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GRBL Senior Moment!

Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,633
Location
Thomasville, GA
It's been a while since I did a grbl update on my CNC and I'm trying to update to 1.1f for laser support. I start Arduino IDE from the .ino file in the 1.1f folder tree and it comes up with the usual *.h files. When I do a 'Verify', I get an error that config.h doesn't exist but it's clearly there in the folder. Any suggestions?
 
You might edit the file and save it via notepad.exe. I've seen with other compilers that if the files were edited via something like notepad++ or wordpad, it has issues reading the file.

The other help I've seen is to make sure you don't have any other instances of grbl libraries included in the 3rd party library list.
 
Last edited:
Darren Wright said:
You might edit the file and save it via notepad.exe. I've seen with other compilers that if the files were edited via something like notepad++ or wordpad, it has issues reading the file. ...
Click to expand...

When I use notepad.exe, lines of text are jumbled together, even with wordwrap clicked; if I un-click wordwrap, it gets even worse. Wordpad keeps lines of text readable.
 
I did as you suggested, the config.h error went away, but I'm getting other errors. I've never had this kind of issue before, but maybe I still don't have something in the right place.

Arduino IDE installed itself under Windows/Program Files (86). I created a 'grbl' folder in the Arduino/Libraries folder and copied the unzipped grbl tree to it. I also added the 'defaults' folder there so the 'defaults_shapeoko2' file would be there.

It's time to walk away for a bit and take a deep breath! :)
 
I've got a board I need to flash grbl on later today. I'll see if I can come up with any suggestions.

First thing, What version of the arduino ide are you using?
 
Brent Dowell said:
... First thing, What version of the arduino ide are you using?
Click to expand...

Arduino IDE v1.8.7


Vaughn McMillan said:
I find that banging my head on the keyboard is pretty therapeutic. ...
Click to expand...

My head ends up on the keyboard, too . . . but that's after one more barley pop than is really necessary. :beer:


I probably won't get back on this until Monday. Friday was the last full day of my sister's visit and we're preparing to drive her to the airport today.
 
UPDATE:

I tried compiling grbl 1.1f with three different versions of Arduino IDE: 1.8.7, 1.6.0, and 1.0.6 - got compile errors with all of them. All of them worked fine compiling 0.9g, by the way.

So, I decided to download the 1.1f hex file and upload it to the Arduino Uno using XLoader. Now, I have grbl 1.1f loaded and have been running through some checks. Most operations seem right, but the laser isn't coming on to full power. So . . .
 
Bill Arnold said:
UPDATE:

I tried compiling grbl 1.1f with three different versions of Arduino IDE: 1.8.7, 1.6.0, and 1.0.6 - got compile errors with all of them. All of them worked fine compiling 0.9g, by the way.

So, I decided to download the 1.1f hex file and upload it to the Arduino Uno using XLoader. Now, I have grbl 1.1f loaded and have been running through some checks. Most operations seem right, but the laser isn't coming on to full power. So . . .
Click to expand...

I was having that same issue, which is why I removed my splice. I guess the other things to check are that the power supply isn't going out, or if maybe the current to the laser needs adjusting. There is info on how to adjust that in the manual I believe.
 
Good deal Bill. I didn't get around to loading up the arduino stuff yesterday.

You are getting some output from it though right? Probably should hook up a mutlitester to the test ports on the board and adjust how much power it's putting out.
 
Brent Dowell said:
... You are getting some output from it though right? Probably should hook up a mutlitester to the test ports on the board and adjust how much power it's putting out.
Click to expand...

I get low level light when I switch to CCW mode for focusing.

The current limit jumpers are set on 1, 2 & 3 with 4 & 5 open.

I adjusted the current pot full ccw, then ran it up until the laser just lit up.

I ran a test with a gcode file created with VCarve using the JTech Dynamic Post Processor. All of the moves appeared correct, but the laser never came on. I saw the LED on the driver flicker occasionally.

I disconnected the laser cable and tried to check the laser current with a multimeter, but got no reading. I'll check it with a different meter tomorrow.
 
I checked the power supply situation this morning by connecting to the 12VDC supply on my CNC and then using a seperate 12VDC 5A supply - still the same problem - laser is not coming to full power.

Is there a limitation on the length of cable from the driver to the laser? To mount the driver where I want, I added about 5' of 24ga shielded cable.
 
Not that I know of, they do sell an extension cable for the laser. Might be worth a call/email to jtechphotonics.com to see if they can give any advice. It had worked when I first set it up on the old laser bed, but haven't fired it in 2 years, so maybe something got knocked around on the board in the box. They maybe able to diagnose or step you through doing it.
 
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