GrblGru: Free CAM and 3D-Simulation for mills and lathes

[Contrebasse52]

Hello.
I am new to this forum. I just saw your video on Youtube concerning the unimat lathe.
I own the same unimat lathe.
Will it be possible to have the DXF file for this tour. I can't find it.
I am told it has been deleted.
Thank you in advance for your answer and your help.

[erdinc_eroglu]

@Yvzylmz
I am glad that it works now. Thanks for your help.

@erdinc_eroglu
I have created in the new version V4.1.12 a new machine type and the machine "ERTEV".
GrblGru can currently communicate with the following Operating system: GRBL, TinyG and Mega-5x.
I do not know which one you use.

Thank you very much Ertev counter has been very nice for us.

[jcorona]

Great!, now its working fine. Full properties are being copied on one job (including entry point). A step further can be individual active / passive for copies.

FYI Attached an image with some drawing mismatch between original path and tool path, after going between 3D an 2D tabs. After some fiddling it fixed itself, as I did not expect, I do not remember exactly what I did.

Thanks

[jcorona]

Hi @GrblGru,

Using 4.1.13, just found that after going home is keeping z= 5mm, seems to be height of clearance plane of selected job. Please check. Thanks.

[RobinMorritt]

Beginner here ... but ... I find homing very confusing.

Toolbar icon - Start Homing.
Toolbar icon - Start Homing - Shift = Moving to the user's home position.
Actual Work Position - "Origin" button.
Actual Work Position - "Home" icon in the jogging control.

I don't understand what these are all for, but so long as the "Stock" values for Bounding, V-Offset and Thickness are zero, then I always have to click the "Origin" button after Homing to get to the Z = 0 position.

I thought the purpose of the "Origin" button was to set the origin to the current position. However, it treats of the Z axis is a Homing action.

[GrblGru]

@Contrebasse52
I don't know which DXF file you mean.
But when you run the installation, automatically in the folder C:\ProgramData\GrblGru\ExampleData
several sample files ( DXF, SVG, SVG, NC etc. ) will be created.
If you don't find them in there, please tell me which video you watched.


@jcorona
When the "Home" button is pressed, it is lifted out to safety level and then moved to the local origin.
For safety reasons, however, 5mm is lifted in any case. E.g. if the safety height was not entered.


@RobinMorritt
I admit that it might be a little confusing at the beginning.

So I'll try to explain what I was thinking.

First, there is the difference between the Machine Coordinate System and the Local Coordinate System.
The button "Homing" in the toolbar serves to move to the origin of the machine coordinate system, which is determined by the position of the limit switches.
However, homing is not absolutely necessary for operation if you do not want to move to absolute coordinates.
That's why I used the button in the toolbar for other things for the simulation mode.

Now to the setting of the origin of the local coordinate system. As you said correctly, the "Origin" key is responsible for this.
But we distinguish whether we are in real mode or in simulation mode.

In simulation mode:
Here, the acceptance of the accurate position applies only to X and Y. The Z-axis is positioned in such a way that the tip of the tool is at the position
which is determined by "Thickness" and "V-Offset". For example, let "Thickness" = 20mm, "Offset" be 0mm.
All axis display will be set to 0.

In real operation:
Here you clamp e.g. a 20mm thick wooden board, move the Z-axis down until the tool touches the board.
Then you press the "Origin" key. All axis display will be set to 0.

At this point, the situation in the virtual space on the screen matches the real machine.
So the whole thing is just to bring the virtual model into the same position as the real machine.
And this in a way as simple as possible.

[RobinMorritt]

Thank you so much for such an extensive explanation, Mr T. I've filed the text for reference. Fair play.

[Dialog69]

Hello. Can you tell me what is the reason? Everything works correctly in V3.49. In version V4.1, V4.13, there is no movement along the axes when threading, neither in work nor in simulation.

[GrblGru]

Thanks for the info. That was a bug that crept in during a change.

I just uploaded a new version V4.1.19. It should work again with that.
There should also be some other improvements for lathe operation in it.

[Dialog69]

Thanks for the info. That was a bug that crept in during a change.

I just uploaded a new version V4.1.19. It should work again with that.
There should also be some other improvements for lathe operation in it.

Ok. Thanks! V4.1.19. works .

[yannicovicz]

First off all I want to give you big kudo's on the quality of this program! It is awesome!

I have been using it since version 3.49.14 in which Tangential Knife was introduced.
In that version there was a settings "accuracy 2D" in which you could influence the accuracy that will be used to create circles and arcs. The default value was 0.1 but I always used it with a value of 0.005 for smoother curves.

Today I upgraded to version 4.1 and I see that this settings is no longer available. All the files I make now have I think the default value of 0.1 which results in not so smooth corners.

Is there a new parameter to changes this behavior?

Tnx!

[yannicovicz]

First off all I want to give you big kudo's on the quality of this program! It is awesome!

I have been using it since version 3.49.14 in which Tangential Knife was introduced.
In that version there was a settings "accuracy 2D" in which you could influence the accuracy that will be used to create circles and arcs. The default value was 0.1 but I always used it with a value of 0.005 for smoother curves.

Today I upgraded to version 4.1 and I see that this settings is no longer available. All the files I make now have I think the default value of 0.1 which results in not so smooth corners.

Is there a new parameter to changes this behavior?

Tnx!

I was wrong, the parameter "accuracy 2D" is still present, the parameter "Accuracy" is missing.
I added a screenshot

[GrblGru]

Release notes V4.2

once again there is a new GrblGru version V4.2. This time most of the changes have been made for the lathe operation.
In the video I tried to describe the most important changes.

Have fun with GrblGru

[GrblGru]

@yannicovicz

How did you create the circles ?
Did you load them from a DXF or SVG file into GrblGru, or did you use the 2D templates.

Can you please provide me with a file so I can see what the problem is.

[yannicovicz]

@GrblGru

I did a test with a spiral SVG which I made in InkScape.
The generated Gcode "cuts" the spiral in sections, but the Angle steps are rather large, especially when you go to the inside of the spiral. If I cut that, then it is no longer an arc but more a polygon.

In the previous version (the one with the first release of the tangential knife you posted here) there was a settings in which you could influence the resolution of the arc to polygon conversion, but in the newer versions it is no longer there.

I also tested it with a DXF, the behavior was +- the same (it was another shape so I can not compare it 1:1 with the SVG)

[jcorona]

Hello!, hope everything is going ok!

Just to report a bug (sorry if repeated):

v4.1.13
-Something happens (randomly, no pattern noticed) with milling direction indicator. Attached png for reference. All these shapes were on same job (only 1 milling direction, CCW), some of them are reversed. Seems to be just for presentation, as worked as expected in reality.

Best regards.

JC

[GrblGru]

@yannicovicz
Sorry, I just saw that I have not answered you yet.
Have you been able to solve the problem in the meantime ?
The parameter "Polyline cleaning" influences the accuracy. But only if the switch "Convert all to polylines" is set.
Please provide me with an example file. Then I can help you better.


@jcorona
Thanks for the feedback. Can you please provide me also best a project file.
It is always much easier for me to reproduce the problem.

[Armando]

Hello GrblGru,

In version 4.2.5 there are 2 BUGs in imports of *.SVG and *.GCODE


Armando

[RobinMorritt]

Hello GrblGru,

In version 4.2.5 there are 2 BUGs in imports of *.SVG and *.GCODE


Armando

Is this related to the directory change, perhaps?
Program Data used to be at C:\ProgramData\grblgru
In 4.2.5 it's at C:\ProgramData\toe\grblgru

[Armando]

Hi RobinMorritt,
This is not related to the change of directory, No!
it's a BUG

Armando