Mechanica Software – GRBL Controller

GRBL CONTROLLER

Informatie (ENG):

Grbl Controller is software that is designed to send GCode to CNC machines, such as 3D milling machines. It isn’t super smart, it just needs to give the user a nice way to get commands down to whatever controller they are using.

Version 3.0 is has been optimized for the Arduino to control Grbl shields. I am using it to control my Shapeoko milling machine. It is the only program I use with my Shapeoko in order to maximize the amount of real-world testing.

Grbl Controller is written using the Qt cross-platform libraries. It also gets some help from the QextSerialPort library to simplify choosing the correct USB serial port.

Qt is pretty cool because you can create a nice GUI application for Windows, Mac and Linux. Qt was originally developed by Nokia (ok, Trolltech to be exact, bought by Nokia). To develop in Qt you must be proficient in C++.

Why am I writing about this? I wanted a controller that would run on an old Pentium III laptop running Debian 6 – the only option was Universal G-Code-Sender written in Java, which unfortunately ran really slow on 256 MB of RAM due to the Java requirements. There is a pretty nice Windows-only project called GCodeSender that has been in use for the Shapeoko project since the early days.

I found a project on github called GrblHoming aka Grbl Controller, which was originally developed by Kosme, which showed promise for running native C++ on Linux, however it needed some attention.

I forked the project and started tweaking it to compile and run under Linux. I got it working and posted a version. Although it mostly worked, the bugs started to, well, bug me. I also knew people were interested in a native Mac version, so lots of hours later (mostly spent learning the ins and outs of Qt) I’ve produced version 3.0, which provides some neat enhancements like a status bar and time elapsed. It is also a near full rewrite to take into account how Qt protects memory objects across multiple threads using “signals and slots”.

For information on how to build it on all three platforms, check out this multi-page “manual”.

Give it a try and let me know if it works for you.

Here is an interface of the Grbl Controller V3.0. In this shot it is connected to my test Arduino running an older version of the Grbl code. The latest code doesn’t echo commands.

Using Grbl Controller 3.0

Preparing

Power up Arduino and shield
With motor off, manually position milling bit over origin (0,0) on the work piece. The origin is the intersection of X and Y on your CAD drawing.
Start Grbl Controller
Select COM port and open

Adjusting

Choose appropriate step size (start with 1)
Press the Z down button, the milling bit should move down towards the work piece 1 mm. The Z jog speed can be adjusted in menu Tools -> Options
Repeat until the the bit is almost touching
Turn on motor
Press Grbl Controller’s Reset button to zero the Arduino Grbl code

Sending G-code

Choose Send GCode radio button
Open desired file, usually .nc
Press Begin. If for some reason there is a long, slow traverse, the controller may time out. Increase timeout value in Tools -> Options

Finish

Turn off motor when milling is complete

Emergency

Press the Reset, Stop or Close button on Grbl Controller – the steppers should stop within a second or two. If not, power off your shield

V3.6.1
Executable release rollup

IMPORTANT: Manual/Jog control defaults to new mode which doesn't update the position.
This was done to ensure that jog motions are as fast as possible. However, if you want
to have the original 3.5.1 and earlier behavior, go to Tools | Options | Display
and change radio button to "Always Request but without Idle Check". Sending files
still updates position, it is only manual/jog that does not.

V3.6
Enhancements
- Options dialog is now tabbed to better fit widgets
- Ability to handle 4th axis as either A, B, or C (requires correct grbl version for axis),
  please see https://github.com/zapmaker/GrblHoming/issues/56 and 
  https://github.com/LETARTARE/Grbl_with_Arduino/tree/master/Grbl845Mega2560
  which is the A,B,C,U,V,W axes grbl variant.
- LETARTARE: Added UVW axes
- #45: Added ability to completely or partially turn off querying position from grbl to
  help improve responsiveness. The new default is to disable waiting for idle before a
  jog or manual command, which speeds up those operations. Additional, you can 
  completely turn it off position reporting during jog or manual control which will 
  result in light-greyed LCD numbers. A button to query the position has been
  added, which will provided up-to-date position at the time the button is pushed.
  Look in Options | Display tab for new button options. You can also set the rate
  at which the query takes place from 0.5-10 seconds, if it is enabled. Setting a time
  that is too long may result in the system waiting too long to retrieve the final position
  before control is handed back. Also, the current position dot on the Visualizer turns 
  from red to green when the position is not accurately known to match the color of the path.
Bug fix
- Fixed fourth axis adjust buttons and coordinate display greyed out when they shouldn't
  be (under specific operating circumstances).

V3.5.1
Enhancements
- Made subtle modifications to the command preload when sending a file so that the
  command queue on grbl is as full as possible. Previously we were depleting the
  queue and then filling it again. This has possible negative performance implications,
  although testing shows them to be negligible, probably because we immediately send 
  a command after the last ok is received.
- The status list view now supports only a maximum of 200 items when active. This was
  done for the slower processors like the raspberry pi to prevent excessive CPU usage
  when many commands lines exist in a file. When the user grabs the scrollbar, all 
  items are restored back into the view. 
- A new progress bar has been added showing the current items in the grbl queue during
  a file send. If the number of items for some reason drops to 0 the label text will
  flash red. For this 0 count to occur is a very rare event.
- Added the ability to set the delay between sending of characters to grbl. The theory
  is that grbl can drop characters if the sending computer is very fast. There is still
  some debate on whether this is happening, so I provided the ability to set this value
  in the options from 0 to 20 ms. Note: The default of 0 ms delay is back, like in 3.4.6
  and unlike in 3.5 which has a hardcoded 10 ms delay.
Bug fix
- Modified the status window redraw to always ensure items show on the bottom when the
  redraw timer expires.
  
V3.5
Bug fix
- For very fast computers, they send characters with virtually no delay between which 
  requires grbl to process the serial port as fast as it can. The problem is that 
  grbl has an interrupt service routine that can slow down the processing it does
  of incoming characters on its serial port. This causes lost characters in its input
  buffer, which results in hung gcode file processing or errors. To fix, I have added
  a slight delay (10ms) after sending every character. This has been confirmed to 
  solve the lost character problem on grbl.
  
V3.4.6
Bug fix
- Scrolling of content now completes each time. Previously there were conditions where 
  auto-scrolling would fail and you would have to manually scroll to see some lines
- Fixes to support 4-axis Mega2560 (tested with actual Mega2560 running 0.81 c-axis).
  Includes fix to command filter to support A/B/C axis commands
- Fixed minor issue where connecting with wrong baud rate can cause long delay before
  you can again control the Open/Close button
- Incorporated more translations from LETARTARE

V3.4.5
Bug fix
- When modifying the ui files for auto widget rescaling, broke a number of programmatically
  greyed out widgets, mainly, you couldn't reopen the port after closing it. Now those are fixed.

Enhancement
- Incorporated LETARTARE's localization file for French so that it is possible to see
  locale-specific text in the installed version of Grbl Controller (see trlocale subdir)

V3.4.4
Bug fix
- Incorporated LETARTARE's 4-axis (C-axis) implementation - thanks! (Issues #29 and #34)
  (added option to enable/disable 4-axis mode) - potential issue that needs investigating:
  Can this be enabled on the fly or if it requires restart of Grbl Controller?
- Incorporated LETARTARE's translation support (French)
- Incorporated LETARTARE's fix for command history (#26)
- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #17 (#33). Z axis slider now moves in 0.1 inch increments 
  when in inches mode.
- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #27. If work units are inches, now displays inches, 
  not mm.
Enhancements
- Ability to resize entire screen and widgets. Scales down to close to 600x400 pixels
  for tiny displays; also remembers last size and position of screen. (#37)
- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #10 (#33). Popup appears to remind you to zero position
  if starting a new job.

V3.4.3
Bug fix
- Unsupported G43/G44 commands include following Z command which causes problems when 
  left standalone. The entire line must be removed.
- Now treat M2 and M30 as unsupported as they cause grbl lockup when using aggressive
  preloading.
- Moved program version define into its own header file so fewer files need recompiling
  with a version change.  
  
V3.4.2
Bug fix
- If a gcode command line is an arc with X,Y,Z and z-rate limiting enabled, fixed to
  properly split the z rate to not use the G2 command and use G1 instead as grbl
  was generating an error with the G2.

V3.4.1
Code sync
- Fixes to code now allows code to compile under Qt5 without error and also resolves 
  some localization issues. Continues to properly compile under Qt4 also. No normally 
  noticable functional differences.

V3.4
Enhancements
- Z-axis slider now allows rapid control of Z-axis positioning. This feature is still
  being evaluated for proper behavior due to some user-interface issues.
  If you run into trouble, please report a bug.
- All axis control buttons have been permanently enabled regardless of whether or not an
  axis command is in progress - this allows more rapid updating. Note - there is no error
  checking for the case of entering too many commands for the Grbl buffer. This is unlikely
  but possible.
- Now supports setting of baud rates from 9600 to 115200
- Aggressive preload enabled is now the default. If the user upgraded from an older 
  Grbl Controller and had it disabled, a popup will warn them that it is being enabled. 
  They still have the option to disable, if desired
- Logging is turned on by default (only for new installs)
- All detected errors are collected and displayed after a file is run in the status view
- If filtering unsupported commands, all commands filtered out are listed after the file
  is run.
- Logging now gives the line number of each command sent from the file and the corresponding
  ok or error also contains the line number.
- An option has been provided to reduce the precision of lines that exceed Grbl's line buffer,
  which by default is 50 characters. The code removes the arguments with the greatest precision
  first and ending with at least one decimal place of precision. Errors are generated if it 
  cannot remove sufficient precision for the available buffer space. The buffer size on Grbl
  is configurable in the options, as older Grbls have 50 characters and newer have 70.

Bug Fixes
- If Grbl stops responding (waiting for an ok), Soft Reset Grbl now functions correctly 
  (so you can soft reset without having to restart Grbl Controller). This affects aggressive
  preload mode only.
- Commands to start/stop coolant coupled with dwell commands and aggressive preload cause
  Grbl's modal logic to stop sending OK responses (on purpose). This was solved by waiting
  for the OK of the coolant off before sending additional commands. It is not clear whether
  this fixes all possible such modal problems, so use carefully and report any anomalies.

V3.3.9
Enhancement
- We now are able to remember and restore ports that are not visible to QextSerialEnumerator
  so that user doesn't have to retype the ghost port every time they start Grbl Controller.
  
V3.3.8
Enhancement/Fix
- Modified code that detects presence of Grbl upon serial port opening, the original
  assumption was that we would get the version string upon serial port open, but some
  Arduino-compatible boards like the AlaMode did not behave this way. Fixed the code
  so that if there is no response upon serial port open, we send a soft reset (Ctrl-X)
  and wait for the version string. Tested to work with AlaMode and with traditional
  Ardiuno Uno.

V3.3.7
Enhancement
- Made COM port field editable

V3.3.6
Bug Fixes
- Fixed decimal on the LCD display to always show three decimal points so that 
  it is easier to read the display (it doesn't jump around anymore). Tested to
  hold up to 9999.999 and -9999.999, which should handle 20 x 20 meter Shapeokos.

V3.3.5
Bug Fixes
- Changed how we detect Grbl upon opening on COM port. 
  ** NOTE ** This change will probably break older V0.51 capability
  Previously we sent out a linefeed to trigger a response, however, this caused problems 
  on some arduino variants and would not result in correct sync with the controller. 
  Fixed by no longer sending the linefeed and instead just watch the port for Grbl response.
- Changed the default "short" wait timeout to 2 seconds from 1 second in case of slow responses.

V3.3.4
Enhancements
- Added option checkbox to choose to filter gcode or send it as-is to the controller. The
  filtering removes gcode that is not supported in v0.8 of Grbl, which reduces the error
  reports from Grbl. Some files generate unexpected codes like G91.1 which can actually
  affect the motion in unexpected ways- filtering helps prevent this from happening. 
  
  IMPORTANT: The default is to not filter, which is different than previous versions! This 
  may result in unexpected command processing. If using advanced gcodes, perform an air run 
  first.
  
Bug Fixes
- Mach3 files have no whitespace in the gcode. Fixed code to handle such files. Affects
  the Visualizer only.
- The filtering logic was fixed to properly filter gcode when sending a file - previous 
  versions would filter out gcode that Grbl supported.
- Changed validator for double (i.e. float) values so that code compiles under older Qt 
  versions.
- Changed Visualizer display to say Width-X and Height-Y instead of Width and Depth to make
  it less confusing.

V3.3.3
Bug Fix
- Modal G arc (where G2 or G3 is specified once followed by X/Y/I/J) was failing for certain
  arc combinations in the visualizer due to resetting the cw to false with each line. Fixed
  to not reset the cw variable and retain from previous lines.
  
V3.3.2
Bug Fix
- G-command can now be set once and multiple X/Y commands then issued on lines following
  (Allows "ShapeOko_Calibration_Pattern_01b.ngc to be rendered)
  
V3.3.1
Bug Fixes
- Hardened the visualizer's file parser so that it supports spaces between positional 
  arguments and values
- No longer skips last line in file if that line contains a valid command
- No longer crashes if line contains one or more stray whilespace characters
- Also accepts semi-colon as a comment line (in addition to existing open paren and percent)

V3.3
Enhancemetns
- Added "Visualizer" feature. It is now possible to see top-down view of the
  file to be milled.
  * Shows actual file units (inches or millimeters) independent of coordinate display
  * Auto-scaling
  * Supports limited subset of commands (G0/G1/G2/G3)
  * Visualizer on tab panel shared with Axis control
  * Actual last spindle cutter position is shown; auto-scales to include both cutter
    and file
  * When file is being run, overlay of all commands sent to Grbl is shown in green
  * Displays dimensions of design, along with design's width and depth in file's units

V3.2
Enhancements
- Support for "Aggressive Preload" of commands when sending file to Grbl
  * File's lines are sent to Grbl as fast as Grbl can take it, allowing
    Grbl to optimize acceleration. Some files have been observed to take
	1/3 the time to complete!
  * Modeled after Grbl's own python script (computes/predicts how much
    space is available in Grbl's input buffer)
  * Due to the additional processing, CPU usage is greater than normal mode
    and it has been optimized to run fine on a Raspberry Pi
  * Normal (non-preload) mode is the default
  * Response processing code now waits until a line has been received rather
    than collect a long stream to behave like the python script
  * LCD updates have been set to be roughly once every second independent
    of rate of line sends/preloads
- Z-rate limit feature now includes default xy rate setting
  * Z rate limiting only occurs during file sends. If z is included with x&y
    then they are split into two commands automatically and the xy rate setting
	is used for the xy portion
  * Since feed rate is modal, code will fix any subsequent xy items that are 
    missing feed rate specifiers (cambam correctly adds them, but others may not)
- Replaced basic logging with Log4Qt logging capabilities.
  * Support for error, warning, info, debug message types. All messages are timestamped.
  * More diagnostic messages added, mainly around sending and receiving from com ports
  * Only error and warning are displayed in release build, all are displayed in debug.
  * If the user enables file logging, all messages are stored regardless of build type
  * File is output to user's home folder
  * If you enable or disable logging to file, you must restart Grbl Controller
  * You can split out diagnostic from status messages by grepping for (DIAG) or (STATUS)
- Changed menus so that the first menu is File > Exit. Menus now use accelerators

Bug Fixes
- Fixed problems with z-rate limit feature, previous version was not implemented correctly.
- Fixed subtle issues with sending bytes to COM port
  * On really fast Windows PCs, the default timeout values would occasionally result in
    a line not being sent. This was fixed by changing the write timeout from 10 to
	500 ms by hardcoding it into the QextSerialPort library. This was only observed in
	aggressive preload mode, never in normal mode.

Known issues
- New reponse line detect mode requires more processing because mainly of the faster
  stream of status messages. To get around this, certain features have been disabled
  in the status view so that CPU usage is manageable on the Raspberry Pi, specifically
  the horizontal scroll bar is not available. Turn on file logging if you wish to see
  the entire line.
- When using aggressive preload, any error messages returned by Grbl are not synced
  to sent messages (they come back randomly). This can be confusing.
- If running preload, it can take longer for steppers to stop after a Stop command
  due to the number of items in Grbl's queue. The only way to stop sooner is to 
  press Close / Reset button
- Under exteme CPU loads (unlikely to occur with recent optimizations), the "runtime"
  display does not display accurate times, oddly, it displays the same time that would
  occur if not under load
  
Tested on cardboard using file provided by user:
- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8c, aggressive mode (~4 minute run)
- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8c, normal mode (~10 minute run)
- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8a, aggressive mode(~4 minute run)
- Raspberry Pi, 0.8c, aggressive mode (~4 minute run)
- Raspberry Pi, 0.8c, aggressive mode and z-limit (~6 minute run)

V3.1.2  (unofficial release, optimizations for Raspberry Pi)
Enhancements
- Optimized multiline write to status window to use faster list-based approach
- Removed unnecessary main window repaint after every line added to status window
- Fixed options window text positioning so that it appears proper on the pi

V3.1.1 (unofficial release, adjustments for Raspberry Pi)
Enhancements
- Changed measurement units in LCD from "inches" to "in" (cosmetic)
- Shortened text and adjusted main window layout for the text size on the pi

V3.1
Enhancements
- Supports Grbl 0.8c. Still supports 0.8a. 0.51 is supported but without LCDs.
- Grbl settings dialog is now a table of dynamic length depending on # of params.
- LCD position data is now obtained from Grbl and is *not* computed
- Added LCD displays for both machine and work coordinates
- Cycling of Grbl via COM port toggling has been completely removed, except
  that Close button has now been renamed Close / Reset.
- Position data on Grbl is persisted as long as possible to allow for repositioning, etc.
- Zero work coordinates has been added (G92)
- Go-to-home feature added (lifts tool 5 mm and traverses to x=0, y=0)
- Option to put manual command (back) into absolute mode after jog button command
- Grbl Soft reset (Ctrl-X) button added
- Z-axis rate limiting capability added. Only affects file, not jog or manual commands.
- User is required to specify which measurement mode they are using, mm or inches:
  * Default is millimeters
  * Grbl is configured to operate in either mm or inches
  * If a file is sent in inches and user is in mm, it will auto-restore to mm
    after the file has been sent (and vice-versa, mm->inches)
- 0.8c enhancements:
  * Displays current Grbl state (i.e. Run, Idle, etc.)
  * LCDs display whether values are in inches or millimeters
  * Unlock Grbl button added ($X)
  * Determines and sets parser state for current mm/inch command mode ($G)
  * Determines and sets coordinate units via $13
- Removed annoying "No movement expected for command" message
- Flags that cross threads have been changed to use QAtomicInt
- Version is now shown in title bar
- A basic log file feature has been added
- Runs on the Raspberry Pi!

Known Issues
- The registry key product name has been changed from GCodeSender to GrblController
  *** WARNING: Old settings are not migrated ****
- Switching between millimeters and inches works, but has not been fully tested
- Go to home has not been fully tested with inches mode
- Manually issuing $13 or G20/G21 can confuse the program

V3.0
Enhancements
- Nearly a full code rewrite to ensure ease-of-use and robustness
- Percentage complete progress bar for files; also shows time elapsed sending file.
- Reset button now cycles COM port which causes Arduino to stop steppers and
  reinitialize position to 0,0,0 (No more manual Auduino resets!)
- Settings configurations are now stored using QSettings class for platform independence.
- Only available COM ports are now shown. Uses third-party QextSerialPort library.
- App remembers last COM port used, last folder, last file extension used after restart
- Ability to configure wait-for-response time
- Status list window now shows both sent and received data
- Error responses are ignored during file send (nearly 100% of the time they are not important)
- Z-jog speed using buttons is configurable
- Radio buttons to select mode have been removed in favor of enabling/disabling widgets based
  on current context. This simplifies usage.
- Popups have been removed in favor of writing errors to status list window

Bug fixes
- Overall code hardening
- Properly implementing Qt signals and slots across the board

Build verification
- Windows 7 64 bit using MinGW
- Inno Setup for Windows, installs successfully on Windows 7
- Mac OSX Mountain Lion, target 64 bit and 32 bit executables
- Qt Mac installer successfully installs and runs on Mountain Lion and 10.5 32 bit Intel
- Linux: Builds successfully on Debian 6, Ubuntu 12.10

V2.1x1

NOTE: Changes were only focused on Arduino GRBL capabilities with the Shapeoko, so 
things like Tool Change were not tested.

Enhancements
- Improved handling of response code - this is the most significant change as it 
ensures reliable send/response handling when sending a file to the Grbl processor.
- Manual command now allows hitting return and command is sent. No need to press Go.
- Default job step size changed from 0.01 to 1 mm
- Compiles and runs under Linux now (tested with Debian and latest Qt)
- Works with old 168 Arduino processor (except that old code is buggy and not recommended)
- Disabled "go to home at end of job". The arduino code doesn't handle it correctly 
and mills straight back into and through your work. Checkbox in settings has no effect.

Bug fixes
- Fixed crash when options file is not present the first time run
- Fixed crash when trying to get GRBL settings from device
- Settings work with 168 (8 settings) and 328 processors (10 settings)
- Fixed Stop to call proper routine stopsig - now Stop button works correctly

-------------------------------------------------------------
Fork by Zapmaker at this rev
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v2.1a

Bug fixes

- Corrected an issue that caused the program to crash if the g-code had blank lines.

V2.1 

New Features

- Gcode that is valid but is not recognized by GRBL gets filtered and it is not sent.

Bug fixes

- Corrected an issue that prevented manually sent Gcode for being displayed correctly.
- Corrected an issue with the images not displaying.

V2.0 Major release

- Improved the port handling reducing opening and closing frecuency.
- Added the ability to type and send commands directly. 
- Support for tool change instructions. If enabled it pauses execution, raises the spindle, goes to a fixed location for toolchange, waits for tool change, and continues excecution.
- Added About window.

V1.0c Minor

Bug fixes

- Corrected a problem when adjusting axis that caused all axis to move at the same time. Caused by grbl starting in incremental programming.

V1.0b Minor

Bug fixes

- Corrected a bug in the adjusting script.

V1.0a Minor

Bug fixes

- Fixed a bug reading some file formats that avoided the dials from updating.

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V3.6.1

Executable release rollup

IMPORTANT: Manual/Jog control defaults to new mode which doesn't update the position.

This was done to ensure that jog motions are as fast as possible. However, if you want

to have the original 3.5.1 and earlier behavior, go to Tools | Options | Display

and change radio button to "Always Request but without Idle Check". Sending files

still updates position, it is only manual/jog that does not.

V3.6

Enhancements

- Options dialog is now tabbed to better fit widgets

- Ability to handle 4th axis as either A, B, or C (requires correct grbl version for axis),

please see https://github.com/zapmaker/GrblHoming/issues/56 and

https://github.com/LETARTARE/Grbl_with_Arduino/tree/master/Grbl845Mega2560

which is the A,B,C,U,V,W axes grbl variant.

- LETARTARE: Added UVW axes

- #45: Added ability to completely or partially turn off querying position from grbl to

help improve responsiveness. The new default is to disable waiting for idle before a

jog or manual command, which speeds up those operations. Additional, you can

completely turn it off position reporting during jog or manual control which will

result in light-greyed LCD numbers. A button to query the position has been

added, which will provided up-to-date position at the time the button is pushed.

Look in Options | Display tab for new button options. You can also set the rate

at which the query takes place from 0.5-10 seconds, if it is enabled. Setting a time

that is too long may result in the system waiting too long to retrieve the final position

before control is handed back. Also, the current position dot on the Visualizer turns

from red to green when the position is not accurately known to match the color of the path.

Bug fix

- Fixed fourth axis adjust buttons and coordinate display greyed out when they shouldn't

be (under specific operating circumstances).

V3.5.1

Enhancements

- Made subtle modifications to the command preload when sending a file so that the

command queue on grbl is as full as possible. Previously we were depleting the

queue and then filling it again. This has possible negative performance implications,

although testing shows them to be negligible, probably because we immediately send

a command after the last ok is received.

- The status list view now supports only a maximum of 200 items when active. This was

done for the slower processors like the raspberry pi to prevent excessive CPU usage

when many commands lines exist in a file. When the user grabs the scrollbar, all

items are restored back into the view.

- A new progress bar has been added showing the current items in the grbl queue during

a file send. If the number of items for some reason drops to 0 the label text will

flash red. For this 0 count to occur is a very rare event.

- Added the ability to set the delay between sending of characters to grbl. The theory

is that grbl can drop characters if the sending computer is very fast. There is still

some debate on whether this is happening, so I provided the ability to set this value

in the options from 0 to 20 ms. Note: The default of 0 ms delay is back, like in 3.4.6

and unlike in 3.5 which has a hardcoded 10 ms delay.

Bug fix

- Modified the status window redraw to always ensure items show on the bottom when the

redraw timer expires.

V3.5

Bug fix

- For very fast computers, they send characters with virtually no delay between which

requires grbl to process the serial port as fast as it can. The problem is that

grbl has an interrupt service routine that can slow down the processing it does

of incoming characters on its serial port. This causes lost characters in its input

buffer, which results in hung gcode file processing or errors. To fix, I have added

a slight delay (10ms) after sending every character. This has been confirmed to

solve the lost character problem on grbl.

V3.4.6

Bug fix

- Scrolling of content now completes each time. Previously there were conditions where

auto-scrolling would fail and you would have to manually scroll to see some lines

- Fixes to support 4-axis Mega2560 (tested with actual Mega2560 running 0.81 c-axis).

Includes fix to command filter to support A/B/C axis commands

- Fixed minor issue where connecting with wrong baud rate can cause long delay before

you can again control the Open/Close button

- Incorporated more translations from LETARTARE

V3.4.5

Bug fix

- When modifying the ui files for auto widget rescaling, broke a number of programmatically

greyed out widgets, mainly, you couldn't reopen the port after closing it. Now those are fixed.

Enhancement

- Incorporated LETARTARE's localization file for French so that it is possible to see

locale-specific text in the installed version of Grbl Controller (see trlocale subdir)

V3.4.4

Bug fix

- Incorporated LETARTARE's 4-axis (C-axis) implementation - thanks! (Issues #29 and #34)

(added option to enable/disable 4-axis mode) - potential issue that needs investigating:

Can this be enabled on the fly or if it requires restart of Grbl Controller?

- Incorporated LETARTARE's translation support (French)

- Incorporated LETARTARE's fix for command history (#26)

- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #17 (#33). Z axis slider now moves in 0.1 inch increments

when in inches mode.

- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #27. If work units are inches, now displays inches,

not mm.

Enhancements

- Ability to resize entire screen and widgets. Scales down to close to 600x400 pixels

for tiny displays; also remembers last size and position of screen. (#37)

- Incorporated Kosme's fix to issue #10 (#33). Popup appears to remind you to zero position

if starting a new job.

V3.4.3

Bug fix

- Unsupported G43/G44 commands include following Z command which causes problems when

left standalone. The entire line must be removed.

- Now treat M2 and M30 as unsupported as they cause grbl lockup when using aggressive

preloading.

- Moved program version define into its own header file so fewer files need recompiling

with a version change.

V3.4.2

Bug fix

- If a gcode command line is an arc with X,Y,Z and z-rate limiting enabled, fixed to

properly split the z rate to not use the G2 command and use G1 instead as grbl

was generating an error with the G2.

V3.4.1

Code sync

- Fixes to code now allows code to compile under Qt5 without error and also resolves

some localization issues. Continues to properly compile under Qt4 also. No normally

noticable functional differences.

V3.4

Enhancements

- Z-axis slider now allows rapid control of Z-axis positioning. This feature is still

being evaluated for proper behavior due to some user-interface issues.

If you run into trouble, please report a bug.

- All axis control buttons have been permanently enabled regardless of whether or not an

axis command is in progress - this allows more rapid updating. Note - there is no error

checking for the case of entering too many commands for the Grbl buffer. This is unlikely

but possible.

- Now supports setting of baud rates from 9600 to 115200

- Aggressive preload enabled is now the default. If the user upgraded from an older

Grbl Controller and had it disabled, a popup will warn them that it is being enabled.

They still have the option to disable, if desired

- Logging is turned on by default (only for new installs)

- All detected errors are collected and displayed after a file is run in the status view

- If filtering unsupported commands, all commands filtered out are listed after the file

is run.

- Logging now gives the line number of each command sent from the file and the corresponding

ok or error also contains the line number.

- An option has been provided to reduce the precision of lines that exceed Grbl's line buffer,

which by default is 50 characters. The code removes the arguments with the greatest precision

first and ending with at least one decimal place of precision. Errors are generated if it

cannot remove sufficient precision for the available buffer space. The buffer size on Grbl

is configurable in the options, as older Grbls have 50 characters and newer have 70.

Bug Fixes

- If Grbl stops responding (waiting for an ok), Soft Reset Grbl now functions correctly

(so you can soft reset without having to restart Grbl Controller). This affects aggressive

preload mode only.

- Commands to start/stop coolant coupled with dwell commands and aggressive preload cause

Grbl's modal logic to stop sending OK responses (on purpose). This was solved by waiting

for the OK of the coolant off before sending additional commands. It is not clear whether

this fixes all possible such modal problems, so use carefully and report any anomalies.

V3.3.9

Enhancement

- We now are able to remember and restore ports that are not visible to QextSerialEnumerator

so that user doesn't have to retype the ghost port every time they start Grbl Controller.

V3.3.8

Enhancement/Fix

- Modified code that detects presence of Grbl upon serial port opening, the original

assumption was that we would get the version string upon serial port open, but some

Arduino-compatible boards like the AlaMode did not behave this way. Fixed the code

so that if there is no response upon serial port open, we send a soft reset (Ctrl-X)

and wait for the version string. Tested to work with AlaMode and with traditional

Ardiuno Uno.

V3.3.7

Enhancement

- Made COM port field editable

V3.3.6

Bug Fixes

- Fixed decimal on the LCD display to always show three decimal points so that

it is easier to read the display (it doesn't jump around anymore). Tested to

hold up to 9999.999 and -9999.999, which should handle 20 x 20 meter Shapeokos.

V3.3.5

Bug Fixes

- Changed how we detect Grbl upon opening on COM port.

** NOTE ** This change will probably break older V0.51 capability

Previously we sent out a linefeed to trigger a response, however, this caused problems

on some arduino variants and would not result in correct sync with the controller.

Fixed by no longer sending the linefeed and instead just watch the port for Grbl response.

- Changed the default "short" wait timeout to 2 seconds from 1 second in case of slow responses.

V3.3.4

Enhancements

- Added option checkbox to choose to filter gcode or send it as-is to the controller. The

filtering removes gcode that is not supported in v0.8 of Grbl, which reduces the error

reports from Grbl. Some files generate unexpected codes like G91.1 which can actually

affect the motion in unexpected ways- filtering helps prevent this from happening.

IMPORTANT: The default is to not filter, which is different than previous versions! This

may result in unexpected command processing. If using advanced gcodes, perform an air run

first.

Bug Fixes

- Mach3 files have no whitespace in the gcode. Fixed code to handle such files. Affects

the Visualizer only.

- The filtering logic was fixed to properly filter gcode when sending a file - previous

versions would filter out gcode that Grbl supported.

- Changed validator for double (i.e. float) values so that code compiles under older Qt

versions.

- Changed Visualizer display to say Width-X and Height-Y instead of Width and Depth to make

it less confusing.

V3.3.3

Bug Fix

- Modal G arc (where G2 or G3 is specified once followed by X/Y/I/J) was failing for certain

arc combinations in the visualizer due to resetting the cw to false with each line. Fixed

to not reset the cw variable and retain from previous lines.

V3.3.2

Bug Fix

- G-command can now be set once and multiple X/Y commands then issued on lines following

(Allows "ShapeOko_Calibration_Pattern_01b.ngc to be rendered)

V3.3.1

Bug Fixes

- Hardened the visualizer's file parser so that it supports spaces between positional

arguments and values

- No longer skips last line in file if that line contains a valid command

- No longer crashes if line contains one or more stray whilespace characters

- Also accepts semi-colon as a comment line (in addition to existing open paren and percent)

V3.3

Enhancemetns

- Added "Visualizer" feature. It is now possible to see top-down view of the

file to be milled.

* Shows actual file units (inches or millimeters) independent of coordinate display

* Auto-scaling

* Supports limited subset of commands (G0/G1/G2/G3)

* Visualizer on tab panel shared with Axis control

* Actual last spindle cutter position is shown; auto-scales to include both cutter

and file

* When file is being run, overlay of all commands sent to Grbl is shown in green

* Displays dimensions of design, along with design's width and depth in file's units

V3.2

Enhancements

- Support for "Aggressive Preload" of commands when sending file to Grbl

* File's lines are sent to Grbl as fast as Grbl can take it, allowing

Grbl to optimize acceleration. Some files have been observed to take

1/3 the time to complete!

* Modeled after Grbl's own python script (computes/predicts how much

space is available in Grbl's input buffer)

* Due to the additional processing, CPU usage is greater than normal mode

and it has been optimized to run fine on a Raspberry Pi

* Normal (non-preload) mode is the default

* Response processing code now waits until a line has been received rather

than collect a long stream to behave like the python script

* LCD updates have been set to be roughly once every second independent

of rate of line sends/preloads

- Z-rate limit feature now includes default xy rate setting

* Z rate limiting only occurs during file sends. If z is included with x&y

then they are split into two commands automatically and the xy rate setting

is used for the xy portion

* Since feed rate is modal, code will fix any subsequent xy items that are

missing feed rate specifiers (cambam correctly adds them, but others may not)

- Replaced basic logging with Log4Qt logging capabilities.

* Support for error, warning, info, debug message types. All messages are timestamped.

* More diagnostic messages added, mainly around sending and receiving from com ports

* Only error and warning are displayed in release build, all are displayed in debug.

* If the user enables file logging, all messages are stored regardless of build type

* File is output to user's home folder

* If you enable or disable logging to file, you must restart Grbl Controller

* You can split out diagnostic from status messages by grepping for (DIAG) or (STATUS)

- Changed menus so that the first menu is File > Exit. Menus now use accelerators

Bug Fixes

- Fixed problems with z-rate limit feature, previous version was not implemented correctly.

- Fixed subtle issues with sending bytes to COM port

* On really fast Windows PCs, the default timeout values would occasionally result in

a line not being sent. This was fixed by changing the write timeout from 10 to

500 ms by hardcoding it into the QextSerialPort library. This was only observed in

aggressive preload mode, never in normal mode.

Known issues

- New reponse line detect mode requires more processing because mainly of the faster

stream of status messages. To get around this, certain features have been disabled

in the status view so that CPU usage is manageable on the Raspberry Pi, specifically

the horizontal scroll bar is not available. Turn on file logging if you wish to see

the entire line.

- When using aggressive preload, any error messages returned by Grbl are not synced

to sent messages (they come back randomly). This can be confusing.

- If running preload, it can take longer for steppers to stop after a Stop command

due to the number of items in Grbl's queue. The only way to stop sooner is to

press Close / Reset button

- Under exteme CPU loads (unlikely to occur with recent optimizations), the "runtime"

display does not display accurate times, oddly, it displays the same time that would

occur if not under load

Tested on cardboard using file provided by user:

- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8c, aggressive mode (~4 minute run)

- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8c, normal mode (~10 minute run)

- Windows 7 64bit, 0.8a, aggressive mode(~4 minute run)

- Raspberry Pi, 0.8c, aggressive mode (~4 minute run)

- Raspberry Pi, 0.8c, aggressive mode and z-limit (~6 minute run)

V3.1.2 (unofficial release, optimizations for Raspberry Pi)

Enhancements

- Optimized multiline write to status window to use faster list-based approach

- Removed unnecessary main window repaint after every line added to status window

- Fixed options window text positioning so that it appears proper on the pi

V3.1.1 (unofficial release, adjustments for Raspberry Pi)

Enhancements

- Changed measurement units in LCD from "inches" to "in" (cosmetic)

- Shortened text and adjusted main window layout for the text size on the pi

V3.1

Enhancements

- Supports Grbl 0.8c. Still supports 0.8a. 0.51 is supported but without LCDs.

- Grbl settings dialog is now a table of dynamic length depending on # of params.

- LCD position data is now obtained from Grbl and is *not* computed

- Added LCD displays for both machine and work coordinates

- Cycling of Grbl via COM port toggling has been completely removed, except

that Close button has now been renamed Close / Reset.

- Position data on Grbl is persisted as long as possible to allow for repositioning, etc.

- Zero work coordinates has been added (G92)

- Go-to-home feature added (lifts tool 5 mm and traverses to x=0, y=0)

- Option to put manual command (back) into absolute mode after jog button command

- Grbl Soft reset (Ctrl-X) button added

- Z-axis rate limiting capability added. Only affects file, not jog or manual commands.

- User is required to specify which measurement mode they are using, mm or inches:

* Default is millimeters

* Grbl is configured to operate in either mm or inches

* If a file is sent in inches and user is in mm, it will auto-restore to mm

after the file has been sent (and vice-versa, mm->inches)

- 0.8c enhancements:

* Displays current Grbl state (i.e. Run, Idle, etc.)

* LCDs display whether values are in inches or millimeters

* Unlock Grbl button added ($X)

* Determines and sets parser state for current mm/inch command mode ($G)

* Determines and sets coordinate units via $13

- Removed annoying "No movement expected for command" message

- Flags that cross threads have been changed to use QAtomicInt

- Version is now shown in title bar

- A basic log file feature has been added

- Runs on the Raspberry Pi!

Known Issues

- The registry key product name has been changed from GCodeSender to GrblController

*** WARNING: Old settings are not migrated ****

- Switching between millimeters and inches works, but has not been fully tested

- Go to home has not been fully tested with inches mode

- Manually issuing $13 or G20/G21 can confuse the program

V3.0

Enhancements

- Nearly a full code rewrite to ensure ease-of-use and robustness

- Percentage complete progress bar for files; also shows time elapsed sending file.

- Reset button now cycles COM port which causes Arduino to stop steppers and

reinitialize position to 0,0,0 (No more manual Auduino resets!)

- Settings configurations are now stored using QSettings class for platform independence.

- Only available COM ports are now shown. Uses third-party QextSerialPort library.

- App remembers last COM port used, last folder, last file extension used after restart

- Ability to configure wait-for-response time

- Status list window now shows both sent and received data

- Error responses are ignored during file send (nearly 100% of the time they are not important)

- Z-jog speed using buttons is configurable

- Radio buttons to select mode have been removed in favor of enabling/disabling widgets based

on current context. This simplifies usage.

- Popups have been removed in favor of writing errors to status list window

Bug fixes

- Overall code hardening

- Properly implementing Qt signals and slots across the board

Build verification

- Windows 7 64 bit using MinGW

- Inno Setup for Windows, installs successfully on Windows 7

- Mac OSX Mountain Lion, target 64 bit and 32 bit executables

- Qt Mac installer successfully installs and runs on Mountain Lion and 10.5 32 bit Intel

- Linux: Builds successfully on Debian 6, Ubuntu 12.10

V2.1x1

NOTE: Changes were only focused on Arduino GRBL capabilities with the Shapeoko, so

things like Tool Change were not tested.

Enhancements

- Improved handling of response code - this is the most significant change as it

ensures reliable send/response handling when sending a file to the Grbl processor.

- Manual command now allows hitting return and command is sent. No need to press Go.

- Default job step size changed from 0.01 to 1 mm

- Compiles and runs under Linux now (tested with Debian and latest Qt)

- Works with old 168 Arduino processor (except that old code is buggy and not recommended)

- Disabled "go to home at end of job". The arduino code doesn't handle it correctly

and mills straight back into and through your work. Checkbox in settings has no effect.

Bug fixes

- Fixed crash when options file is not present the first time run

- Fixed crash when trying to get GRBL settings from device

- Settings work with 168 (8 settings) and 328 processors (10 settings)

- Fixed Stop to call proper routine stopsig - now Stop button works correctly

-------------------------------------------------------------

Fork by Zapmaker at this rev

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v2.1a

Bug fixes

- Corrected an issue that caused the program to crash if the g-code had blank lines.

V2.1

New Features

- Gcode that is valid but is not recognized by GRBL gets filtered and it is not sent.

Bug fixes

- Corrected an issue that prevented manually sent Gcode for being displayed correctly.

- Corrected an issue with the images not displaying.

V2.0 Major release

- Improved the port handling reducing opening and closing frecuency.

- Added the ability to type and send commands directly.

- Support for tool change instructions. If enabled it pauses execution, raises the spindle, goes to a fixed location for toolchange, waits for tool change, and continues excecution.

- Added About window.

V1.0c Minor

Bug fixes

- Corrected a problem when adjusting axis that caused all axis to move at the same time. Caused by grbl starting in incremental programming.

V1.0b Minor

Bug fixes

- Corrected a bug in the adjusting script.

V1.0a Minor

Bug fixes

- Fixed a bug reading some file formats that avoided the dials from updating.

Download GRBL controller @ zapmaker.grblcontroller.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com

[#/mechanica/software/grblcontroller” ]

Zoeken

Mechanica Software – GRBL Controller

Using Grbl Controller 3.0