It has optical endstops. not sure if they are connected. but when i try to do anything its just goes to left top corner and grinds. when i try to frame a job or anything. it grinds anytime the axis are moving as well. it has a arduino and cnc shield in it. everything else is working fine.
Welcome to the forum.
You may have a couple of problems here, so lets break down step by step.
Start with homing. When the all power is off, move the head to the bottom right and power on. Does the grinding sound happen as the head moves to the top left, or when it reaches the top left?
If it does grind all the way, try doing the samething but only move 1 axis at a time (so head to the right, or head to the bottom)
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When I setup a new controller thereās a process I follow to make sure I have the firmware setup correctly and wiring correct. Always have a quick way to stop the machine so not to damage belts,etc.
- Do the home switches work? manually trigger and validate with M119 or other code
- Do the motors move? try one axis at a time( G28 X ) then G28 Y, etc
- Do the motors move in the correct direction towards your endstops? change config or rewire motors if not.
- Does it home correctly? Is there a pull-off setting in your config? is it working? Is it too little/much?
- Do the movements in X, Y and Z equal whatās commanded? when told to move 20mm does it move 20mm? you will be adjusting steps/mm in your config setting to get this correct.
- check work area/build surface for level
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Jammy Thank you! i have tried this and it is still grinding. only when it hits the corners. not actually during movements.
Doughl thank you as well but i am completely new to all of this and donāt understand any of that. i did try the m119 command and it says no such command.
If you donāt know, the K40 is not really a āconsumerā device and does require learning far more about robotics and the inner workings than say an Epilog, Glowforge, etc. Thatās why they are 1/10th the cost.
Which firmware are you using on the Arduino AND which PC software are you running to try and control it?(please post answers to both)
Also, which website did you use for instructions on how to remove the stock controller and put in an Arduino/CNC shield controller?(if you were the one to change the controller)
If you have optical end stops - what happens if you do the following :
Turn the laser off
Move the head to bottom right
Put something in the end stop sensor to trigger it.
Does the head still move when you turn it back on? If so, check the wiring on the end stops.
dougl i did not know that i come from diode lasers.
the firmware on the arduino is grbl. the software is lightburn. for installing the arduino and cnc shield i bought the machine from someone and he had it installed already just hadnt had the firmware flashed. so i only flashed the firmware via youtube video.
Jammy, when i try this it continues to move. as for the wiring to the endstops thats what i cant figure out. im not sure which wire goes where on the arduino and cnc shield. there is a ribbon cable from the laser itself to a middleman board and then theres wires from the middleman board but they arent connected to anything on the cnc shield and arduino. the wires say esx,esy. they arent connected to anything.
i really do appreciate both of you for trying to help me btw. this is really mind boggling me.
Most diode lasers use GRBL but I think what youāre saying is the manufacturer set GRBL up for you so you never had to deal directly with the firmware.
What this tells me is that you have no idea if itās wired correctly(atleast the motors move) or if GRBL is configured correctly. We can get you there but it will take effort on your part too.
First thing is for you to tell your machine to show the GRBL settings. You send it the $$ command and then copy and paste the full results in a message here.
Next, I recommend we start going down the list I presented earlierā¦
#1 is getting the endstops working. I used this search and the first link should get you going.
https://www.google.com/search?q=grbl+testing+endstop
If you have questions regarding what thatās telling you you can use google to try and learn what is meant and if you canāt find the answer then ask here.
Thereās lot of useful knowledge knowing a little about the GRBL configuration and a little about GCode since itās the core of what will make your laser work and itās also used in CNC machines and 3D printers.
CORRECT.
$$
$0=10
$1=25
$2=0
$3=0
$4=0
$5=0
$6=0
$10=1
$11=0.010
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=0
$22=1
$23=0
$24=25.000
$25=500.000
$26=250
$27=1.000
$30=1000
$31=0
$32=0
$100=250.000
$101=250.000
$102=250.000
$110=500.000
$111=500.000
$112=500.000
$120=10.000
$121=10.000
$122=10.000
$130=300.000
$131=200.000
$132=200.000
ok
Thank you i will do this now and get back!
I have never been in any forums either so hopefully this is good formating.
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from that listing I see you have $22=1 which enables the homing cycle but you donāt have $21=1 which enables hard limits. ie I think itās the setting which says you have physical endstops.
From that link Iād posted about grbl setup, Iād forgotten that the ? command which shows status is what GRBL uses to see the end stops. Marlin uses M119.
In GRBL, when you enter one of those settings( $10 ) into the LightBurn console then GRBL will return you what that setting is currently set to. if you wanted to change $21 you would enter $21=1 in the console and you can check it with just entering $21 instead of doing the whole settings dump( $$ ).
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?
<Idle|MPos:0.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:0.000,0.000,0.000>
ok
i have changed 21 now.
the thing doesnt even attempt to home. this is what i get when i try any movement:
Starting stream
ALARM:1
Hard limit triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden and immediate halt. Re-homing is highly recommended.
On or near line 4:
Stream completed in 0:00
[MSG:Reset to continue]
[MSG:Pgm End]
ok
Grbl 1.1h [ā$ā for help]
[MSG:ā$Hā|ā$Xā to unlock]
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
ok
What that could mean is that it thinks that both endstop switches are triggered when you try to home the machine. If you can manually trigger both endstops and then turn the machine on, it might start moving and as soon as you remove your manual triggering, the machine should think the laser head has found the endstops.
If this is the case, then you just need to invert the endstop signal.
BTW, this page might be of interest as it lists errors, alarms, non-GCode commands, and settings:
Notice what $5 statesā¦