I have a 3018 cnc router from BangGood and have been trying to find out from them what their Arduino board is so I can make a selection when trying to install Arduino. They have been no help. Any idea for identifying it would be appreciated. I think it is a "mini" but I am not sure.
Thanks
Link? Picture? Anything?
You can install a bootloader and make it whatever board you want. Does it have 8 or 16 MHz crystal on it?
(deleted)
Your topic was Moved to it's current location / section as it is more suitable.
Could you also take a few moments to Learn How To Use The Forum.
Other general help and troubleshooting advice can be found here.
It will help you get the best out of the forum in the future.
Hopefully there are two attachments. Where would I see that they are attached? These two I can access "GRBL controller 3.6.1 and Arduino 1.8.12. After I bring these up I can access some of the functions but have no idea how to access the rest. I see that I have a knockoff 3018 brand that means something but I don't know what. Is "bootlegger" a download program? I have no idea if I have an 8 or 16 Mhz crystal. I have been trying to figure out the forum off and on for two weeks or so. I appreciate being directed to this forum. That will help. Would it be better if I got a different Arduino board?
(deleted)
I would follow spycatchers advice.
A picture paints a thousand words.
Some of the 3018 have a fully integrated MCU and some just use a shield approach.
I have a decent selection of both types but most use the 328 AVR @ 16 Mhz.
Most of those also ship with a lower version of GRBL and I would always advise in upgrading that to 1.1
It is not too hard to do that.
We also need to know your OS so we can suggest a suitable g-code sender program.
My preference is with UGS but there are some other great candidates too.
This post also covers a lot of things if you can get through it.
Images from Replies #7 and #8 so we don't have to download them. See this Simple Image Posting Guide
...R
Your out of focus image looks very like my CNC 3018 which has a nano board.
If you need more info please post an in-focus image so we can read the printing on the PCB
Also, smaller image files (640 x 480 should be fine) are kinder to those of us with slow or expensive internet connections.
...R
(deleted)
Not used that particular software to send g-code and it looks quite simplistic.
It should however allow you to send what you need to the board.
You wont be able to select "old bootloader" in that software but you will be able to select the correct COM port and that is the most important factor with GRBL.
It should also allow you to get the firmware settings which you should copy out and save somewhere safe.
You will need to be able to reference the origignal firmware settings at some point.
You will almost certainly need the CH340/341 drivers.
Yes I know its a Chinese site but it is the OFFICIAL source.
Thanks for all the replies! I will be trying to figure things out. Here is a better picture of the Arduino board (I hope)
So you have this router and it is I presume now fully built.
We have identified that it uses a NANO and probably with a need for CH340/341 drivers.
What is it exactly you are now trying to figure out ?
Dont forget it expects to recieve G-CODE and not statements from a sketch as such.
Also DO NOT upload other sketches to it or you will over write GRBL and have to re-load it.
I assume (should never do that) the photo was clear enough.
I have Windows 7Ultimate
I selected "Nano' & '328 Old Bootloader"
I have"CH340" installed already
I have "GRBL controller 3.6.1" installed
Com port 4 is selected and 115200 baud rate. This seems to agree with "Device Manager".
I'm not sure if GRBL 1.1 is installed. When I got to the last step
It said there was an error. How do I tell if GRBL 1.1 is installed?
The machine is set up and the red light is on. the device manager says it is working.
This Arduino-CNC business reminds me of when first learning about computers I didn't even know what or how to ask questions.
What am I trying to achieve? Any indication that the machine works? No, I have not tried to run a project.
I really do appreciate all the help though.
The actual version of GRBL wont matter at this point until we know you can talk to it.
For Windows I prefer to use UGS platform
Most senders seem to work in a similar fashion.
Simple select the COM port you found in DEVICE MANAGER and click CONNECT or whatever your sender uses as the connect option.
Most senders also have a small "console" section near the bottom.
When you have clicked on connect you should see some text appear in there.
What appears may vary slightly depending on the sender but most often it will at the very least give you the version of GRBL.
Pic below is from UGS which gives me all the parameters as well as the version.
If yours says that it connected but nothing shows in your senders console that can be an indication that GRBL is either corrupt or not installed.
Some older versions of GRBL will require you to set the baudrate at 9600 rather than 115200 so make sure you try both.
I just loaded your sender and the console is the big white area on the right.
Pic below from 3.6.1
Your CONNECT is called OPEN and will turn red when connected.
Notice the single line command window.
In there you can type either direct GRBL commands or g-code.
So to re-interogate grbl as to the version etc you could simply type "$" (no quotes)
To move an axis you could type in such as G0X10 which would move the X-Axis 10 mm if mm is set and not inch otherwise change that to something like G0X1 which would move it 1 inch
The case of the letters should not matter so g0x10 would be the same as G0X10 but it is preferable to get used to caps as it makes g-code easier to read.
Most senders also allow you to use spaces between commands for more readability eg. G0 X10
I feel privileged that you are helping me!
So I installed UGS and selected com4 and 115200. The screen came up and in the connection box I put the com 4, 115200, GRBL. On the machine status in red active status and alarm showed up. On the machine control tab I checked enable keyboard movement and in the XY step size I put GOX10. Z step size says 10, feed rate says 25. On the console tab when I hit enter I get this. [Error] an error was detected while sending"G90 G21" error:Alarm lock. Streaming has been paused. I looked for some way to unlock but don't know where.
Thanks
