This page will be an evolving repository for myself, to collect bits and pieces of X-Carve configuration, troubleshooting, etc.

Configuration

Steps per mm

After I built the X-Carve and got a few test cuts in, I found it odd there was no tuning step.  With 3d printers, it’s important to make sure you get their “steps per mm” set so when you say “make this 10cm”, it really is 10cm.  I found the “Calibration Test Pattern” project and started cutting.  Immediately I noticed something was wrong:  The circle (labeled #13) it started with was an oval, not a circle.  After searching the forums, I found this great vid showing how to calculate the steps per mm (just about the exact same process as on a 3d printer), and how to update the settings via Easel:

As it turns out, my Y & Z seemed pretty spot on, but my X was way off.  Fixed!

Motor current

Just like on 3D printers, you need to tune the steppers current so it’s not too little (so that you miss steps) or too great (so you miss steps).    All three of my stepper pots were off from the factory (which is normal, really), and to get started I manually twisted the pots until they started behaving correctly.  But I figured there was a more accurate way, like tuning the stepper drivers on my C-Bot.  And there is: Again, another great vid:

I have the Nema 23’s from inventables, which are 2.8A per phase.  Using the method from the above vid I set them all to 2V.   Seems to work just fine so far.

Troubleshooting

Forum post with a variety of troubleshooting videos:

https://discuss.inventables.com/t/x-carve-maintenance-troubleshooting-videos-add-your-own/13405/5

Understanding GRBL

I somehow got my limit switches broken.  Follow the thread here for the nitty gritty.  As of this authoring they still don’t work:  Worked fine for a day, and then… dead:  Those pins on the Arduino constantly read 0v.  But in the process of debugging this I learned a lot about grbl.

This forum post got me started on talking to grbl.

The easiest way for me to talk with grbl is through the Arduino IDE.  It was a little twichy at first, here’s what I had to go through:

• Make sure your board is set to Arduino Uno (since right now grbl requires an Uno).
• Make sure you have the right port selected (obviously).
• When the serial monitor is up, make sure your baud rate is 115200.
• If it connects properly, you should see it say something like > Grbl 0.9j [‘$’ for help]
• You issue commands to grbl by prefixing them with the dollar sign: $.  If you issue the $ command and nothing happens, change the baude rate to 115200 again.  I had to connect a few times before it would let me issue commands to it.

grbl links:

• Main GitHub page: https://github.com/grbl/grbl
• Configuring grbl: https://github.com/grbl/grbl/wiki/Configuring-Grbl-v0.9
• Inventables grbl page: https://inventables.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2069033-grbl?b_id=9563
• Inventables fork of grbl on GitHub: https://github.com/inventables/grbl
• Compiling grbl on Arduino: https://github.com/grbl/grbl/wiki/Compiling-Grbl
  • Note, I had to use this method (Arduino IDE compile), rather than HexUploader (since I’m on Mac) : For some reason HexUploader would always error.