As I'm building the OX I thought I'd stay true to Mark''s video tutorial as much as possible and went with the GRBL and the Arduino Uno. All was well with the setting up and connecting the power, everything lit up and I was able to add snippets of code into the Arduino interface and get the Nema's 17 and 23s to spin happily. Its quite something to see your handy work come alive and do what its supposed to do for a change. As I say, all went well until I set up the Universal Gcode sender. I tweaked it as directed by John from NYC CNC who's video got me this far. Anyway the Gcode Sender wouldn't work and I don't know why. Perhaps someone would have a look at the attachment and suggest a salution. Thanks.
hi assuming you are not running Linux or Mac then the message means that UGS cannot open the serial port because something else is using it. you did close Arduino IDE..... right? because that would prevent something else using the port. you did select the correct port and speed? if you open the hardware listing of ports you will see which one has the Arduino attached. if you always plug into the same USB socket, it should always come up as the same COM port. I find I have to plug it in before opening UGS otherwise it will never find the port.
Thanks fo0r the reply, but I've figured it out. As you say its a good idea to have everything plugged in before you try different software. In the case of the Gcode sender, I had it working up until I tried to turn the machine Control on. I didn't know you had to turn it on from the left. What an idiot. Also got the 'Y' Nema 23 to run in the opposite direction to its neighbour, so the gantry will now flow backwards and forwards without any problems. Thanks again. Michael.
Too much to hope for. I was sure I got this nailed and came back to running the Nima's this afternoon and now the 2 'Y' motors wont budge. Ive taken them off and ran each one seperately and they spin fine, so no major problems there. The uploaded photo shows the wire configuration for both 'Y'. I used the terminal block as its easier to re-arrange the wires, the screws are much bigger than the breakout board. I'm sorry, but the flash discoloured the wirring so heres the layout Perhaps someone can tell me how they wired these 2 motors up to run opposite to each other. Red Blue Black Green Going to the GRBL Board from the terminal block. Red & Red Blue & Blue Green & Black Green & Black Coming from the motors to the terminal block Thanks Michael
check the green/black wires, you may have a green and black from the same motor onto one terminal instead of just inverted. I am going from the motor controller on the left to motors 1 and 2 on the right, so red1 is motor 1 and red2 is motor 2, etc red --------------red1 + red2 blue -------------blue1 + blue2 green ---------- green1 + black2 black -------------black1 + green2 to reverse a motor you only have to reverse one winding.
Hello David Thanks for your patience. All working as it should. Both the 'Y' Nema 23's going in the opposite direction to each other. Thanks a lot. Michael.
Hi there, I just finished he OX built and wiring, and have exaclty the same problem as Centurian... but note I'm using a mac. I'm now in the troubleshooting session regarding firewall, macport and so on but no success so far. Hope some of you are using mac like I do ... Gcode sender is just not proposing any port to open. Thanks in advance for your help, Clement
