UGS problems getting set up

X-Carve Troubleshooting
1

I’m pretty new around here and I am trying to use Universal Gcode Sender for the first time. I have downloaded the 2.0(nightly) version and installed it. I open the UGS platform. The Firmware is set to GRBL. It’s set to Com1 which is correct. and I changed the Baud to the highest setting (230400). and I click the Connect Button.
I get the message: **** Connected to COM1 @ 230400 baud ****

But nothing happens. None of the buttons work. All the jog buttons are still greyed out and all of the buttons in the Common actions section pop up an error window that says: “No supported XXX method for this version” Where XXX is whichever button I clicked.

I’m guessing I am missing something pretty simple but I can’t find any basic howtos or help on how to get it running the first time. Everything I can find on USG assumes it is installed and running and they just talk about features and how to use them.

I would appreciate any help you guys got for me.

Thanks,

2

115200

3

OK I changed it to 115200 and reconnected. Same Problems. Also the top line in the DRO section says “OFF-LINE” in grey. Should it show something else?

4

Are you sure COM1 is correct?
Does it still say it connected?

5

I shut down UGS and restarted it. Now when I connect the Job buttons turn black instead of grey but they still don’t do anything. All of the other buttons are still not working.

6

The connect button changes to a Disconnect button and when i click it i get a “**** Connection closed ****” message in the console

7

Does it show an ALARM state?
Do you have homing switches?

8

I forced in a COM3 and it now connected and I have an ALARM. at the bottom in a smaller font it says “ALARM:PROBE”

9

??

Did you try to probe?

Try to reconnect and home the machine (if you have switches installed).

10

No, I just plugged the probe in and the bottom alarm message went away. I clicked home and it homed and the big ALARM changed to idle. Do I have to leave the probe plugged in?

11

No. It might be seeing a connection on the probe. I don’t use UGS, but there wouldn’t be a probe alarm unless you’re probing.

12

Reconnect, no probe, and home the machine. Does it go to idle?

13

OK things seem to be working now. When I plug in the Probe the “ALARM:PROBE” message goes away and when I unplug it the alarm comes back. I does not seem to bother anything.

14

I don’t have an X-Carve and I don’t use UGS, so I’ll leave that question to one of those guys.
Out of curiosity, if you plug in the probe and make a connection (alligator clip to probe), does the “alarm” go away?

15

The X-Carve has an optional Connector mounted to the Z-axis for the probe. You wouldn’t want to leave your probe hanging off of your Z-Axis while you are running a file but its and easy place to plug it in while you use it. If I plug in the probe the error goes away. When I unplug the probe the error comes back. It looks like it is just telling me the probe is unplugged.

16

Check the grbl parameters to since if polarity is changed ($6) for the probe.

17

Thanks for your help Neil!

18

Larry, $6=0

19

There’s something wrong in there. You should not be seeing that behavior. Try running UGCS 1.0.9 to see if your issue is with the machine or UGCS. The nightly build is, well, the nightly build. You may have a version with some errors in it.

First make sure that your JAVA component is up to date.

Be careful with your terminology. There are multiple versions of UGCS, namely, the “nightly build” and another version called “UGCS Platform”. Two different animals.

20

The DRO will show PROBE when the probe is closed. Inventables, for their own reasons, chose a probe socket that is normally closed. If you have nothing in the socket, you’ll see that on UGS.

It should not stop your machine from running.

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