This is likely the last major change to the v0.9 code base before push
to master. Only two minor things remain on the agenda (CoreXY support,
force clear EEPROM, and an extremely low federate bug).
- NEW! Grbl is now compile-able and may be flashed directly through the
Arduino IDE. Only minor changes were required for this compatibility.
See the Wiki to learn how to do it.
- New status reporting mask to turn on and off what Grbl sends back.
This includes machine coordinates, work coordinates, serial RX buffer
usage, and planner buffer usage. Expandable to more information on user
request, but that’s it for now.
- Settings have been completely renumbered to allow for future new
settings to be installed without having to constantly reshuffle and
renumber all of the settings every time.
- All settings masks have been standardized to mean bit 0 = X, bit 1 =
Y, and bit 2 = Z, to reduce confusion on how they work. The invert
masks used by the internal Grbl system were updated to accommodate this
change as well.
- New invert probe pin setting, which does what it sounds like.
- Fixed a probing cycle bug, where it would freeze intermittently, and
removed some redundant code.
- Homing may now be set to the origin wherever the limit switches are.
Traditionally machine coordinates should always be in negative space,
but when limit switches on are on the opposite side, the machine
coordinate would be set to -max_travel for the axis. Now you can always
make it [0,0,0] via a compile-time option in config.h. (Soft limits
routine was updated to account for this as well.)
- Probe coordinate message immediately after a probing cycle may now
be turned off via a compile-time option in config.h. By default the
probing location is always reported.
- Reduced the N_ARC_CORRECTION default value to reflect the changes in
how circles are generated by an arc tolerance, rather than a fixed arc
segment setting.
- Increased the incoming line buffer limit from 70 to 80 characters.
Had some extra memory space to invest into this.
- Fixed a bug where tool number T was not being tracked and reported
correctly.
- Added a print free memory function for debugging purposes. Not used
otherwise.
- Realtime rate report should now work during feed holds, but it hasn’t
been tested yet.
- Updated the streaming scripts with MIT-license and added the simple
streaming to the main stream.py script to allow for settings to be sent.
- Some minor code refactoring to improve flash efficiency. Reduced the
flash by several hundred KB, which was re-invested in some of these new
features.
- Completely overhauled the g-code parser. It’s now 100%* compliant. (*
may have some bugs). Being compliant, here are some of the major
differences.
- SMALLER and JUST AS FAST! A number of optimizations were found that
sped things up and allowed for the more thorough error-checking to be
installed without a speed hit. Trimmed a lot of ‘fat’ in the parser and
still was able to make it significantly smaller than it was.
- No default feed rate setting! Removed completely! This doesn’t exist
in the g-code standard. So, it now errors out whenever it’s undefined
for motions that require it (G1/2/3/38.2).
- Any g-code parser error expunges the ENTIRE block. This means all
information is lost and not passed on to the running state. Before some
of the states would remain, which could have led to some problems.
- If the g-code block passes all of the error-checks, the g-code state
is updated and all motions are executed according to the order of
execution.
- Changes in spindle speed, when already running, will update the
output pin accordingly. This fixes a bug, where it wouldn’t update the
speed.
- Update g-code parser error reporting. Errors now return detailed
information of what exact went wrong. The most common errors return a
short text description. For less common errors, the parser reports
‘Invalid gcode ID:20’, where 20 is a error ID. A list of error code IDs
and their descriptions will be documented for user reference elsewhere
to save flash space.
- Other notable changes:
- Added a print integer routine for uint8 variables. This saved
significant flash space by switching from a heavier universal print
integer routine.
- Saved some flash space with our own short hypotenuse calculation
- Some arc computation flash and memory optimizations.
WARNING: Bugs may still exist. This branch is a work in progress and
will be pushed to the edge branch when at beta stability. Use at your
own risk.
- Homing freezing issue fixed. Had to do with the cycle stop flag being
set incorrectly after the homing cycles and before the pull-off
maneuver. Now resets the stepper motors before this can happen.
- Fixed an issue with a rare feed hold failure. Had to do with feed
hold ending exactly at the end of a block. The runtime protocol now
sets the QUEUED and IDLE states appropriately when this occurs. Still
need to clean this code up however, as it’s patched rather than written
well.
- Updated version build via $I command.
- Forgot to comment on a new feature for the last commit. Since steps
are integers and millimeters traveled are floats, the old step segment
generator ignored the step fraction differences in generating the
segment velocities. Didn’t see like it would be much of a big deal, but
there were instances that this would be a problem, especially for very
slow feed rates. The stepper algorithm now micro-adjusts the segment
velocities based on the step fractions not executed from the previous
segment. This ensures that Grbl generates the velocity profiles EXACTLY
and noticeably improves overall acceleration performance.
WARNING: There are still some bugs to be worked out. Please use caution
if you test this firmware.
- Feed holds work much better, but there are still some failure
conditions that need to be worked out. This is the being worked on
currently and a fix is planned to be pushed next.
- Homing cycle refactoring: Slight adjustment of the homing cycle to
allow for limit pins to be shared by different axes, as long as the
shared limit pins are not homed on the same cycle. Also, removed the
LOCATE_CYCLE portion of the homing cycle configuration. It was
redundant.
- Limit pin sharing: (See above). To clear up one or two limit pins for
other IO, limit pins can now be shared. For example, the Z-limit can be
shared with either X or Y limit pins, because it’s on a separate homing
cycle. Hard limit will still work exactly as before.
- Spindle pin output fixed. The pins weren’t getting initialized
correctly.
- Fixed a cycle issue where streaming was working almost like a single
block mode. This was caused by a problem with the spindle_run() and
coolant_run() commands and issuing an unintended planner buffer sync.
- Refactored the cycle_start, feed_hold, and other runtime routines
into the runtime command module, where they should be handled here
only. These were redundant.
- Moved some function calls around into more appropriate source code
modules.
- Fixed the reporting of spindle state.
- Added a new source and header file called system. These files contain
the system commands and variables, as well as all of the system headers
and standard libraries Grbl uses. Centralizing some of the code.
- Re-organized the include headers throughout the source code.
- ENABLE_M7 define was missing from config.h. Now there.
- SPINDLE_MAX_RPM and SPINDLE_MIN_RPM now defined in config.h. No
uncommenting to prevent user issues. Minimum spindle RPM now provides
the lower, near 0V, scale adjustment, i.e. some spindles can go really
slow so why use up our 256 voltage bins for them?
- Remove some persistent variables from coolant and spindle control.
They were redundant.
- Removed a VARIABLE_SPINDLE define in cpu_map.h that shouldn’t have
been there.
- Changed the DEFAULT_ARC_TOLERANCE to 0.002mm to improve arc tracing.
Before we had issues with performance, no longer.
- Fixed a bug with the hard limits and the software debounce feature
enabled. The invert limit pin setting wasn’t honored.
- Fixed a bug with the homing direction mask. Now is like it used to
be. At least for now.
- Re-organized main.c to serve as only as the reset/initialization
routine. Makes things a little bit clearer in terms of execution
procedures.
- Re-organized protocol.c as the overall master control unit for
execution procedures. Not quite there yet, but starting to make a
little more sense in how things are run.
- Removed updating of old settings records. So many new settings have
been added that it’s not worth adding the code to migrate old user
settings.
- Tweaked spindle_control.c a bit and made it more clear and consistent
with other parts of Grbl.
- Tweaked the stepper disable bit code in stepper.c. Requires less
flash memory.
- New build info feature. Hidden command ‘$I’ will print the build info
for your Grbl firmware. Users may also write an identifying message
within it via ‘$I=‘ with up to 32 characters. (no more, or else it will
break).
- Adjusted the max number of startup lines to 3. Majority of people
will only need one.
- Fixed a compile error with spindle_control.c. A rogue #endif was
causing problems.
- Variable spindle speed output as a configuration option. Thanks
@EliteEng! When enabled, the Z-limit (D11) and spindle enable(D12) pins
switch to allow access to the hardware PWM output on pin D11.
Otherwise, everything should work as it does.
- Removed option for inverting the spindle and coolant enable pins.
This is a safety hazard, especially for the spindle. When Grbl
initializes, all pins are momentarily low until it finishes booting. If
an invert is enabled, this means the spindles can be energized briefly
during this time. If users need signal inversion, it’s recommended to
just wire in an inversion circuit instead.
- Cleared out references to spindle variable output in terms of step
signal. This isn’t complete and requires more deliberation before
installing.
- Cleared up and cleaned up some code and config comments.
- Homing travel calculations fixed. It was computing the min travel
rather than max.
- Auto-start disable and pausing after spindle or dwell commands.
Related to plan_synchronize() function call. Now fixed, but still need
to work on the system state.
- Pushed a fix to make this branch more Arduino IDE compatible. Removed
extern call in nuts_bolts.c
- Updated the stepper configuration option of enabling or disabling the
new Adaptive Multi-Axis Step Smoothing Algorithm. Now works either way.
- Updated some copyright info.
(All v0.8 features installed. Still likely buggy, but now thourough
testing will need to start to squash them all. As soon as we're done,
this will be pushed to master and v0.9 development will be started.
Please report ANY issues to us so we can get this rolled out ASAP.)
- User startup script! A user can now save one (up to 5 as compile-time
option) block of g-code in EEPROM memory. This will be run everytime
Grbl resets. Mainly to be used as a way to set your preferences, like
G21, G54, etc.
- New dry run and check g-code switches. Dry run moves ALL motions at
rapids rate ignoring spindle, coolant, and dwell commands. For rapid
physical proofing of your code. The check g-code switch ignores all
motion and provides the user a way to check if there are any errors in
their program that Grbl may not like.
- Program restart! (sort of). Program restart is typically an advanced
feature that allows users to restart a program mid-stream. The check
g-code switch can perform this feature by enabling the switch at the
start of the program, and disabling it at the desired point with some
minimal changes.
- New system state variable. This state variable tracks all of the
different state processes that Grbl performs, i.e. cycle start, feed
hold, homing, etc. This is mainly for making managing of these task
easier and more clear.
- Position lost state variable. Only when homing is enabled, Grbl will
refuse to move until homing is completed and position is known. This is
mainly for safety. Otherwise, it will let users fend for themselves.
- Moved the default settings defines into config.h. The plan is to
eventually create a set of config.h's for particular as-built machines
to help users from doing it themselves.
- Moved around misc defines into .h files. And lots of other little
things.
NOTE: Another incremental update. Likely buggy, still a ways to go
before everything is installed, such as startup blocks.
- Changed the '$' command to print help. '$$' now prints Grbl settings.
The help now instructs the user of runtime commands, switch toggling,
homing, etc. Jogging will be added to these in v0.9.
- Added switches: block delete, opt stop, and single block mode.
- Now can print the g-code parser state and persistent parameters
(coord sys) to view what Grbl has internally.
- Made the gc struct in the g-code parser global to be able to print
the states. Also moved coordinate system tracking from sys to gc struct.
- Changed up the welcome flag and updated version to v0.8c.
- Removed spindle speed from gcode parser. Not used.
- Added coolant control! Flood control (M8) functions on analog pin 0.
Mist control (M7) is compile-time optional and is on analog pin 1. (Use
only if you have multiple coolants on your system). Based on work by
@openpnp.
- Fixed some variable assignments in spindle control.
- G54 work coordinate system support. Up to 6 work coordinate systems
(G54-G59) available as a compile-time option.
- G10 command added to set work coordinate offsets from machine
position.
- G92/G92.1 position offsets and cancellation support. Properly follows
NIST standard rules with other systems.
- G53 absolute override now works correctly with new coordinate systems.
- Revamped g-code parser with robust error checking. Providing user
feedback with bad commands. Follows NIST standards.
- Planner module slightly changed to only expected position movements
in terms of machine coordinates only. This was to simplify coordinate
system handling, which is done solely by the g-code parser.
- Upon grbl system abort, machine position and work positions are
retained, while G92 offsets are reset per NIST standards.
- Compiler compatibility update for _delay_us().
- Updated README.
- ALPHA status. - Multitasking ability with run-time command executions
for real-time control and feedback. - Decelerating feed hold and resume
during operation. - System abort/reset, which immediately kills all
movement and re-initializes grbl. - Re-structured grbl to easily allow
for new features: Status reporting, jogging, backlash compensation. (To
be completed in the following releases.) - Resized TX/RX serial buffers
(32/128 bytes) - Increased planner buffer size to 20 blocks. - Updated
documentation.