybe packet loss issues associated with all of the noise inside the controller and the slower baud reduced this :person_shrugging: just my theory…
A record of changes with reasoning behind them would be nice to see one day.

1 Like
22

Yup.

That sounds right.

1 Like
23

I talked with support about it, and this was the response:

We adjusted the baud rate of the XCP to mitigate an offset carving issue we saw with a few units. The changed baud rate keeps this issue from happening, so we don’t advise changing the firmware so it connects at a different rate. Unfortunately, this means that programs like OpenBuilds can’t be used with the X-Carve Pro. I’m very sorry for the trouble.

And then I asked these questions:

  • Are you saying the problem is at the machine/controller level, so the issue could occur regardless of which sender I use?
  • Does the issue occur consistently with the affected machines? Or could it be something my machine could experience in the future even if it hasn’t occurred so far?
  • Is the baud rate the only change in the firmware?
  • Would I void my warranty if I used the old firmware?
  • Can I please have access to the old firmware? :wink:

And then they responded:

Yes, it’s at the controller level, and the firmware is our fix for it.

It’s difficult to say if your machine would experience it. We have not seen any cases where someone is on the new firmware and experiences the issue. However, if you were on an older version of the firmware, there is the possibility the issue could occur. This occurred in about 1% of production units.

Yes, the baud rate is the only change in the firmware.

Here are the warranty terms. It does say that altering the firmware will void it. However, we do not have anything listed specifically about reverting the firmware version:

https://inventables.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/360093416214/X-Carve_PRO_1-Year_Limited_Warranty.pdf

We actually don’t have the old firmware publicly posted anymore, as our official recommendation is to not use the older firmware versions.

After I requested again, they gave me a link to the old firmware.

2 Likes
24

What I don’t like about their decision is that they introduced a change that equates to a step backwards as a way of mitigating an issue with 1% of controllers.

I’m guessing this is a manufacturing problem, probably out of China, and they don’t have a way to tell which controllers are the bad ones.

I’m not saying they made the wrong move. I don’t know all the facts, and I don’t know what I would do if I had the same decision to make. I just don’t like it. But maybe Inventables doesn’t either.

2 Likes
25

Thank you for the info you provided!!
The Grbl standard is 115,200 and to downgrade that is, as you put it quite well, a step backwards.

Incidentally if you read through the Grbl github pages you’ll find that nearly every write up that mentions baud rate says “set the baud rate to 115200…” prior to beginning a send/receive with the grbl controller…

1 Like
26

Just a curious question but does a lower baud rate reduce any kind of performance? Also, is a change as simple as going into device manager and changing the bit rate to 115200? If so, would that negatively affect anything, because I could just change it back if need be?

1 Like
27

Any chance you could send me a link to the older firmware or email it to me?

I don’t think I have a warranty anyway because I have a pre-production unit :man_shrugging:

There has to be a way for them to fix this without going against what seems to be the standard.

1 Like
28

I was thinking of this too… which I know I could do easily in windows, but not sure how I would do it in macOS, which is the machine I have connected to my xcp currently.

I just wonder if the firmware overrides whatever it is set to anyway. Would be an interesting test.

Another question: Is there a way for OB to get their software to work on that end?

1 Like
29
2 Likes
30

In theory, yes. If you’re sending many commands with an extremely high tolerance on curves, the higher baud will allow the machine to move faster.
In practice, probably not. Your machine probably can’t physically achieve the precision you’re going for with extremely narrow tolerances. And you wouldn’t be feeding it fast enough to hit that slow down threshold.
The 115200 baud is probably an odd choice anyway because of the possibility of error with the 16Mhz crystal on the majority (all?) standard Grbl based boards.
I’m at the edge of my experience here, but I don’t think you’ll have any problems or notice any difference at a different baud (aside from possibly cleaning up noise issues that may be present at 115200).

That said, for XCP prices, there should probably be Masso or equivalent option for the controller.

No, it’s a firmware change. You don’t need to do anything on the device manager.

2 Likes
31

Awesome! Thanks so much! Just to clarify I would be looking to load… Sep 20, 2021‘s release?

Which honestly my machine might be on already anyway since even tho I updated my firmware easel has a notification at the top asking me to update, but I’ll check tomorrow morning.

Thanks! //g

2 Likes
32

How dare you introduce a new accessory/device I may want lol.

3 Likes
33

Yep, that’s the one.

2 Likes
34

Adam,

If I wanted to install the older firmware, how would I do so? I tried to in Easel but it wouldn’t let me upload my own firmware version. Also, what file are you downloading from github? Is it the grbl.hex file or the other hex file?

35

I downloaded Arduino IDE for updating the firmware, but I don’t remember the steps I took. I followed a tutorial from somewhere.

1 Like
36

I installed Openbuilds, can connect to my router and see all the settings appear in the log window.
However, if I try pressing one of the XYZ job buttons, nothing happens (I just see the click animation).
Turning the spindle on/off does work.
But when I manually enter X10 or Y5, etc the head does move.

Am I missing a setting I have to adjust?

Edit: and I get this error when I click on one of the buttons in the Probe Wizard

image
image780×616 45.7 KB

37

are you using a xyz probe or the standard Z only ptobe supplied? IF Xyz then you need configure all of the size specs first…
IF it’s the Z only one then you need to change the probe type at the bottom row left, and still configure the correct thickness…

38

Hi Seth, yes, I setup the (standard Z) probe and thickness.
And set XYZ for $130, $131 and $132.

OB is sending G91 G21 X1000 FNaN - and that last one seems to trigger an error.
FNaN = function not available N?

These are my settings, maybe someone sees an issue:

Grbl 1.1f [‘$’ for help]
[15:11:06] [ ] Grbl for ARM32
[15:11:06] [ ] Version:ARM32 V2.1
[15:11:06] [ ] $0=10 (step pulse,usec) ;Step pulse time, microseconds
[15:11:06] [ ] $1=25 (step idle delay,msec) ;Step idle delay, milliseconds
[15:11:06] [ ] $2=0 (stepport invert mask) ;Step pulse invert, mask
[15:11:06] [ ] $3=2 (dirport invert mask) ;Step direction invert, mask
[15:11:06] [ ] $4=0 (stepenable invert,bool) ;Invert step enable pin, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $5=1 (lims pin invert,bool) ;Invert limit pins, boolean/mask
[15:11:06] [ ] $6=1 (probe pin invert,bool) ;Invert probe pin, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $10=115 (status report mask) ;Status report options, mask
[15:11:06] [ ] $11=0.010 (junction deviation) ;Junction deviation, millimeters
[15:11:06] [ ] $12=0.002 (arc tolerance,mm) ;Arc tolerance, millimeters
[15:11:06] [ ] $13=0 (report inches,bool) ;Report in inches, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $20=0 (soft limits,bool) ;Soft limits enable, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $21=1 (hard limits,bool) ;Hard limits enable, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $22=1 (home cycle,bool) ;Homing cycle enable, boolean (Grbl) / mask (GrblHAL)
[15:11:06] [ ] $23=3 (homing dir invert mask) ;Homing direction invert, mask
[15:11:06] [ ] $24=100.000 (homing feed,mm/min) ;Homing locate feed rate, mm/min
[15:11:06] [ ] $25=500.000 (homing seek,mm/min) ;Homing search seek rate, mm/min
[15:11:06] [ ] $26=250 (homing debounce,msec) ;Homing switch debounce delay, milliseconds
[15:11:06] [ ] $27=2.000 (homing pull-off,mm) ;Homing switch pull-off distance, millimeters
[15:11:06] [ ] $30=10000 (maximum spindle speed,rpm) ;Maximum spindle speed, RPM
[15:11:06] [ ] $31=0 (minimum spindle speed,rpm) ;Minimum spindle speed, RPM
[15:11:06] [ ] $32=0 (laser mode enable,bool) ;Laser-mode enable, boolean
[15:11:06] [ ] $100=800.000 (x axis pulse:step/mm) ;X-axis steps per millimeter
[15:11:06] [ ] $101=800.000 (y axis pulse:step/mm) ;Y-axis steps per millimeter
[15:11:06] [ ] $102=800.000 (z axis pulse:step/mm) ;Z-axis steps per millimeter
[15:11:06] [ ] $110=2000.000 (x axis max rata:mm/min) ;X-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[15:11:06] [ ] $111=2000.000 (y axis max rata:mm/min) ;Y-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[15:11:06] [ ] $112=2000.000 (z axis max rata:mm/min) ;Z-axis maximum rate, mm/min
[15:11:06] [ ] $120=50.000 (x axis acceleration:mm/s^2) ;X-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[15:11:06] [ ] $121=50.000 (y axis acceleration:mm/s^2) ;Y-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[15:11:06] [ ] $122=50.000 (z axis acceleration:mm/s^2) ;Z-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2
[15:11:06] [ ] $130=290.000 (x aixs max travel:mm) ;X-axis maximum travel, millimeters
[15:11:06] [ ] $131=180.000 (y aixs max travel:mm) ;Y-axis maximum travel, millimeters
[15:11:06] [ ] $132=40.000 (z aixs max travel:mm) ;Z-axis maximum travel, millimeters

It is a SainSmart Genmitsu 3018-PROVer V2.

BTW: not wanting to hijack this thread, if I should start a new one then let me know.

39

F=Feedrate which should be followed by a numerical value

NaN=Not a Number

So it would appear that the probing feedrate is set to not a real number, maybe a negative or zero… :person_shrugging:

Side note, i suggest setting $1 to 255 to have it hold locked in position to aid in bit swaps, unless you’ll rehome after every bit swap…

1 Like
40

I don’t use openbuilds control, but it doesn’t look like there is a feedrate defined for jog commands.

image

1 Like