Hello,
I got a problem with an arduino-powered CNC. When it's switched ON it doesn't react to anything (for example the +X, -X buttons or all other buttons), even with motors attached. From what I see, I think that it doesn't have software preloaded, only the ArduinoBlink example. The board has a label GRBL, so I think this is the software:
Thanks everyone for your replies!
I however, figured this out myself. The solution is:
I initially powered it at 5V, but the required voltage should be no less than 12V
2.For my board (Keyes_CNC) I found out that the pins for STEP and DIR are swapped for every axis, so I modified the GRBL source.
3.The GRBL source with the REPORT_GUI_MODE option disabled takes 100 kB more that the Nano can hold and the IDE refuses to upload it. That's why I uncommented REPORT_GUI_MODE and now it's OK.
For everyone who bought Keyes_CNC and can't make it work, below is the grbl mod that worked for me. (See the attachment)
Thank you for sharing. I had the same problem and now it works or at least Y and Z axis.
I only have one problem, the X axis Motor is only driven in one direction, even if I try it manually with grbl controler, I only get one +X movement. Is there any problem in the code you last post?
Just to make it clear for others like me who've hit similar problems trying to use this P.O.S.:
this is the CNC shield board widely sold on EBay, carrying the silk-screen labels "Contr01 by Grbl", "111330" and "Keyes-CNC".
The two problems with it are:
the tracking of the STEP and DIRECTION pins is swapped from the "standard" CNC-shield, so even the demo Arduino sketch on http://wiki.keyestudio.com doesn't work! The actual pin-assignments are:
#define X_DIR 2 // X axis, stepper motor direction control
#define Y_DIR 3 // Y axis, stepper motor direction control
#define Z_DIR 4 // Z axis, stepper motor direction control
#define X_STP 5 // X axis, stepper motor control
#define Y_STP 6 // Y axis, stepper motor control
#define Z_STP 7 // Z axis, stepper motor control
The three "step-size" inputs to each motor-driver have jumpers to link them to 0V, but no pullup resistors to pull them high if the jumper is not fitted! So if full-step mode is what you want, just fit all three jumpers under each module, but if you want half-step, quarter-step etc. you're going to have to solder some bodge-wires to the bottom of the board.
To be fair, this same issue seems to apply on all the Chinese-made CNC-shield boards I've seen, and even in the original schematics on protoneer.co.nz