Genmitsu CNC 3018-Pro and off-line controller ERRORS

10632 Views 17 Replies 9 Participants Last post by old55, Dec 10, 2021

anthonyvanv

Discussion Starter · Mar 28, 2020

I hope that someone can help me on here because I can't find anything online or any other support forums for sainsmart products.
Heres my issue,
I'm using the genmitsu CNC 3018-pro with the GRBL offline controller. I have my g code in a .txt file on my SD card that I've created using fusion 360. (attached)
I start everything off okay with the offline controller and it starts cutting right away. However, half way thru the program... I get a message on my controller that says "Printed: INF%2%" or "Printed: INF%6%"
The router just sits there with the spindle going in one spot until I hold the EXIT button on the controller and it goes back to the menu, except the menu is blank and I can't select anything. I have to restart the whole system and I'm left with a half cut project.
Can someone help me out with this?
Perhaps there is some type of update for the offline controller?

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

PhilBa

· #2 · Mar 28, 2020

More chinese tech support!

A couple of things
- your GCode file is HUGE. I wouldn't be surprised if your chinese controller barfs on it.
- using a visualizer shows some odd things - super deep cuts. You might want to look at it - the issue will be obvious.
- the messages look like broken software.

I would try breaking up your GCode program into smaller chunks. In manufacture, save each tool path as a separate file and then manually run each in sequence.

Personally, I'd be inclined to toss the Chinese controller but I suspect that's not what you want to hear. Those off-line controllers sound like a good idea but I've heard a lot of problems with them.

anthonyvanv

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 28, 2020

Thanks for the information.
I had a previous pocket clearing with a larger bit so the deep cuts aren't really cutting anything.

I'll try and send smaller files I guess for right now.
The problem is, my computer is in the house and my router is outside in the garage. I don't know any other way to send G Code files to my machine without the controller.
I'd appreciate any other ideas!

What do you think is a good file size so it doesn't crash again?

difalkner

· #4 · Mar 28, 2020

I'm running Fusion 360 and going to Mach4 but many of my files are under 20KB. I have a handful that are more complicated, lots of engraving and text, and they're up to about 600KB, but most are well under that.

David

PhilBa

· #5 · Mar 28, 2020

anthonyvanv said:
Thanks for the information.
I had a previous pocket clearing with a larger bit so the deep cuts aren't really cutting anything.

I'll try and send smaller files I guess for right now.
The problem is, my computer is in the house and my router is outside in the garage. I don't know any other way to send G Code files to my machine without the controller.
I'd appreciate any other ideas!

What do you think is a good file size so it doesn't crash again?

OK, though the file looks awfully weird.

I have no idea what would be a good size - trial and error is called for.

Any sender application (candle, grbl-panel, UGS,...) can run on a pretty slow computer. I'm running my CNC machine with an HP circa 2008. Slow as feces with Win 10 but works and handles my machine just fine.

You could look here to run USB longer USB Cable Length Limitations And How To Break Them Personally, I wouldn't use a PC remote from my machine for safety reasons.

anthonyvanv

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 29, 2020

difalkner said:
I'm running Fusion 360 and going to Mach4 but many of my files are under 20KB. I have a handful that are more complicated, lots of engraving and text, and they're up to about 600KB, but most are well under that.

David

Do you have Mach4 or are you just using that post processor on GRBL?

difalkner

· #7 · Mar 29, 2020

Don't have GRBL at all, running Mach4 for controller software. I was just referencing the file size relative to yours, which do seem large.

David

PhilBa

· #8 · Mar 29, 2020

GRBL vs Mach - there will be almost no size difference. 1MB/81K lines is a very big file with very likely a pretty long run time. I would certainly break a big job like up into smaller pieces. If, for no other reason, so I don't have to baby sit a 10 hr job all in one go. I have bigger files but just for testing the new grblHAL ARM based port of grbl.

anthonyvanv

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 29, 2020

Thanks again for the information.
If anyone comes across a more stable offline controller, please let me know.

breezy

· #10 · Mar 29, 2020

MASSO from Hind Technology, Australian based company.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

anthonyvanv

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 29, 2020

breezy said:
MASSO from Hind Technology, Australian based company.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you but I guess I'll have to charge forward on this cheap garbage... I'm not ready to make that kind of investment. It's great to know that its out there though!

MEBCWD

· #12 · Mar 30, 2020

For that machine, I think Fusion 360 might be overkill. It might be outputting gcode your controller just can't understand. That is quite an ambitious project for that small machine. Almost looks like a mold for a storage unit for a tool changer or something like that.

When I ran the simulation of your file I got these errors:

WARNING:C:/Users/mebel/OneDrive/Documents/Test Gcode.txt:9:Cutting move but no current tool, selecting tool 1
ERROR:Cutting move with zero feed
ERROR:While executing GCode block:Z2 G1
ERROR: At: C:/Users/mebel/OneDrive/Documents/Test Gcode.txt:9
ERROR:Caused by: Cutting move with zero feed
WARNING:Auto-creating missing tool 1
GCode::Tool Path bounds ((0,0,-11.1), (62.95,74.019,15)) dimensions (62.95,74.019,26.1)

PhilBa

· #13 · Mar 31, 2020

Anthony,

I use F360 for my GRBL based machine a fair amount. F360 is really good. Among other things, it has a powerful and flexible post processor capability. The GRBL post processor in F360 works quite well - the one I use is from someone named "grbl-swarfer". Here's my post process config screen. I use the grbl/grbl-swarfer post and turn off the 3 items shown as they don't make sense for my machine. I've cut maybe 50 projects with that post and never had any problems due to GCode my machine didn't understand.

And as to "cheap garbage". While those Chinese machines are built to a price point, they are capable of doing pretty sophisticated things. Especially if you learn to deal with their issues. For example, they tend to flex more so you make shallower cuts and thus take longer. But the end results are surprisingly close to what you get with the higher end machines. Especially when working with wood or plastic. It's a great way to learn CNC without mortgaging the farm.

Like I said earlier, the biggest draw back of the Chinese CNC machines is that there is almost no customer support.

I have an idea for a RasPI based GCode sender that might meet your needs. It wouldn't be too expensive but will describe it in a separate post. It does require some system building but uses off the shelf components.

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Zoot Allures

· #14 · Jul 22, 2020

"Any sender application (candle, grbl-panel, UGS,...) can run on a pretty slow computer. I'm running my CNC machine with an HP circa 2008. Slow as feces with Win 10 but works and handles my machine just fine."

I'm running freedos and turbocnc on an old HP thin client here controlling my chinese 6040z.
The only flakes in that bowl is that I have to make sure my g-code files have DOS style line endings(carriage return AND line feed), or turbocnc simply won't open them except as a blank file.

difalkner

· #15 · Jul 22, 2020

Zoot Allures said:
"Any sender application (candle, grbl-panel, UGS,...) can run on a pretty slow computer. I'm running my CNC machine with an HP circa 2008. Slow as feces with Win 10 but works and handles my machine just fine."

I'm running freedos and turbocnc on an old HP thin client here controlling my chinese 6040z.
The only flakes in that bowl is that I have to make sure my g-code files have DOS style line endings(carriage return AND line feed), or turbocnc simply won't open them except as a blank file.

Sounds like good info. Head over to the introduction area and tell us a little about yourself. Complete your profile, as well.

David

sherlocked

· #16 · Dec 9, 2021

I FOUND THE SOLUTION:

I've spent a week trying to figure this thing out. I haven't found anywhere else online with an answer so I figured I would come back to the first result in Google I found when trying to figure it out the first time.

In a manual for the offline controller I found here it mentions that it will take any gcode file, but that it requires the lines to end in a return type called "CRLF". This is the return type that windows uses, but Macs use just "LF". So what you need to do is convert the (invisible) return type in the text file from LF to CRLF.

I found an online converter that does this here and it solved my problem.

Reactions: 2

jw2170

· #17 · Dec 10, 2021

Welcome to the forum, @sherlocked

old55

· #18 · Dec 10, 2021

Welcome to the forum @sherlocked

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