Lightburn macros

infinitemach · May 1, 2021, 6:57pm

I’m setting up Lightburn to use my Shapeoko 3 with my new Jtech laser. The JTech tutorial has you create some macros in Lightburn to set laser and CNC use. I noticed that the value of $10 is initially 255 and Jtech has you change it to 0 for setting up for laser use. There is no mention of setting it back to 255 for CNC use. The GBRL docs say $10 is the status report mask, probably a bit mask applied over return values. Should I set its value back to 255 for using my Shapeoko for CNC use. What would be the command to do that?

Travis54 · May 1, 2021, 7:07pm

The GRBL github has some good guides on how it works.

github.com

gnea/grbl/blob/master/doc/markdown/settings.md

## Getting Started

First, connect to Grbl using the serial terminal of your choice.

Set the baud rate  to **115200** as 8-N-1 (8-bits, no parity, and 1-stop bit.)

Once connected
 you should get the Grbl-prompt, which looks like this:

```
Grbl 1.1d ['$' for help]
```

Type $ and press enter to have Grbl print a help message. You should not see any local echo of the $ and enter. Grbl should respond with:

```
[HLP:$$ $# $G $I $N $x=val $Nx=line $J=line $SLP $C $X $H ~ ! ? ctrl-x]
```

The ‘$’-commands are Grbl system commands used to tweak the settings, view or change Grbl's states and running modes, and start a homing cycle. The last four **non**-'$' commands are realtime control commands that can be sent at anytime, no matter what Grbl is doing. These either immediately change Grbl's running behavior or immediately print a report of the important realtime data like current position (aka DRO).

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Before changing anything, I’d start with $$ to print all settings. Copy and paste those into a text file – those are your CNC router settings. Then you can make whatever changes Lightburn wants, and you have something to go back to.

To reset the CNC router settings, copy and paste the contents of that text file you created back into the g-code sender. They’re already formatted properly for rewriting those variables. Now your machine should be ready to behave as a CNC router again.

neilferreri · May 1, 2021, 7:23pm

You should be good leaving at 0 to run the CNC. Not sure if Motion changes it back on its own, so make sure to change it to 0 for Lightburn.
IMO, any grbl sender should be able to handle commands regardless of the setting. Lightburn does not. They said they will improve on that in the future.

Julien · May 1, 2021, 8:49pm

I have been using those two macros to switch in and out of laser mode

system · May 31, 2021, 6:57pm

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