J-Tech Laser Post Processor for Vcarve

Just tried it and NO sign of z movements!!! I think you may have solved my issues…Once again.Your blood is worth bottling.

Ok, hope that works for you. It’s 1:30 am here, I’m off to get some sleep.

Just did an actual run on the xcarve / laser with your new post processor (was going to write pp…but it just didn’t sound politically correct) I have been getting an error of undefined feed rate. On a test file I’ve pinpointed it to line 42 as seen here the next group of code is using the original jtech xcarve pp. where the line is calling for a feed rate of G1Z-0.0010F0.0 S9999M3. Even though your’s is missing the “z” it appears the line still has an incomplete reference to it with G1F0.0 S9999M3. I’ve been through your code and compared it to the original but can’t seem to find the complication.
Line 42 jtech pp
G1X6.7560Y42.1170 S9999
G1X6.8126Y42.0545 S9999
G1X6.8774Y42.0098 S9999
G1X6.9505Y41.9830 S9999
M03 S0
G0X7.0028Y41.9285
G1Z-0.0010F0.0 S9999M3

Line 42 Larry’s updated pp

G1X6.8126Y42.0545 S9999
G1X6.8774Y42.0098 S9999
G1X6.9505Y41.9830 S9999
M03 S0
G0X7.0028Y41.9285
G1F0.0 S9999M3
G1X6.8831Y41.9423F300.0 S9999M3
G1X6.7625Y41.9835 S9999
G1X6.5987Y42.0878 S9999

Once I remove all the former z feed and s lines it works perfectly well.
I appreciate any further help you can give.

I have a Vectric PP I downlaoded (I think from the mach3 forum) based off of the grbl PP that has all z-axis movement removed and works great with my J-Tech Laser. I can upload it when I get home if you would like to compare/try it out.

One of the reasons I"ve been slow to adding a laser to my X-carve is the fact my earlier research showed I had to reflash my grbl arduino with laser specific firmware code to use the laser and then redo it back to where it was before to do normal carving. ( I don’t have the latest Inventables controller, but the one that preceded it with all the open wiring and fans)

Does this JTech PP for Vectric software change that or do I still have to mess with changing my arduino firmware everytime I want to switch back and forth?

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

1 Like

@MikeKaplan - We have updated our post processor for GRBL to have no Z moves in it. We have the Z version on the site because some people want to have several passes for cutting. We have made no-z versions for every post on the site and have given them out to people via email, but I will now post them on the page as well.

There are two new GRBL Post Processors:

  1. GRBL with No Z
  2. GRBL with Dynamic Mode M4 and No Z

The dynamic mode only will work with the new 1.1f version of GRBL. You use M4 instead of M3 to turn on the laser. It will change the laser intensity on the fly and keep it constant based on acceleration. So, on image edges where you are slowing down and then accelerating, the firmware will compensate and keep the power level what it is supposed to be, versus burning the edges.

Here is the link to the post processor page on our site:

Best Regards,
Jay

2 Likes

This is probably a stupid question but what is Dynamic mode? I am still trying to get this laser up and running a year later and started using Vcarve software so this may be my answer in a solution once I learn more in vcarve and figure out how to send it to the machine without easel. I think I got in over my head on the software side of things but havent given up yet since I still need to show my wife this laser add on wasnt all a waste of money lol

If you are using a constant power level with a laser and you speed up or slow down the feed rate, you will get either a deeper burn (slower) or a lighter burn (faster).

Dynamic mode will vary the power of the laser based on the changing feed rate in an attempt to give you a uniform burn with changing feed rates.

Hey Robert…the s9999 is an anomaly with the sender program (3dp) that I am using. it is the top power setting equivalent to s255 with other senders.Thanks to all for your help…It Works!!!

1 Like

I made a quick test file with V-carve pro using the jtech pp and installed the picsender trial on my PC with a knockoff uno board used as a tester and it sends the file no problem. I install it on my garage PC and it connects fine then says theres a grbl error in the same exact file that runs on my knockoff uno. both boards are flashed with the Xcarve grbl not jtech since I do not intend on anything other than cutting or engraving. What makes this headache even worse is after connecting it to picsender I could not reconnect back to easel without having to reboot everything and reinstall all drivers like it was a new machine. I verified the same issue on the other uno board as well with killing my easel connection. Also noticed when using easel the pwm no longer controls laser on off like the spindle and im pretty sure it was before and nothing has changed other than sitting all winter. I have had this laser for about a year and still have not had a chance to utilize it. I have been afraid to go outside of my comfort zone of easel until recently when I started learning vcarve because I have been sitting on that software for a couple years now with no time to learn how to use it. What am I doing wrong with picsender? Is there a better sending option other than uggs which seems even more confusing to try to use? Really starting to think I got in way over my head here I didnt realize I needed to become some sort of computer hacker or bill gates to make stuff work. I need more point and click friendly like easel

You can only have one program in control of the serial port at a time. You cannot have Easel and PicSender running at the same time.

What is the grbl error?

Which Xcarve grbl?

Which version of PicSender?

Post your $$ grbl output from the failing system.

I make sure to close one before running the other but now I cannot get easel back up and running this time. Most recent release of picsender xcarve grbl was flashed on the xcarve last summer when I gave up on the jtech flash I couldnt get on it. The tester board has the latest release grbl. The error was saying on or before line 3 sometimes said on or before line 4 with the same file the first lines if I recall right are

T1
G17
G20
M03 S0

There is not enough specific information to even guess what might be going on.

Some people have had problems with the T1 G-code statement. You can take it out of the post processor as it is not used by grbl.

There was a version of grbl 1.0c that got installed on some X-controllers that had problems.

I will try reloading grbl in a bit on it I did try removing lines of code 1 by 1 and same error each time. Even if I get that working the pic sender software renders easel useless after being connected and I still have not gotten it back up and running this time on my house PC.

I can move among Easel, UGCS, PicSender, and the Arduino IDE without causing any ill effects.

Something is wrong with your setup. We just have to figure out what it is.

I have no clue what happened Easel was up and running fine the other day but since I have tried running gcode through pic sender I seem to have lost everything now. I flashed the newest grbl on the xcarve reinstalled easel and still wont connect. I cant connect to pic sender anymore either since the new grbl flash. It is too cold to keep messing with it out there tonight so I will have to get everything up and running smoothly on my home pc with the test board and then fix the garage setup if I can figure it out in here

Can you upload the G-code file and I’ll run it here to see what I get from it
Let’s move this to a new thread, ok?

Yeah sorry should have started my own thread. All I did was a simple text outline in vcarve with jtech vcarve pp to test pic sender. I will have to upload it tomorrow when I go back out there to try and reconnect things. I will start a new topic then