Keyes_robot GRBL CNC Problem

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:

I got the CNC from here http://en.keyes-robot.com/productshow.aspx?id=516

BUT what should I do to make it work?

It's a real shit they didn't post a datasheet/manual/etc.

Thanks!

EDIT: It's marked as solved now, if you look for the CNC firmware, scroll down for download.

The link to the supplier does not go to the specific product you have. If you can provide a link to the product we may be able to help.

But it does look like you got what you paid for :slight_smile:

What board has the label GRBL? Post a photo of it. (keep the photo to 640x480 please).

...R

hmm... did you scroll down the page? the title says "products" but it's about the CNC.
Here's a picture: http://en.keyes-robot.com/UploadFiles/Files/2014101310/b786e9a2555b449cb360ae2eff00c4fb_700700.jpg

proton43:
hmm... did you scroll down the page?

I did. But I did not relate the image to the first line of your Original Post

I got a problem with an arduino-powered CNC. When it's switched ON it doesn't react to anything

I was looking for a CNC machine.

You need to provide more information than "it doesn't react to anything". I would not expect any unconnected Arduino board to react to anything.

What sort of Arduino board is on the device?
Have you tried uploading any code to it?
Was that successful?
Have you tried uploading the GRBL code?

...R

Have you tried the serial window (at every baud rate)? If GRBL is loaded it will produce
a startup message on reset to USB-serial.

Thanks everyone for your replies!
I however, figured this out myself. The solution is:

  1. 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)

grbl_mod_keyes_cnc.zip (140 KB)

proton43:
For everyone who bought Keyes_CNC and can't make it work, below is the grbl mod that worked for me.

Thanks for sharing.

...R

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?

Perhaps the direction pin for X isn't connected or configured correctly - start there...

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:

  1. 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
  1. 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