Hello I have been working on adding the rotary plug in to the Z axis output on Atomstack A5 with a laserbox 1.1 board. .
I managed to get the rotary working on the Z axis and I am now working on learning the origin settings. I keep running into a issue where the machine thinks the MAX Z travel is (set to 400) I set this that high so I had more range of movement.
I never know if I am far enough from what ever “limit” this is set at. Unless I try to run the file and it is out of range for some reason.
How do I remove the homing/limit switch settings for ONLY the Z axis?
I have been playing with a MKS DLC board and on there using fluidnc you can select high/low for each axis limit. Is there a way to do this on the Laserbox board?
Not ready to commit to the MKS DLC just yet I have a MKS Tinybee on the way and feel I have a need for more axis control in future (height adjustable bed)
You can’t, using the standard firmwares. You can only do this if you compile your own version of it (at least for grbl).
But: this doesn’t matter at all. If you are using a rotary, you don’t use absolute coordinates. Set the maximum travel of the z-axis to 10,000 and then don’t care anymore. If you do a rotary project, you start from “current position” and that’s it.
I figured that was the case.
I know to use current position though I often forget until it throw the wrong info to the machine.
But I still run into the issue that the rotary is at a position that is very close to the “start” of the max travel. And I get limit errors that don’t seem to make sense…
I figured setting the max travel higher gives me more of a “buffer”. So If there is no easy answer… I will increase this to the 10,000 and learn to send the rotary to 5,000 before attempting a project.
How would one compile or add a line in the firmware to allow GRBL to respect individual limits?
I am hoping the Tinybee controller shows up today. While I wasn’t a complete fan of the fluidnc firmware I can see the advantages it has over standard GRBL.
It’s actually pretty easy, just comment out the Z axes home, which I believe was in one of the header files. I’d have to see it again to tell you exactly as it’s been a few years. Once you do this, it’s permanently disabled unless you re-load the other firmware.
Thanks for the input all.
I spent yesterday playing with the MKS Tinybee, flashed FluidNC and I have it controlling the Atomstack steppers! I may just go this route as it allows me to rotate the rotary infinitely with the limit removed.
I need to play with wiring the Laser control module adapter to the Tinybee. Sounds like pin 2 & GND on the 3d touch header is the one to use. Waiting on some JST connectors to do this safely.
All this is in preparation to build a larger frame with linear rails and slowly work up to CO2 or RF if I can afford it. (I have a Rudia controller as well but not ready to build a power supply/electronics enclosure until the machine is built).
I will most likely put the LaserTree 40w in there temp. so I can at least fit larger sheets in the machine.
Then I can put the Atomstack back to stock and have a back up machine or 2nd to do large orders with.
