Hi Everyone, looking to get my first open build going soon. Just deciding on which route to take, Black Box or another controller solution. I member of our team has access to SolidCAM where he works and we thought it would be great if this could generate the G code for SolidWorks CAD files and then this code to be imported into OpenBuilds CONTROL. So my question is, I believe solidCAM generates the G code in a txt file, can this be just imported/copied into the OpenBuilds CONTROL software and run? Thanks in advance everyone! Dave
Yes. but make sure you use the correct postprocessor. GRBL does not support any fancy codes, no tool changes, no tool offsets, etc, details in the wiki on github
Thanks for that, though I have a follow up question.... when you said "details on the wiki and github", could you be a little more specific, have no idea what I'm looking for (am new to the post part of CNC and just understand it to hold the data of the machine specifics)? Many thanks in advance
The wiki is at gnea/grbl The Blackbox/xPro controller runs the GRBL firmware. OpenbuildsCONTROL is the GUI that talks to GRBL to tell it what to do. (there are others but stick to this for now) Since GRBL runs on a very small processor it cannot support anything but the most basic Gcode commands, there is a list in the Wiki for your SolidWorks bloke to read so he can select the correct postprocessor. (no tool change and no tool offsets are the two main things to watch for) Though there is a Gcode standard there are also many variations, mainly because the original standard had no idea about 9+ axis machines so the language had to be modified to deal with all the machine variations. Manufacturers have also added their own special commands that do things like smoothing or speed optimization. The postprocessor bridges the gap between 'the geometry in the CAM software' and 'what THIS machine controller understands'. It it given generic 'cut from point A to point B' commands and translates that into the Gcode needed for that cut on the target machine. hope this helps
Ah great, that clears up a lot... thank you! Was just looking at where to find a list of available post processors to have a look at, any pointers? Thanks again for your help, very much appreciated
Cool, did do some searching but didn't include grbl, so will try that! Thanks again for all your help, much appreciated
