UGCS big problem on CANCEL or STOP command

Hello all! just got the x-carve, i’m currently using Rino, Rhino CAM, and EASEL for gcode sending. (by the way, Mec Soft just released a post processor for x-carve, this code will import into EASEL: http://mecsoft.com/downloadposts/)

I’d prefer to use UGCS for gcode sending, but it has a bad flaw, i’m surprised it hasen’t been fixed yet… when you pause the job, it stops immediately, as expected, but on this command you cant do a zero reset… so when i click on the STOP button, it seems like the program will keep runing the commands already issued, this will keep the machine going for like 30 seconds to a minute! can’t find a way to do a full immediate stop, job cancel, home position reset. the pause button doesn’t work when the stop button is pressed, and the command line is also closed when STOP is pressed… this for me is bad, what if something is going horribly wrong, or i made a mistake and my tool is getting damaged? the only solution i found was to shut down the Arduino, disconnect the COM port and reconnect… this forces me to reset the zero point which is not good at all, i could be off by 1/4 mm, still if i can get it right again, it’s not an elegant solution much less quick, as it is on easel, where if you want to do a full cancel, machine stop, and position reset, you just hit the stop button and it does all 3 things at once… is there a way to do this on UGCS??

Thanks all for your help, have a good day

carlos

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What are you using as your control electronics? X-controller? Arduino/gShield? other?

So, you want to do an immediate stop, use the current position of the spindle as Work Zero, cancel the job, start a new job at the location where the spindle stopped.

Is this correct?

I’m usind Arduino Gshield… thanks larry for your reply, UGCS closes all the options for altering the machine in any form while running a job, so no jogging, no resetting zero point, no going back to zero point, etc. this is also true if you hit the PAUSE button, no options available, even the command line is closed. when you hit the stop button the machine keeps going until it finishes all the issued commands, no movement possible while this happens… this is a big deal that needs to be fixed! there’s probably a way to do a full machine stop/job stop, back to zero instantly, as in EASEL… if someone knows, please help

thanks! cheers

carlos

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The developers are aware of this problem. I don’t know of anyway to make UGCS do what you want it to do at this time. The command stream is buffered on both the PC side and the grbl side of the communications path. Grbl has the immediate stopping capability through the feed hold command/Arduino pin, that happens in real time, but UGCS just lets the buffer empty from the point you ask it to stop, in current versions.

no current way with ugcs as far as i know. i run my code right now in small chunks because of this. they do have a platform version that may have better functionality. i havent been able to get it working on my tablet yet so i havent tested it.

there are a couple of other senders that may work better:
grblControl
bCnc
estlcam (not free, but you can download a test version)

Thanks Abear, i’ve seen the first two very roughly, estlcam looks promising, it’s not free but it’s not expensive either, $50… i’d be willing to pay even more for a really good, sturdy machine controller/sender, ugcs has given me enough trouble, i’m always nervous when a job is running… EASEL is much more reliable as a sender… anyway, i’ll keep looking for a high quality sender/controller.
cheers all
carlos

Doesn’t seem like estlcam can import gcode, can it?..

not sure, haven’t played with it yet. However, I just found grbl panel. check that out. so far I am liking it and may download the source code and modify a few things that bug me, but otherwise, has tons of useful features.

Estlcam imports gcode very well! I’ve yet to have any freezes midway or other problems mentioned with UGS.

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NICE… that’s all i wanted to hear, thank you cory!