That is great news. Although I am puzzled about the need to install .Net 3.5. I build against 4.5.2??? Puzzle for me to solve Ah, the latest version is Release V1.0.9.3 Fixes · gerritv/Grbl-Panel · GitHub, I think you are using an old release. I switched to 4.5 in Release 1.0.7.0
I downloaded the files found on the C-Beam Plate Maker build page, and just figured that was the most recent version. Is there really any major reason to download the latest version? Everything works fine right now, so I just don't want to mess anything up. What are the major changes from 1.0.3 to 1.0.7?
Was asked this by a PC guy years ago about bios updates. Why yes! Because you expect the same functionality plus an improvement over the past release. In my case it finally allowed me the freedom to overclock up to 10x plus some croutons. He held his position and my system was more capable.
Joe is mostly correct, I would add that you should look at the actual list of fixes and enhancements first though. Releases · gerritv/Grbl-Panel · GitHub shows the full list of releases and enhancements/fixes. Sooner or later you will need one of the items or fixes. Because you can install GrblPanel in any directory there is little to no risk of problems, you can switch back anytime. I assume that the instructions for C Beam tell you to set $10 = 31, otherwise some of the information sent back by Grbl will not display.
I have just been tinkering with GRBL Panel and is it normal for there to be a 2-4 second delay when you jog to the time it actually starts 'moving'? (don't have the steppers connected yet so it's just the xPro connected to my laptop via USB) also I have the same issue somebody else had said (not being able to/know how to load anything into GRBL Panel. When I goto the File menu, all I have is Exit. Is GRBL Panel designed to run directly from the GrblPanel.exe from the ZIP file or are you actually supposed to use the GrblPanel ClickOnce Application Deployment?
Unzip the files into a directory and run the .exe. I am considering an install project using Wix but not a lot of spare time at present. You should probably read the various pages on the wiki at Home · gerritv/Grbl-Panel Wiki · GitHub, it provides fairly decent documentation. You will also notice that there is a File folder icon just inside the Gcode panel where the other run related buttons are.
The delay is not normal, depends on your other settings for steps/mm , speed settings etc. What version are you using? This site seems to be linking to a rather old version.
I was using an old version 1.0.3.0 so I updated to the latest from github and there is no longer a delay so that's good news! @GerritV - I finally found the icon you were talking about. I would suggest changing it to a folder icon because if you aren't used to the interface, you are likely to mistake it for part of the play button strip. That or put hover boxes over those items so you can see what they are for
It is presently a File icon, which seems the appropriate one for the purpose. And it is part of the play strip because logically it is where you would pick what to 'play', then click Start or Stop etc. But I will add some more Tooltips for you.
well I feel stupid now...I just checked and there is a tool tip on it that says 'load a file' is there a way to have it show up if the button is disabled? it's been several years since I did any GUI designs in VS and don't remember if it has to be active or not. the issue I had with the icon though wasn't that it was a file icon, more that it looks VERY similar to the stop button and if you have crappy eyes like I do it looks like a black square with a birth defect and my mind filled in the rest of it so it looked like a square. Maybe keep the icon but reverse the colors?
Once you disable a control it no longer responds to anything so the ToolTip also doesn't respond :-( I will make the icons larger. I will likely need that myself in a few years at the rate my body is aging
I have been using GRBL for a while now, and am very impressed with how well it works. There is one capability I need, and so far I haven't been able to find it: I need the ability to go to a specific line in code and begin executing there. This is most often needed when I encounter a problem like a broken milling bit, and need to just back up to where it was when the bit broke. This can be a significant number of lines if I hit the PAUSE icon because of the buffering in the controller. If I hit reset, then I've apparently lost everything, and have to begin again. Does anyone know if this is possible (and, if so, how do I specify the line to go to)? If not, I would like to add this capability to the "wish list" for a future release.
Best way to halt NOW is to click on Hold. The commands in that group are processed by Grbl immediately, as if you pushed a button on the relevant pin on the controller. You can then Resume from the same button group. I am close to doing a large release so adding functions to start at a specific line will have to wait a week or so. The bigger problem is jogging etc while a program is paused. Don't have a solution for that. A workaround for starting at specific line is to edit the file and load it again?
new question here...got the beast to move last night but have a question about jog feed rates. the fastest rate is 100 but what if I wanted it to jog faster? I know I can do it as a manual command but how would you set the feed rate so you can use the jog buttons?
You can actually set what rates appear on the settings page. Just be sure to have the same number of settings as there are now - change the numbers to match what you want. Duane
so what are you looking at in the settings because I don't see anything for the jog feed rate other than on the main jogging interface and that has radio buttons for feed rate and distance and you can't select anything other than those options. I did find a couple of other oddities when tinkering around tonight. when on the settings page, if you go to the Position section and click in any of those boxes, you can't arrow around or make any changes. I did find that the Delete key worked well but couldn't get the original data back in until I tried doing a cut and paste. If those should be protected fields, you shouldn't be able to make any changes to them. The second thing is on the Macro's page. The buttons are a little confusing as you have OK, Cancel, Delete Selected and Add. If you add a macro you have to hit Add as well as OK for it to save and populate the Interface tab. When deleting the macro though you get a prompt saying are you sure you want to delete this macro and you select Yes, you still have to hit OK or it doesn't save that change. I found that out when I deleted it and then went to exit and I was asked if I wanted to exit without saving the macro changes Now that I know about them it's easy to deal with but should still be looked at. The other thing I was trying to figure out is if there was a way to do an auto zero for the Z axis and didn't find much here. I am using grbl Panel and the xPro
Dean, -on the Settings page there is a whole group called Jogging. Second item down is FeedRates. Just change the numbers and press return. -If you Enable Keyboard Arrows, then the arrow keys only work on the Jogging on main page. Anything else and I have to track what has the focus which is messy code when there are a lot of areas that could/should not have keyboard arrows. - The items on Settings page are not protected. If you erase or overtype something then the previous content is gone. Not sure what you would expect it to do otherwise? I won't be implementing things like Ctl Z to undo - Yes the Macro stuff is a bit clunky but I used it as provided by a contributor. It works so I don't see much point in further effort as most people figure it out, as you did. It could be improved of course but it is not high on my short list of ToDo's :-( Not sure what you mean by Auto Zero?
ok now I just feel stupid...didn't realize you could change the increments on the settings page and they would carry over to the interface page so woops there. The arrows I was talking about was specifically for moving around in the text boxes for the position section. I did some more tinkering and it looks like the backspace, space bar, all numbers and all letters except A, X, Y and Z can be typed in those fields so not sure what's going on there Macros...yeah..it's more knowing how it works that you need and I understand it now as for the auto zero...I am thinking about how you could automate zeroing out your Z axis by going to a specific location and touching off...just not sure how that would happen. I know how to manually touch off but that would be a nice feature. If I haven't said it before, great work on this and don't mind my nit picking
I am old enough and done enough sw development over the years to know how to not 'take things thick'. I am not totally satisfied myself with the keyboard short cut key code. It tends tto be messy to have them apply to only certain areas. And of course there is always an area that they should work but it doesn't :-( But it is what it is at present. I am toying with a rewrite in C#, new GUI etc but at present I am catching up on other hobby stuff that has been parked for >2 years. For auto zero, I would figure out the manual commands and then create a macro. Use one of the non-default Offsets and set it's Z to zero when you are touched off. I have no way of trying it out though. Gerrit
glad to hear you are thick skinned...I have 7 years in a software development company and many many years of alpha and beta testing so I tend to find these things
One other thing I have noticed is that clicking on a value in the settings, then pressing ENTER to change them or clicking on one of the input boxes doesn't always 'take', but if you go to the Manual Command input on the first page and enter the parameter you want to change, then click on SEND (ENTER on the keyboard doesn't send it), it will always take. For example, enter $27=1, then click SEND, and you have set the homing pulloff to 1.0 in whichever units you have selected. And, Gerrit, I second Dean's praise for an awesome job! Duane
looking at the settings page again and wanted to confirm that if you are using inch vs. metric that all of the settings that show mm (i.e. $100 is x, step/mm) are changed to inches
It takes a double click to send the change from Settings (for $ settings) to Grbl. Haven't got the Return key to work consistently yet :-(
Anyone know how to save your GRBL panel settings, instead of having to enter them in every time you open GRBL panel? Thanks!
If I remember right, you click on the setting you want to change, make the change, then double click. The setting should now be saved. It has been a while since I have done it since my settings saved like this the first time and have stayed the same through each upgrade.
