I am very happy with the OB control software, IMHO I think it is much, MUCH better than some of the other options out there, especially in the free category. When I run a gcode program the cone is visible for a while, then it disappears, never to be seen again. It does not run off the screen, the job is a simple profile that is visible in the viewport. Did a bit of searching on the web but have not found anything so far to point me in the right direction. Just some background: This is a control build based on the Arduino Mega. It has five stepper drivers that are set up so I can switch off the Y axis (gantry type machine, 2 motors) and reroute the signals to a port for A axis (rotary work). This has annoyed me for over ten years on my current Gecko G540 based machine. Plug, unplug, replug, ad nauseam. If some one could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. The tool cone disappearing is not a big deal, but it would be nice if it didn't. TIA
Make sure your Mega fork of Grbl reports position feedback the same way Grbl was. That gets parsed to show the cone
Hmmm, that sounds like something to do, but I have absolutely no clue how to do that! I am not a Grbl guru by a long shot. It would seem to me though that if it is showing it for about a third of the program there is some other issue? BTW, like I mentioned, this is not a big deal. I have been running NC/CNC machines since 1974. There were no displays on the controls, nevermind software that showed what was happening. Just a roll of 8 track punched tape, LOL.
Well we know it doesn't disappear for regular Grbl uses, the only difference here the Mega version of Grbl (Gnea or 3rd party by the way?) - could have bugs in its ability to send position feedback / and / or run state info
Thanks for trying to help out Peter. At this point I am soooo unfamiliar with the Grbl software that I could be my own worst problem, probably am. I am really pleased with the way this is all working out. Created the control from scratch using stepper drivers (no cnc shield). Everything is working as it should. EStop, Pause, Resume buttons and the ability to negate the two y axis motors and switch to A drive at the flip of a switch. Next up is investigating the 4 axis versions so I can do rotary wrap type work on the machine. I like using the external stepper drivers. Right now it is connected to Nema 17's, but on the machine I am making provisions for Nema 23's in case I need them. That is sort of iffy because the machine I am building will be for really small 3D work with very small cutters. Would be nice to get by with the 17's. Again, thanks for helping, I will see if I can figure out some of what you wrote about. That is part of the fun of doing these things!
