After reading through this string of discussion, I didn’t see anyone post the particular hex needed for the x-carve. I am going to try to temporarily set up the laser from Jtechphotonics which requires me to flash grbl for their program. I would like to be able to return the system back to the normal x-carve afterwards. Can someone point me in the right direction to the hex file so I can flash that back to the arduino after using the laser? Thank you. V/R J.R.
Hi Jeremy,
You shouldn’t need any particular hex. The process I used was the one described in the grbl wiki for compiling grbl. The Arduino IDE has integrated support for compiling and flashing grbl in one step now. After flashing grbl, you can go to the Easel setup wizard to reconfigure your settings for your machine.
Using a specific hex is an option, but I find this way easier, personally.
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Great thanks JeffTalbot. Good feedback. I feel a bit more confident about trying the laser out now and being able to return to the normal function of the xcarve.
I went ahead and followed the jtechpro directions for the shapeoko 2 and have not been successful getting my jtechpro laser to work yet. I am now attempting to return to easel to essentially restart the process and the gshield is basically twitching and doesn’t seem to be using the easel set up wizard very well…now what???
I would still like to see the default settings posted.
I installed Easel local to get the default settings setup but I am
getting the message that it cannot find myprog.exe when it tries to run.
This does not seem to be an executable that is available in Windows
7. Why would it need it if it was not included in the easel local
package?
We have posted a version of grbl that contains the settings we flash to all controllers we ship with X-Carve here:
When do you get this error? Are you trying to run Easel Local manually by double clicking on it? Normally it should install and run as a background service and is used behind the scenes by the Easel web application.
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I recently used this one:
grbl0_9i_X_Carve_500mm_ACME (1) (1).hex
https://discuss-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/40663d609f18fdba06c469750eeb57c24e8ffb37a574.hex
Hello Jeff,
Are you saying that once I install the drivers for the arduino, I won’t need to flash grbl now? (I’m very ignorant with arduino/grbl speak, so go easy on me)! I finished assembling my X-carve last night, and I installed the arduino drivers, but I could not get the machine to connect to Easel no matter what I tried. I searched the forums for 2+ hours looking for ideas, but nothing I found worked. I looked on device manager, saw that the arduino was assigned to port 4, and I input 4 on the machine setup in Easel (I even went into the arduino “control panel”, and selected port 4 for the Uno), but all I got was the “spinning wheel” on the Easel set-up page and the process never furthered. I got the blue light on the arduino, and the 3 green axis lights came on. I did notice that once the computer tried to connect to X-carve, the 3 green axis lights would turn off, turn back on for a split second, turn back off, then come back on for about three seconds…and keep repeating that pattern without connecting. I can turn the spindle on and off, and I tried connecting with that switch if the logic position and off position…no dice. I turned off Windows firewall, but no help there. I will try a powered USB hub today after work to see if that helps. I’m using a desktop computer with XP. In the meantime, any ideas?
You need to have grbl on your Arduino. Inventables flashes grbl onto every gshield we ship. If you install the Arduino drivers without writing any new programs to the Arduino, then you shouldn’t need to re-flash grbl. If you accidentally install the “blink” program (or anything else), you will need to re-flash grbl.
Inventables has posted a new page in our support center that details how to install our forked version of grbl that is designed to work with X-Carve:
https://inventables.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/2069033-grbl
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I hope I didn’t install the “blink” program, but I honestly don’t know for sure. I followed the driver install directions, hopefully to the letter. I’ll use the re-flash as a last resort. Thank you for your help with this! Hopefully I can be up and running later today!
So, last night, I tried the powered USB hub, no luck. I uninstalled the Arduino driver, hit the reset buttons on the g-shield and arduino, reinstalled driver and used xloader to re-flash grbl (after having .NET framework errors not letting me install xloader). After hitting the reset buttons, I could not get the 3 axis lights to come back on. I tried using my laptop with Windows 7, no luck. After 5 hours of trying multiple options, multiple times, I gave up. But this morning, before I headed to work, I disconnected the power supply cord, hit reset buttons (both arduino and g-shield), uninstalled/reinstalled arduino driver, re-flashed grbl, and was able to get the green lights back on. I tried connecting in easel (port 4 as my device manager says), and it still would not connect. The difference this time is that I could here the stepper motors engaging when the green lights would flash on and off. I then saw that the z-axis green light went off, but the other two stayed on, so I’m thinking I have a wiring issue. I also noticed that the g-shield doesn’t really fit “snug” onto the arduino…if I were to move one of the stepper motor wire harnesses, I can un-seat the g-shield fairly easily. I’ll try to call customer support when possible, but since I am at work, I might not be able to right away. Your thoughts?
As has been indicated in a number of threads on here, since the gshield is not seating properly, is it possible you have the incorrect header pins? ( I did)
Are they touching down on the housing preventing the gshield from seating?
Look closely at where ALL of the pins are soldered to the gshield. any unsolderd ones?
Intermittent contact will make you crazy and cause hair loss.
I’ll check again when I get home, but I’m almost positive I received the correct header pins. I did do a continuity check from the solder joint to the pin ends, making sure that none had solder touching each other. I’ll unplug the power supply and remove the g-shield/arduino out of the case, and try seating them together to see how they should fit before reinstalling in the case. Thanks for the advice!
I also had a marginal connection tbetween the 2 boards. There was a not in the instructions to not use the spacers (there were none). No matter how often I tried if the Arduino was fastened in and then the grbl was mated there was a lousy connection that came apart if anything (connected cables) moved or jiggled.
I talked to support, they said no spacers needed, the connection should be good.
I decided to add a spacer anyway, one that added ~ 1/8" to the distance of the Arduino from the bottom of the metal housing and was able to get a good connection between the boards and have been running for 3-4 house and all is good.
(I built a 3D printer a couple of years ago and had a similar problem in mating the Arduino and Ramps board and resolved it with spacers too.)
FYI.
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I had the issue with the gshield not seating well also. The header was hitting the bottom edge of the opening, so I used some painters tape and marked a line about 1/4" below the opening. 1/8" probably would have been enough. The I took a Dremel to it and made my opening bigger. Now all is well.
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I was able to get my machine up and running today finally. I think it was a combination of the gshield and arguing not being seated properly for the same reason with needing to cut some of the enclosure out, as well as my Firefox browser not allowing easel to connect to the machine.
@JeffTalbot, I’ve reflashed my arduno with grbl after going over many forum posts yet cant find one that will work for me. I get to the easel setup and it freezes on configuring z axis for acme point and stays th3re for hours no matter what I do. I have a 1000 x 1000 mm with nema 23 steppers and acme threaded rod. this is what my read out on UGCS comes up as:
Grbl 0.9i [‘$’ for help]
$$
$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=25 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=6 (dir port invert mask:00000110)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=18 (status report mask:00010010)
$11=0.020 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=0 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=0 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=500.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=250.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=250.000 (y, step/mm)
$102=188.976 (z, step/mm)
$110=500.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=500.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=500.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=10.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=10.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=10.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=790.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=790.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=200.000 (z max travel, mm)
ok
could use your help bro
Mike R
Hi Mike,
Are you using Chrome? If so, could you open the javascript console by doing one of the following and looking for any red errors. If you see any, send them over to us. We might want to take this problem to email. You can email us at help@inventables.com.
Open the javascript console:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + J (Mac) or Control + Shift + J (Windows/Linux).
- (or) Select Chrome Menu > More Tools > JavaScript Console.
Jeff
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Some of your grbl parameters are incorrect. Once you get Easel working you might want to check back here with your new grbl parameter values to see if Easel corrects them.
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sent