- New stepper algorithm with the new optimized planner seems to be
working nearly twice as fast as the previous algorithm.
- For one, the planner computation overhead is probably a fraction of
what it used to be with the worst case being about half still.
- Secondly, anytime the planner plans back to the first executing
block, it no longer overwrites the block conditions and allows it to
complete without lost steps. So no matter if the streams slows, the
protected planner should keep the steppers moving without risk of lost
steps (although this still needs to be tested thoroughly and may
audibly sound weird when this happens.)
- It now seems that the bottleneck is the serial baudrate (which is
good!)
Development push. Lots still broken.
- Protected planner concept works! This is a critical precursor to
enabling feedrate overrides in allowing the planner buffer and the
stepper execution operate atomically. This is done through a
intermediary segment buffer.
- Still lots of work to be done, as this was a complete overhaul of the
planner and stepper subsystems. The code can be cleaned up quite a bit,
re-enabling some of the broken features like feed holds, and finishing
up some of the concepts
- Pushed some of the fixes from the master and edge branch to here, as
this will likely replace the edge branch when done.
- **NON-FUNCTIONAL**
- Contains an old draft of separating the stepper driver direct access
to the planner buffer. This is designed to keep the stepper and planner
modules independent and prevent overwriting or other complications. In
this way, feedrate override should be able to be installed as well.
- A number of planner optimizations are installed too.
- Not sure where the bugs are. Either in the new planner optimizations,
new stepper module updates, or in both. Or it just could be that the
Arduino AVR is choking with the new things it has to do.
- Increased g-code parser line buffer to 70 characters (from 50) to
prevent some long arc commands from getting truncated.
- Decreased planner buffer from 18 to 17 blocks to free up memory for
line buffer.
- Added a line buffer overflow feedback error (Thanks @BHSPitMonkey!)
- WARNING: Completely untested. Will later when there is time. Settings
WILL be overwritten, as there are new settings.
- Soft limits installed. Homing must be enabled for soft limits to work
correctly. Errors out much like a hard limit, locking out everything
and bringing up the alarm mode. Only difference is it forces a feed
hold before doing so. Position is not lost.
- IMPORTANT: Homing had to be updated so that soft limits work better
with less CPU overhead. When homing completes, all axes are assumed to
exist in negative space. If your limit switch is other side, the homing
cycle with set this axis location to the max travel value, rather than
zero.
- Update mc_line() to accept an array, rather than individual variables.
- Added an mc_auto_cycle_start() function handle this feature.
Organization only.
-
These changes include a path separator fix and the removal of --gc-sections which causes ld failures, and is not needed on a pc.
This patch also changes how a compiler is selected. The makefile will now select the system compiler , which should work fine
under mingw and linux.
- Returned the max step rate to 30kHz. The new arc algorithm works uses
so much less CPU overhead, because the segments are longer, that the
planner has no problem computing through them.
- Fixed an issue with the acceleration independence scaling. Should now
work with accelerations above 400mm/sec^2 or so.
- Updated README
- Arc mm_per_segment parameter was removed and replaced with an
arc_tolerance parameter, which scales all arc segments automatically to
radius, such that the line segment error doesn't exceed the tolerance.
Significantly improves arc performance through larger radius arc,
because the segments are much longer and the planner buffer has more to
work with.
- Moved n_arc correction from the settings to config.h. Mathematically
this doesn't need to be a setting anymore, as the default config value
will work for all known CNC applications. The error does not accumulate
as much anymore, since the small angle approximation used by the arc
generation has been updated to a third-order approximation and how the
line segment length scale with radius and tolerance now. Left in
config.h for extraneous circumstances.
- Corrected the st.ramp_count variable (acceleration tick counter) to a
8-bit vs. 32-bit variable. Should make the stepper algorithm just a
touch faster overall.
- Maximum velocity for each axis is now configurable in settings. All
rapids/seek move at these maximums. All feed rates(including rapids)
may be limited and scaled down so that no axis does not exceed their
limits.
- Moved around auto-cycle start. May change later, but mainly to ensure
the planner buffer is completely full before cycle starting a streaming
program. Otherwise it should auto-start when there is a break in the
serial stream.
- Reverted old block->max_entry_speed_sqr calculations. Feedrate
overrides not close to ready at all.
- Fixed intermittent slow trailing steps for some triangle velocity
profile moves. The acceleration tick counter updating was corrected to
be exact for that particular transition. Should be ok for normal
trapezoidal profiles.
- Fixed the Timer0 disable after a step pulse falling edge. Thanks
@blinkenlight!
NOTE: This push is a work-in-progress and there are known bugs that
need to be fixed, like homing acceleration being incompatible. Released
for testing. Settings will definitely be overwritten, as new settings
were needed.
- Acceleration independence installed in planner. Each axis can now
have different accelerations and Grbl will maximize the accelerations
depending on the direction its moving. Very useful for users like on
the ShapeOko with vastly different Z-axis properties.
- More planner optimizations and re-factoring. Slightly improved some
of the older calculations, but new acceleration calculations offset
these improvements. Overall no change in processing speed.
- Removed planner nominal length checks. It was arguable whether or not
this improved planner efficiency, especially in the worst case scenario
of arcs.
- Updated readme and changed to markdown format.
- Improved planner execution speed by 5% or more. Re-factored most of
the calculations in terms of the square of velocity. This removed a lot
of sqrt() calculations for every planner_recalculate.
- Oops again. Thought the new planner changes made things much better,
but there was a bug. Improvements we on the order of 20% execution time
reduction, rather than half. The increase to 30kHz Ranade timer
frequency also increased the overall overhead, so the total planner
change? Zero. But, it's still better.
- Planner execute speed has been more than halved from 4ms to 1.9ms
when computing a plan for a single line segment during arc generation.
This means that Grbl can now run through an arc (or complex curve)
twice as fast as before without starving the buffer. For 0.1mm arc
segments, this means about the theoretical feed rate limit is about
3000mm/min for arcs now.
- Increased the Ranade timer frequency to 30kHz, as there doesn't seem
to be any problems with increasing the frequency. This means that the
maximum step frequency is now back at 30kHz.
- Added Zen Toolworks 7x7 defaults.
- Brand-new stepper algorithm. Based on the Pramod Ranade inverse time
algorithm, but modified to ensure step events are exact. Currently
limited to about 15kHz step rates, much more to be done to enable 30kHz
again.
- Removed Timer1. Stepper algorithm now uses Timer0 and Timer2.
- Much improved step generation during accelerations. Smoother. Allows
much higher accelerations (and speeds) than before on the same machine.
- Cleaner algorithm that is more easily portable to other CPU types.
- Streamlined planner calculations. Removed accelerate_until and
final_rate variables from block buffer since the new stepper algorithm
is that much more accurate.
- Improved planner efficiency by about 15-20% during worst case
scenarios (arcs).
- New config.h options to tune new stepper algorithm.
- Updated interface protocol to play nicer with interface programs. All
Grbl responses beginning with '$' signifies a setting. Bracketed '[]'
responses are feedback messages containing either state, parameter, or
general messages. Chevron '<>' response are from the real-time status
messages, i.e. position.
- M2 Program end command was causing a system alarm. Fixed. Thanks
@blinkenlight !
- The homing sequence is now a compile-time option, where a user can
choose which axes(s) move in sequence during the search phase. Up to 3
sequences. Works with the locating phase and the pull-off maneuver.
- New defaults.h file to store user generated default settings for
different machines. Mainly to be used as a central repo, but each set
may be select to be compiled in as a config.h define.
- Added Grbl state (Idle, Running, Queued, Hold, etc) to the real-time
status reporting feature as feedback to the user of what Grbl is doing.
Updated the help message to reflect this change.
- Removed switches (dry run, block delete, single block mode). To keep
Grbl simple and not muddled up from things that can easily be taken
care of by an external interface, these were removed.
- Check g-code mode was retained, but the command was moved to '$C'
from '$S0'.
- Refactored system states to be more clear and concise. Alarm locks
processes when position is unknown to indicate to user something has
gone wrong.
- Changed mc_alarm to mc_reset, which now manages the system reset
function. Centralizes it.
- Renamed '$X' kill homing lock to kill alarm lock.
- Created an alarm error reporting method to clear up what is an alarm:
message vs a status error: message. For GUIs mainly. Alarm codes are
negative. Status codes are positive.
- Serial baud support upto 115200. Previous baudrate calc was unstable
for 57600 and above.
- Alarm state locks out all g-code blocks, including startup scripts,
but allows user to access settings and internal commands. For example,
to disable hard limits, if they are problematic.
- Hard limits do not respond in an alarm state.
- Fixed a problem with the hard limit interrupt during the homing
cycle. The interrupt register is still active during the homing cycle
and still signal the interrupt to trigger when re-enabled. Instead,
just disabled the register.
- Homing rate adjusted. All axes move at homing seek rate, regardless
of how many axes move at the same time. This is unlike how the stepper
module does it as a point to point rate.
- New config.h settings to disable the homing rate adjustment and the
force homing upon powerup.
- Reduced the number of startup lines back down to 2 from 3. This
discourages users from placing motion block in there, which can be very
dangerous.
- Startup blocks now run only after an alarm-free reset or after a
homing cycle. Does not run when $X kill is called. For satefy reasons
- Fixed a minor issue where the seek rates would not immediately be
used and only would after a reset. Should update live now.
- A full circle IJ offset CCW arc would not do anything. Fixed bug via
a simple if-then statement.
- Radius mode tweaks to check for negative value in sqrt() rather than
isnan() it. Error report updated to indicate what actually happened.
- Added some more notes to config.h.
- Added the ability to override some of the #defines around Grbl in
config.h, like planner buffer size, line buffer size, serial
send/receive buffers. Mainly to centralize the configurations to be
able to port to different microcontrollers later.
- Removed the dry run switch. It was getting overly complicated for
what it needed to do. In practice, single block mode and feed rate
overrides (coming in next release) does a much better job with dry runs
than 'dry run'.
- Trimmed all of Grbl's messages from help, status, feedback to
settings. Saved 0.6KB+ of flash space that could be used for v0.9
features.
- Removed some settings inits when set. Will depend on user to power
cycle to get some of these to reload.
- Fixed a bug with settings version not re-writing old settings, when
it should. Thanks Alden!
- Increased the number of startup blocks to 3 for no good reason other
than it doesn't increase the flash size.
- Removed the purge buffer command and replaced with an disable homing
lock command.
- Homing now blocks all g-code commands (not system commands) until the
homing cycle has been performed or the disable homing lock is sent.
Homing is required upon startup or if Grbl loses it position. This is
for safety reasons.
- Cleaned up some of the Grbl states and re-organized it to be little
more cohesive.
- Cleaned up the feedback and status messages to not use so much flash
space, as it's a premium now.
- Check g-code and dry run switches how are mutually exclusive and
can't be enabled when the other is. And automatically resets Grbl when
disabled.
- Some bug fixes and other minor tweaks.
- To make managing the code easier and to help ensure a user starts
with a fresh reset, the functionality of check g-code and dry run has
been changed to automatically perform a soft reset when toggled off.
Position will not be lost, unless there is a cycle active. Feed hold
before toggling off it needed.
This is mainly a safety issue. If a user dry runs a program and kills
it mid-program, and then restarts it thinking to run it as normal, the
g-code modes that we're set may not be what they expect, and very bad
things can happen.
- NOTE: Grbl is at 83.5% of flash capacity. Not a lot of room left, but
I think we can squeeze in some more!
- Pinned out cycle start(A2), feed hold(A1), and reset(A0) runtime
commands. These pins are held high with the internal pull-up resistor
enabled. All you have to do is connect a normally-open switch to the
pin and ground. That's it.
- Moved the coolant control pins to A3 (and the optional mist control
to A4).
- Moved all of the MASK defines into the config.h file to centralize
them.
- Added a purge buffer (and lock) command. This is an advanced option
to clear any queued blocks in the buffer in the event of system
position being lost or homed. These queued blocks will likely not move
correctly if not purged. In typical use, the purging command releases
the homing axes lock in case a user need to move the axes off their
hard limit switches, but position is not guaranteed. Homing is advised
immediately after.
- Created a system-wide sync current position function. Cleans up some
of the repetitive tasks in various places in the code that do the same
thing.
- Removed the clear all switches command '$S'. Not really needed and
helped clean up a sync call.
- Other minor tweaks. Readme updated slightly..
(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.
(NOTE: This push is likely buggy so proceed with caution. Just
uploading to let people know where we're going.)
- New report.c module. Moved all feedback functions into this module to
centralize these processes. Includes realtime status reports, status
messages, feedback messages.
- Official support 6 work coordinate systems (G54-G59), which are
persistently held in EEPROM memory.
- New g-code support: G28.1, G30.1 stores current machine position as a
home position into EEPROM. G10 L20 Px stores current machine position
into work coordinates without needing to explicitly send XYZ words.
- Homing performed with '$H' command. G28/G30 no longer start the
homing cycle. This is how it's supposed to be.
- New settings: Stepper enable invert and n_arc correction installed.
- Updated and changed up some limits and homing functionality. Pull-off
travel will now move after the homing cycle regardless of hard limits
enabled. Fixed direction of pull-off travel (went wrong way).
- Started on designing an internal Grbl command protocol based on the
'$' settings letter. Commands with non numeric characters after '$'
will perform switch commands, homing cycle, jogging, printing
paramters, etc. Much more to do here.
- Updated README to reflect all of the new features.
