Carbide Motion 548

There are a number of new prompts to guard against inadvertent actions/results:

Some warnings offer a chance to opt out:

There is a prompt when switching away from the Jog pane:

Note that it is possible to access the Settings pane w/o Initializing the machine.

There are three tabs:

Machine:

which will show any active inputs:

Options:

User Interface:

Note that it is in the Settings pane that there is a button for showing the Log window:

The MDI pane allows one to directly send commands to Grbl such as $$ or $H (to begin homing) or $C (to enter Grbl’s Check Mode):

Sending $$ will send the machine settings to the Log Window:

Switching to the Jog pane now results in a prompt to inform about measuring the tool:

Note that the default increment is quite small, with 4 possible settings depending on what unit system the interface is set to:

Metric:

  • 0.025mm
  • 0.25mm
  • 1mm
  • Fast

Imperial:

  • 0.001 in
  • 0.01 in
  • 0.1in
  • Fast

The Jog pane affords several options:

  • Spindle On/Off
  • Set Zero
  • Rapid Position
  • Probe

Set Zero (Current Position):

allows zeroing individual axes, or all 3.

Rapid Position allows moving to the 9 cardinal rapid position points:

as well as the current XY or Z+6mm.

Probing will afford options suited to the currently selected BitZero version:

V1:

If you are probing with the BitZero v1 then one will be presented with a dialog where the current endmill/probing pin type/diameter may be specified:

Options include:

followed by a dialog to confirm positioning and functionality:

V2:

then there will be a dialog to confirm the positioning and functionality:

After, the origin will be set relative to the BitZero position for the axis/axes requested.

There are two menu/interface options which are present in the left information/status pane:

clicking on the Position head will toggle to Machine Position:

(clicking again will toggle back to the Position reported relative to the current zero location)

Clicking on the Build number will bring up an About window:

In the Settings pane one can set the Machine Configuration. This is done in two stages:

Travel Dimensions:

which has the options:

Screen Shot 2021-12-31 at 4.56.08 PM

and GRBL Configuration:

which has the options:

Screen Shot 2021-12-31 at 4.57.29 PM

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Developer/designer critical mode turned on:

  • Choice of when to use bold fonts is not a good choice of when to use bold fonts.
  • Font sizes seem inconsistent.
  • “Necesary” needs a spelling check.
  • UI spacing is terrible. You need a designer’s eyes. They are often different to developer’s eyes.
  • “If you are not sure, press yes” … unexpected.
  • “choose” is probably better that “press” here
  • Stop is always red and ugly in the bottom of the screen even when it’s clear it won’t stop anything.
  • “MM” as a unit is wrong. It’s “mm”. Always.
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I am using 623. Are all of these enhancements available for this build? I recognise some of the screenshots.

623 is Carbide Create. This post is about Carbide Motion.

What can be done in the “User Defined Actions” screen?

I see something about Macros.

You can store bits of G-Code, and I believe, Grbl commands such as $C which you wish to run.

Gerry:

If ‘press’ is not used any more what word is in vogue these days ?

Just a curious old guy - or should I say gracefully aging gentleman :slight_smile:

Bill

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Why would I wish to run $C?

I do it for tech support when there’s a question if a file failed because of an intrinsic error, or a loss of connection — if it runs to the end in check mode, then it was a lost connection, if it fails, then the software is the problem.

Hi @WillAdams
In the sprit of sticking to the consistency and intuitiveness of the UI and not functionality;
The top tabs could seem a bit inconsistent. The Jog Tab shows up when you can Jog however the Run, MDI and Settings are there when it is asking you to connect and they don’t do anything yet. So to be consistent would it not make sense to only have the tabs show when they can be used as in how the Jog tab works. Personally I always prefer the method where all the tabs are there all the time however just greyed out when they not available and light up when they are available. This way people know they are there but just not active yet. verses the hide the shell game :slight_smile: this also helps to guild work flow

The Quick Action goes to Z plus 1 “inch” while your Rapid Position goes to Z plus 6MM. Just not consistent. inches verse mm, does not match settings.

Yes it is mm not MM :slight_smile:

It would be nice to have an indicator to know when the jog tools can be used, ie what tool on what screens they work on. I believe the Game Pad jog works on more screens then the Keyboard jog Only on the Jog screen is there a line of text indicating “gamepad enabled”. however it works in the Set Zero screen too but the Keyboard jog function does not. Therefore it is not intuitive as to what jog tool can be use and on what screen. I end up going back and forth between the Game Pad and a Mini Keyboard. Not sure why this is but we are sticking to just the UI.
I suggest a couple of visual light indicators in the top right corner or under the Position Info. One for keyboard jog active/inactive and one for Game Pad active/inactive. For whatever the reason is, it is not consistent or intuitive

The stop button (IMHO) should be octagon. it should be consistent to a stop sign.

I find the popups are inconsistent, if you hit the X in the corner it can be a cancel but on some it just continues. The wording may not be intuitive to the work. IE after initialization it goes to “Tool Change Required” I believe the work flow is looking for a Tool or “Touch Probe” to set the bit setter function. Therefore the wording may not be intuitive to the work. After that it is looking for you to set up workspace zero.
A real tool change prompts for the tool with a description of the tool as per the Gcode. So it not really being clear and leading you by the hand. Oh and if you don’t put a tool in it will run to the bit setter and crash on Z over travel.

There is no help tab in the top corner to take you to a web page with help documents and “workflow” and …

The green color is great however white text on light yellow is very hard to read.
Also the dim green is hard to see different then the lightish green buttons

One last thing. this is a great program, excellent work :slight_smile:
Hopefully you find this bit of feed back helpful to make a great product a little better :slight_smile:

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I probably overstated the importance of the word in my over-zealous critique… using "press "is okay. Typically if a mouse was detected/typical it would still be “click” or if a touch screen was there it would be “tap”.

Open mouth, insert foot. Yes, I was not reading correctly.

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Can there be a move to X/Y zero on the jog tab along with having a keyboard shortcut for this action?

On the ‘Rapid Position’ screen, there is ‘Rapid to current X/Y’, which I think does what you want.

I think the text of the button should change - you are always at the ‘current X/Y’, that’s what it means. Maybe ‘Rapid to current zero’ would be better?

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Thanks, @mhotchin

I was requesting the move to XY Zero to be on the main Jogging tab, not buried in another location, seems like extra clicks. A keyboard short cut would be appreciated as well!