Hi everyone, I'm now on the home stretch with my foam cutter (see Needle cutter for foamplates), but I'm afraid I need help for the fine tuning: As the title says, I get an "error: 36"- message when I want to run gcode that was generated with OpenBuilds CAM. It is OpenBuilds Control v1.0.388 on MacOS, the controller is an MKS S-Base 1.3 from the leftover box, on which Grbl 1.1f runs and is also recognized as such. In the grbl-settings laser-mode is enabled ($32=1) and I don't know why this error message appears. To be honest, it is not absolutely necessary for the function of the machine, since I do not (yet!) operate a laser on it, but only the needle cutter, which I do not have to switch on or off during the cutting process, it is sufficient to raise it to a safe z-position during traverse movements - i.e. without cutting - which also works without any problems with the generated gcode - I only have to edit out all 'Lxx' commands. But since a laser is already waiting in the cabinet, I would like to know what mistake I am making! I'm not sure what else I can do to help find the cause of the error, so I've held off on sending attachments. But if there's anything else you need, just let me know. I'll do my best to find and share it. Any help at all would be really appreciated!
Can you post your Gcode? Also the contents of the serial window when the error occurs? (Preferably by cut and paste, rather than a screen shot).
OpenBuilds CAM doesn't use L50 by default. But you could change its defaults to do that, so likely you did (play around in CAMs advanced settings?) Restore defaults: CAM > Settings tab > Factory Reset
Thanks for the quick response! Of course I played around in the advanced setting of CAM - but not out of ill will or other base instincts, but because I noobishly thought it made sense to tell the software what kind of machine will be gifted with the gcode! That's why I checked the box for 'Laser Diode Module' in the 'advanced settings' and it makes sense to me that this is why commands are generated that control a laser. And if - like in this case - I set up a machine with a laser as the only tool and give it 50% power I am not surprised by the generating of a command 'L50' but by the fact that this command leads to an error. Needless to say, I am more than happy to have a software at my disposal with which my primary goal of cutting Depron sheets using a needle cutter can be realized with almost no teething problems, because when I edit the 'Lxx' commands out of the gcode, I get exactly what I need and that's all that really matters! It just takes a bit of faith in your own abilities when you can't figure out why something isn't working as intended... But maybe it's just a little something I need to consider and I think it's great to find people here who can and want to help poor souls like me! To go into more detail, I have attached some appendices: Firstly, the CAM-settings, the dxf-file to generate the gcode for/with and the resulting gcode. I also added the content of the serial window after connecting the machine and when running this gcode with L50-commands included. I am even more puzzled that running this gcode as a simulation leads to no problem at all so any kind of advice is welcome! Cheers Thomas
M3 Sxxxx sets laser power. L is not used in Grbl. S=0 to whatever you have for $32 in Grbl Settings. Usually default of $32=1000 so 50% = M3S500 Take it out of the advanced settings where you added it - doesn't belong there
Hi Peter, thanks again for your quick and well-founded statements! So I leave the advanced settings for the big boys and instead I am content to have fun making sure that my Depron panels are cut as required Joking aside, if I leave the 'Laser Diode Module' checkbox unchecked, gcode is generated, which neither causes an error message nor the need to edit the code, as you predicted - thank you so much! Next step will be to convince the MKS-Sbase 1.3 to accept the limit switch for the z-axis - but this is another story...
Not whether laser is on or not, that matters At some point you possibly changed To L and 100 or whatever (guessing here based of your info) (Post yours' screenshot if you want me to check) But mainly can just reset to defaults to undo your changes too (stock standard defaults are Grbl compatible, Advanced allows changing defaults to work with other controllers like LinuxCNC or MESA if needed that doesn't use the S-Word for RPM, but that would then error on a standard controller)
Hi Peter, thanks for your reply. You are absolutely right, in my first attempts to gain access to the operation of CAM I changed the S to an L and set the upper limit to 100 in the advanced settings. After your first advice, I changed it back and omitted the 'Laser Diode Module' checkbox and from that moment on no more Lxx words in the gcode. I still wanted to do a factory reset to see what would happen and the first surprise: CAM had a user interface translated into German , second surprise: The values for x, y and z axis lengths were still the same as on my machine - I like a factory that knows what I need Anyway, I am happy with my foamboard needle cutter for now, and it is good to know that help is not too far away in case of trouble! Thank you very much. Thomas
