Very excited for the new SO5 to ship. In the meantime I have been trying to learn all the software and how to set things up. One of the latest challenges is that I can’t seem to get anything to work in Carbide Motion without it being connected. Is there a way to get past this and simulate a machine being connected? I have an Arduino board laying around that could be flashed with GRBL, but not sure if this would work.
Thanks for any help
No, Carbide Motion won’t do anything but load and try to connect to a machine w/o a machine.
That said, it’s pretty simple, and the functionality is quite straight-forward, so there’s not much benefit to such experimentation — it should all make sense once you have it connected to a machine and begin moving the machine around.
The only program I can think of which has a mode along these lines might be Grblgru:
but it’s sufficiently different from CM that I don’t know if it would be helpful.
I’ve seen the GRBL in a few places while researching this CNC stuff. Can you please tell me what it stands for? Thanks
Grbl is the name of the firmware which we use.
It was originally written by Simen Svale Skogsrud.
@chamnit would have to speak to anything beyond that, or see the Github repository:
Again, thank you so much. I have saved the links in my CNC folder and will research/read them over the next few days and prepare for my CNC relationship. I just hope I use my 5 Pro more than I do my other woodworking machines/tools. LOL I’m sure with the help and ideas on here, I’ll enjoy the challenge and hopefully some final pieces.
I like to think of my machines as robotic assistants — the nice thing is working w/ them is more regulated than hand-tool woodworking and constrained in terms of working on the machine bed, so doesn’t have the issues of setup and location which complicate my doing more traditional woodworking tasks.
C3D has firmware in their controllers that must be there for CM to connect to it. CM will not connect to any other machine.
When you get your machine you will send the configuration to the machine. This configuration is primarily setting up Carbide Motion. The machine knows what it is but Carbide Motion (CM) needs to know what it has connected to. The configuration sets the parameters of a particular model. It also makes CM aware of the accessories like the BitSetter and if there is a BitRunner.
When you create a project in Carbide Create you set up a post processor. For Shapeoko machines you use that post processor and the features of C3D machines are made available and are written into the gcode. These features are the BitSetter, BitRunner. There are also Nomad and Generic Gcode and GBRL gcode outputs. The Nomad is specifically for the needs of a Nomad. The Generic Gcode and GBRL are usually used for generic 3rd party machines that the users use the free Carbide Create. Most of those machines do not have the BitSetter or the BitRunner functionality and when you save your file with those post processors the commands for multiple bits (BitSetter) and starting your router/spindle are not included in the gcode. When using the Shapeoko post processor those commands are included in the gcode that is saved inside the c2d file in CC v7. In CC v6 and below you saved your gcode separately. Starting with V7 the gcode in encrypted inside the c2d file. In the olden days you had to manually set all your zeros (before BitZero), you had to manually turn on your router and there was no multiple bit gcode. You ran your gcode serially with each tool with its own tool path.
C3D and the Shapeoko have come a long way since the introduction of the Shapeoko 3. The C3d machines have evolved as well as the CAD/CAM software Carbide Create and Carbide Motion.
If you want to get ready for your new machine and you have no CNC experience then watch youtube videos on the Carbide channel and any other videos about Shapeoko particularly but in general any CNC machines in the hobby category. You can watch video about pro machines but it is doubtful you will learn much about how to run a Shapeoko.
Thanks for the responses folks.
I DIY’ed a mill and a lathe to CNC many years ago with Mach3 and Mach4. Have been watching channels like Saunders since the beginning 
I was hoping that similar to Mach, you could get a feel for the controller software without a machine. I had been reading these forums and hearing stuff like Quick Actions which seemed interesting
@gdon_2003, I wanted to ask a question. To start, I was hoping to use Carbide Create V7 for simple designs and Fusion360 for the rest. If Carbide Create is encrypting the gcode and using custom functions, that would seem to preclude using VSCode to analyze / modify the gcode output. It also seems like it would be difficult for Fusion post processors to match the functions that Carbide Create has. (Maybe I am overthinking this).
Grbl firmware uses pretty simple, standard gcode and follows pretty close with LinuxCNC.
Carbide Create caters to the Carbide machines but will work with any grbl based machine. Fusion works well with grbl machines when a compatible post processor is used.
If you need to look at the G-code from Carbide Create you can either use v6, or get Pro.
To set up Fusion 360 see:
Awesome, I like how you think. I’m hoping I can get a hang of it and help eliminate some of the careless mistakes I tend to make doing it all by hand. I really new at woodworking too. I’ve made a few items I’m pretty proud of, but they are no where near professional.
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