- 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.
- Installed a new 'alarm' method to centralize motion kills across
alarm or reset events. Right now, this is controlled by system abort
and hard limits. But, in the future, a g-code parser error may call
this too as a safety feature.
- Re(re)organized status messages to just print all errors, regardless
from where it was called. This centralizes them into one place.
- Misc messages method installed for any user feedback that is not a
confirmation or error. Mainly so that there is a place to perform
warnings and such.
- New stuff installed and still made the flash size smaller by saving
flash space from clearing out repeated '\r\n' pgmstrings.
- Fixed a bug where hard limits message would print everytime a system
abort was sent.
- Reorganized all of the status message feedback from both the g-code
parser and settings modules to be centralized into two message modules:
status feedback from executing a line and warnings for misc feedback.
- Pulled out the printPgmString() messages in settings.c and placed it
into the new module. (settings_dump() not moved).
- Some other minor edits. Renaming defines, comment updates, etc.
- Fixed a bug that would not disable the steppers if a user issues a
system abort during a homing cycle.
- Updated the hard limit interrupt to be more correct and to issue a
shutdown for the right situations when the switch has been triggered.
- Added a status message to indicate to the user what happened and what
to do upon a hard limit trigger.
- Thank you statement added for Alden Hart of Synthetos.
- Hard limits option added, which also works with homing by pulling off
the switches to help prevent unintended triggering. Hard limits use a
interrupt to sense a falling edge pin change and immediately go into
alarm mode, which stops everything and forces the user to issue a reset
(Ctrl-x) or reboot.
- Auto cycle start now a configuration option.
- Alarm mode: A new method to kill all Grbl processes in the event of
something catastrophic or potentially catastropic. Just works with hard
limits for now, but will be expanded to include g-code errors (most
likely) and other events.
- Updated status reports to be configurable in inches or mm mode. Much
more to do here, but this is the first step.
- New settings: auto cycle start, hard limit enable, homing direction
mask (which works the same as the stepper mask), homing pulloff
distance (or distance traveled from homed machine zero to prevent
accidental limit trip).
- Minor memory liberation and calculation speed ups.
- Allowed status_message function to be called by others. This is to
centralize all feedback into protocol.c.
- Fixed a bug where line number words 'N' were causing the parser to
error out.
- Allowed homing routine feed rates to move slower than the
MINIMUM_STEP_RATE parameter in config.h.
- Homing performs idle lock at the end of the routine.
- Stepper idle lock time will now not disable the steppers when the
value is set at 255. This is accomodate users who prefer to keep their
axes enabled at all times.
- Moved some defines around to where they need to be.
- printFloat() function execution doubled in speed. This is a precursor
to status reporting, since GUIs may query real-time position rapidly.
- Decimal places added to settings (for now). This may disappear in
future pushes, but here for testing purposes.
- Homing cycle will now cycle twice (spec more/less in config) to
improve repeatability and accuracy by decreasing overshoot.
- New Grbl settings added: Enable/disable homing cycles, homing seek
and feed rates, switch debounce delay, and stepper idle lock time.
- Please note that these settings may change upon the next push, since
there will be more added soon. Grbl *should* not re-write your old
settings, just re-write the new ones. So, make sure you keep these
written down somewhere in case they get lost from a code bug.
- Refactored settings migration to be a little smaller and managable
going forward.
- Limit pin internal pull-resistors now enabled. Normal high operation.
This will be the standard going forward.
- Updated all of the 'double' variable types to 'float' to reflect what
happens when compiled for the Arduino. Also done for compatibility
reasons to @jgeisler0303 's Grbl simulator code.
- G-code parser will now ignore 'E' exponent values, since they are
reserved g-code characters for some machines. Thanks @csdexter!
- The read_double() function was re-written and optimized for use in
Grbl. The strtod() avr lib was removed.
- Added acceleration to the homing routine.
- Homing now accounts for different step rates when moving multiple
axes without exceeding acceleration limits.
- Homing now updates all internal positioning variables to machine zero
after completion.
- "Poor-man's" debounce delay added.
- Updated the delay_us() function to perform faster and more accurate
microsecond delays. Previously, the single increments would add
noticeable time drift for larger delays.
- Fix a bug in the stepper.c prescalar calculations that was changed in
the last commit.
- Other minor fixes.
- 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.
Added a compile-time only experimental feature that creates a
user-specified time delay between a step pulse and a direction pin set
(in config.h). This is for users with hardware-specific issues
(opto-couplers) that need more than a few microseconds between events,
which can lead to slowly progressing step drift after many many
direction changes. We suggest to try the hack/fix posted in the Wiki
before using this, as this experimental feature may cause Grbl to take
a performance hit at high step rates and about complex curves.
- Updated makefile to be more universally compatible by not requiring
grep or ruby.
- Edited XON/XOFF flow control usage, noting that FTDI-based Arduinos
are known to work, but not Atmega8U2-based Arduino. Still officially
not supported, but added for advanced users.
- Minor edits.
