Sending from the software, not SD Card with file, but once the move is over (simple circle for testing the interface), the device is hung in streaming mode.
I’m completely new to Marlin and GRBL-M3 so I have no idea what codes to put in the Pre-Code nor the Post-Code fields in the device settings. Currently they’re blank.
Is that why I can’t get it to stop or even pause?
What codes, if any, need to go there?
I’ve been looking at information on the net but I’m not sure what I’m looking at.
Any help would be appreciated!
Normally these would be blank unless you have an exotic setup or otherwise have special requirements for this.
Is there a reason why you’re bringing up both of these? You’d only be using one or the other for any given device unless your machine is capable of running in multiple modes.
I’m not really familiar with ArcDroid but looks like it runs a heavily modified version of Marlin. This is often a bad thing when it comes to being able to control it from non-custom software as it’s very likely that there are more vendor specific changes or special requirements of the code.
How are you coming to this conclusion? What do you see that indicates this?
Marlin controllers tend to be consistently one of the hardest controllers to get working consistently in Lightburn from what I’ve seen. This is largely due to inconsistent firmware capability, differences in implementation, and the fact that most machines running Marlin are more geared toward the needs of 3d printing than lasering.
The maker of the ArcDroid told me it was Marlin based. When I connected it, Windows10 told me it was installing the driver for a GRBL-M3 device. I then opened LightBurn and let the device wizard find it and it recognized it as GRBL-M3.
I know nothing about GRBL-M3 but really want to get it working with LightBurn.
Do you recall where and how this was done?
I’m curious if this was a false positive or if ArcDroid have somehow created a GRBL-M3 compatible front-end to Marlin. I suspect this was just a false positive.
You didn’t address this in your previous reply. What are you seeing that you’re reacting to?
Separately, can you run these commands in Console window and return values? You’ll need to be connected to the laser when you do this.
$I
$$
?
This will determine if indeed the controller can act as a GRBL-M3 device.
Okay, I’ll try those codes in the morning.
The installation of the driver occurred immediately after plugging in the USB cable.
Neither the software nor the ArcDroid interface would respond. The ArcDroid’s TFT Screen just kept spooling information on it and LightBurn ignored me trying to use its “Pause” or “Stop” buttons.
When you get a chance, try to capture the output from ArcDroid screen and also output from LightBurn Console when this is happening.
My guess is that you’ll probably need to switch device type to Marlin and use one of the Laser Control commands available there.
Do you have a g-code sample from a simple laser operation in the native software?
Here is a stream of within the LightBurn Console AND the ArcDroid TFT mimicked it. See text at end of this reply if you can’t see the video.
Hopefully you can see the video as I’ve never tried this before.
As you can see I tried to manually add a Marlin Controller. It appeared that I was able to do so but LightBurn told me “No Device Connected”. I tried the $I and the $$. At one point the Laser window’s title bar would flash green and another try replied:
$$
echo:Unknown command: " $$"
ok P15 B3
The pic of the TFT shows what it and LightBurn eventually displayed.
Before that I was getting this over and over and seems to be stuck there now:
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1349.79 THR:1350 THS:3429.45 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1348.67 THR:1348 THS:2815.62 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1349.13 THR:1348 THS:2313.84 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1350.26 THR:1346 THS:1903.24 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
One other thing, when I let LightBurn find the device which it appears to be talking with, I discovered the ArcDroid’s baudrate was set on 250000. So in LightBurn (even though it appeared to be working, the device settings revealed it was set to 115200. So I made the changes in LightBurn to match. But that didn’t help.
I was able to home the ArcDroid with its TFT console so I know at least something is working. I didn’t try to draw or send anything to it from LB today.
Just drew a circle in LB and hit the Send button and the ArcDroid arm made a small circular movement.
Console results:
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
echo:Unknown command: “?”
ok P15 B3
Starting stream
Layer C00
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
echo:Unknown command: “M8”
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
T:25.00 /0.00 T0:25.00 /0.00 T1:25.00 /0.00 @:0 @0:0 @1:0
now it’s back to streaming the last sentence
Well, there’s a lot going on there isn’t there. The controller in the ArcDroid is being extremely chatty it seems.
Based on the output it’s almost certainly not running a GRBL-M3 compatibility mode. So I think your best bet is to stick to Marlin. The commands from the previous post aren’t relevant on Marlin so no need to pursue further.
Was there something specific that you saw that confirmed this? Did you try this baud rate with Marlin? Can’t recall if this is an option for Marlin controllers. Try toggling “Enable DTR Signal” as well to see if that makes a difference. Also try changing Transfer mode.
In the ArcDroid’s configuration settings there is a field for changing the baudrate. I forgot to tell you that I changed it to 115200 to match LightBurn but as soon as I did I got a message on the ArcDroid screen that said “no printer connected” so I put it back to 250000 and then made the change in LightBurn as stated before.
What should I actually be seeing in LightBurn’s console before, during and after sending a file? Sorry for the ignorance.
I have actually been using it with my CO2 with a Ruida but there’s no console for the DSP controller as you know in LightBurn. That’s why I’m ignorant beyond all comprehension! Lol
I’ll try the Marlin device with different baudrates as suggested.
I’ll need to better understand the “Change transfer mode” statement.
Appreciate your willingness to give me pointers on what to try!
That’s promising.
I’m not really familiar with Marlin setups. But it would not normally be so chatty. Here’s what I get on my Ortur:
Waiting for connection…
ok
[AUTHOR: ORTUR]
[MODEL: Ortur Laser Master 2]
[OLF: 142]
[DATE:18:41:30 - Dec 15 2021]
[VER:1.1h.210324:]
[OPT:VNZHI,99,512]
Target buffer size found
ok
Homing
ok
These are the settings worth exploring:
This morning I tried to recreate the Marlin device/profile and tried the suggestions but still go nowhere.
I decided to press the ArcDroid’s reset button on its TFT and below is what appeared in LightBurn’s console.
(Of note - see that LB picked up on “Marlin” and there’s an email for the programmer!)
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1353.04 THR:1355 THS:668.05 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1352.74 THR:1351 THS:655.95 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
G0
start
G0
G0
G0
G0
G0
External Reset
Marlin ppr-2022-03-07c
echo: Last Updated: 2021-05-29 | Author: (igor.yeremin@gmail.com)
echo:Compiled: Mar 7 2022
echo: Free Memory: 119179 PlannerBufferBytes: 1344
G0
G0
G0
G0
G0
G0
X:-599.9576 Y:290.0000 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:0 THC:0.00 THR:0 THS:0.00 Count A:0 B:0 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:53 OX:0 OY:0 OZ:0 OR:0
echo:V83 stored settings retrieved (842 bytes; crc 61973)
Testing X connection… OK
Testing Y connection… OK
Testing Z connection… OK
ok P15 B0
$I
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B0
ok P15 B1
ok P15 B2
ok P15 B3
Homing
$H
echo:Unknown command: “$I”
ok P15 B2
echo:Unknown command: “$H”
ok P15 B3
X:-599.9576 Y:289.9985 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.55 THR:1358 THS:1562.39 Count A:-11 B:11 Z:0
X:-599.9576 Y:289.9985 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.52 THR:1356 THS:1517.62 Count A:-11 B:11 Z:0
X:-599.9576 Y:289.9985 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.60 THR:1356 THS:1488.62 Count A:-11 B:11 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.49 THR:1354 THS:1460.19 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.80 THR:1347 THS:1418.46 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.47 THR:1350 THS:1404.88 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.32 THR:1356 THS:1378.11 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.07 THR:1352 THS:1351.88 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1354.79 THR:1350 THS:1338.96 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1354.96 THR:1358 THS:1313.51 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1355.01 THR:1356 THS:1300.98 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0 CLaligned:0 CS:54 OX:0.0000 OY:0.0000 OZ:0.0000 OR:180
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1354.90 THR:1350 THS:1276.28 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
X:-600.4627 Y:289.8854 Z:0.0000 E:0.0000 ES:36 THC:1354.80 THR:1351 THS:1252.08 Count A:-13 B:13 Z:0
Did you issue these commands? These are GRBL commands and wouldn’t work on Marlin. This was while you had Marlin device type configured?
It looks like the laser is at least responding while it’s being chatty. I wonder if there’s a setting on the ArcDroid side to make it less chatty.
Have you tried running any jobs while the device is configured as Marlin? I suspect it should at least respond to move commands. Laser control is a question mark.
Yes, I tried even though it said “no device connected” and “waiting for connection” for a “Hail Mary!” approach.
I sent an email regarding this thread to Igor for his thoughts since he’s the programmer.
I received this information via email from the ArcDroid Programmer, Igor Yeremin:
|### Igor Yeremin|
|May 3, 2022, 1:23 PM (20 hours ago)|
Hi Steven,
As far as I can tell this is a problem with how LightBurn opens the USB
serial port. See this post about someone else using a Marlin machine:
M1000 (Chris) October 13, 2021, 7:44pm #3
Lightburn not connecting Marlin 2.0.9.2 board via USB
I was able to connect by using the Pronterface-first workaround.
The device type in LightBurn should be set to Marlin, on the device
settings screen the main options to check are DTR Enable should be OFF,
laser control set to M03/M05.
Hope that helps.
Igor
Thoughts?
1 Like
Marlin in general I’ve seen people have issues with… both in connecting and in getting to work well. It may be a different version of Marlin, or different set of compile-time configurations, or other customizations causing differences.
I think it’s worth trying the Pronterface workaround to see if you can at least get a connection.
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