Problem with my china 3018 cnc

What would you describe your skill level with CNC and GRBL on a scale of 1 - 10 ?
As a millwright / mech eng my hardware skills are pretty high.
As far as G-CODE goes my skill level is probably about a 4+.

Are you using USB 2.0 or 3.0 ?
It seems you are seeing the board OK but that's not always a sign of a good connection.
In the UGS lower console when you connect to the board do you see any messages at all and what are they (copy paste and use the CODE TAGS ( </> ) that the forum provides for you.

my level with CNC and GRBL is -1 hahah very new to this things,

I think im using USB 2.0 and have try 3.0 too.

i got this massage when connect

**** Connected to COM3 @ 115200 baud ****

OK thats a good start but There is usually a longer message that follows.
You might want to expand the lower console a little upwards into the display area in case you missed it.

Should be similar to below but some numbers may be different and that would be normal as I changed a lot of my parameters.

**** Connected to COM32 @ 115200 baud ****
Grbl 1.1f ['

When shutting down these types of program always do a disconnect first as just closing can on occasion leave the COM port a little stuck in limbo.

If you see the longer message then that's the best sign as it means the program can not only see the board but fully communicate with it too.

Manually dial in the steppers so they are about half way across each lead screw.
Then play with the direction buttons and listen for any noise produced by the steppers etc.

Do you have anyone else you can call upon for help in any way that may be a little more experienced ?

for help]

$
$0 = 10    (Step pulse time, microseconds)
$1 = 25    (Step idle delay, milliseconds)
$2 = 0    (Step pulse invert, mask)
$3 = 0    (Step direction invert, mask)
$4 = 0    (Invert step enable pin, boolean)
$5 = 0    (Invert limit pins, boolean)
$6 = 0    (Invert probe pin, boolean)
$10 = 1    (Status report options, mask)
$11 = 0.010    (Junction deviation, millimeters)
$12 = 0.002    (Arc tolerance, millimeters)
$13 = 0    (Report in inches, boolean)
$20 = 0    (Soft limits enable, boolean)
$21 = 0    (Hard limits enable, boolean)
$22 = 0    (Homing cycle enable, boolean)
$23 = 0    (Homing direction invert, mask)
$24 = 25.000    (Homing locate feed rate, mm/min)
$25 = 500.000    (Homing search seek rate, mm/min)
$26 = 250    (Homing switch debounce delay, milliseconds)
$27 = 1.000    (Homing switch pull-off distance, millimeters)
$30 = 1000    (Maximum spindle speed, RPM)
$31 = 0    (Minimum spindle speed, RPM)
$32 = 1    (Laser-mode enable, boolean)
$100 = 800.000    (X-axis travel resolution, step/mm)
$101 = 800.000    (Y-axis travel resolution, step/mm)
$102 = 400.000    (Z-axis travel resolution, step/mm)
$110 = 1200.000    (X-axis maximum rate, mm/min)
$111 = 1200.000    (Y-axis maximum rate, mm/min)
$112 = 250.000    (Z-axis maximum rate, mm/min)
$120 = 25.000    (X-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2)
$121 = 25.000    (Y-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2)
$122 = 20.000    (Z-axis acceleration, mm/sec^2)
$130 = 300.000    (X-axis maximum travel, millimeters)
$131 = 200.000    (Y-axis maximum travel, millimeters)
$132 = 85.000    (Z-axis maximum travel, millimeters)
ok
$G
[GC:G0 G54 G17 G21 G90 G94 M5 M9 T0 F0 S0]
ok


When shutting down these types of program always do a disconnect first as just closing can on occasion leave the COM port a little stuck in limbo.

If you see the longer message then that's the best sign as it means the program can not only see the board but fully communicate with it too.

Manually dial in the steppers so they are about half way across each lead screw.
Then play with the direction buttons and listen for any noise produced by the steppers etc.

Do you have anyone else you can call upon for help in any way that may be a little more experienced ?

well is showing the same thing too, nothing much more then that :confused:

What do you mean same thing ? I cannot see from here so you need to be specific.

Still with the
**** Connected to COM3 @ 115200 baud ****

After taking time to read up a little it is possible you might have corrupted the bootloader or there was none on there to start with ?

There are a few ways to re-install the bootloader but the easiest is to try and hold down the RESET button at the correct time during upload.

Quite often if that method fails it usually means you need an additional bit of hardware and that can range from another Arduino to a cheap dedicated ICSP device which is very cheap.

“hold down the RESET button at the correct time during upload”

Can you guide me step by step, i’m so new at this

Do you see that small magnifying glass at the top of the page.
I would suggest you learn to use it as I don't remember the exact details

However it goes along the lines of holding down the reset then uploading a sketch (yes I know I said DON'T we can worry about that later) and holding it down until it says "uploading" at which point you would release the button.

I would suggest using either the BLINK or MINIMUM example sketches in the IDE (yes you would need to use the IDE for this)

I suspect it is critical to get the timing correct so it may take a few tries.

Again use the search option to get better detail and search for "bootloader reset"

If that does not work for you then you might need an ICSP device (let google be your friend)

Its what I would use here and I have a few types and they have never failed me.

If you can get that far then we can move onto putting GRBL back on as its quite a simple process and we may as well upgrade you to 1.0 in the process.

1 Like

the supplier reply my email today, he told me to upload an HEX file that she gave me using xloader apps, during uploading the blue light flashing and i don't know what is that and the apps hang and have to force to close.

OK go with the supplier support for now don't try mix the two and check each step CAREFULLY !
Sometime we try too hard and go too quickly and miss or forget something.

Also check that you have enough user privileges on your machine and you might also have to turn of your security for a brief while to get some things to work.

BTW what do you use for security JIC that's where part of the issue lies ?

what do u mean "BTW what do you use for security JIC that's where part of the issue lies"

BTW = by the way....JIC = just in case.

the supplier also ask me to send back the board and they will replace me a new one i hope sooo..

planing to get https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3 for my cheap CNC, what do you think?

im using avast, how can i check?

I would say hold off until you get your new controller.

Even if you got a UNO you would still need the driver shield (Have multiple variations here) and to be honest I prefer my machine with the supplied GRBL board.

Think you would be better off spending that money on some push buttons and limit switches.
Being so new to this I am almost certain you will need both of them at some point in the near future and they may well save you some problems with crashes !

i don't think there much we can do now, looks like the board is an faulty board that can't do anything...

thanks

I know I'm really late to this conversation, but there wasn't a resolution, and I have a suggestion.

I recently obtained a 3018 PCB mill device, and when I went to hook it up to my linux workstation, no dice getting comms - the serial connected, but at best, if I hit the reset on the controller, I'd get the Grbl version banner and that was it.

If you have the little gamepad like controller - disconnect it. Chances are, that device is tying up the serial. It struck me that I was getting the initial banner, but couldn't seem to transmit (and this was in a console session using 'screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200'). Unplugging the gamepad and resetting got me what I was expecting.