I just finished assembling my new Sparkfun Shapeoko Deluxe. I followed the video and I believe that I have it wired up properly. In the video is says after finishing the assembly, start up Universal Gcode Sender, go to Machine Control and click on the X, Y and Z axis buttons to move the machine and be sure that it is working properly.
When I run Universal Gcode Sender it opens and says that my Port is Com 3, Baud is 9600 and Firmware GRBL. When I go to Machine Control and I click on one of the axis buttons I get a dialog box that says “Grbl has not finished booting”. The CNC does not move. I have the power plugged in and the USB cable is plugged in.
In the video I see that the Active State says “Running” but on mine it is empty.
Can anyone tell me why I am getting this and how to remedy the problem? I would really like to try the machine out.
This look like a communication error between your PC and the Stepoko controller.
You might want to look at the Stepoko wiki starting on the firmware page HERE. First thing to notice is the “Baudrate” suggested of 115200 instead of 9600.
Thank you very much for your response. I’ll take a look at the Wiki. The instructions for assembling the cnc is pretty good but but I couldn’t find anything, other than the video, that talks about testing the machine once assembled. The video talks about using Universal Gcode Sender and clicking on the axis buttons to move the cnc on the x, y and z axis but it does not say anything about any necessary setup of Gcode Sender.
I’ll check the Wiki and see if I can get it going. If I do get it going, I’ll post back.
I looked at the Wiki and when I ran the Universal Gcode Sender it automatically set the port to com 3 which is the only port in the drop down anyway. I set the baud rate to 115200 and the Firmware was set to **GRBL **as shown in the Wiki.
I then clicked the “Open” button and in the console pane it said ****** Connected to COM3@115200 Baud ******. I did not get the “Grbl 1.0.9 ‘$’ for help]” as shown in the Wiki and the Active State is empty as opposed to ‘idle’ as shown in the Wiki.
I then entered ‘$$’ in the command line and again I got the dialog box stating: “Grbl has not finished booting!”. What Grbl is it trying to boot? Am I missing a file or something?
I just checked for the cnc in my devices list and it is shown as FT232R USB UART Location: 0 (Port_#0003.Hub_#0001). Under Properties it says "The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28). This is likely the problem so where do I get the drivers for this device?
The error you get “Grbl has not finished booting!” happen because you do not have a communication between the two.
Try to install the FTDI USB drivers and it should be fine.
I finally got the driver to install. The “Device manager” showed the device as FT232R USB UART but still indicated an error. I went to “View Devices” and it showed the device as COM5. I clicked on “Troubleshoot” and it said that there were no drivers for COM5. I then selected “Fix Problem” and it searched and installed a driver but changed the device to COM6. I ran Universal Gcode Sender and it now shows COM6 in the dropdown menu so I selected COM6. When I clicked the “Open” button it connected and showed the version number in the console pane and the Active State now says “idle”.
The problem now is, when I click on an axis button, for example the +X axis button, the Active State says “Run” and in the console pane it says “>>>> G20 G91 GO X1 ok” but the CNC does not move. Looking at the controller board The RX LED is always flashing green and the red TX LED also flashes although not as bright. The E-Stop LED is lit (red) and the Z axis Direction LED is constantly lit (red). If I click the X axis button the X axis Direction LED lights up and then goes out again but nothing moves on the CNC.
We have a limited knowledge of this particular stepper controller but if the “E-Stop” light is lit it is probably locked by this state.
“E-Stop – Illuminates when the stop button is active (shows axis lock has been removed)”
Thanks DiaLFonZo. I connected one wire from the E-Stop switch to one side of the connector on the circuit board and the other wire from the switch to the other side of the connector on the circuit board so I believe it is wired correctly. I checked the E-Stop switch with a multimeter and it checks out ok. I tried disconnecting the E-Stop wires from the circuit board to see if that had any affect but the LED remains lit at all times. I’m starting to wonder if the circuit board may be faulty? I have sent an email to Sparkfun Tech support explaining everything in as much detail as I could. I’m hoping that they can offer some help with this problem.
Thanks once again for all of your help DiaLFonZo. I really do appreciate your time and help.
I’ll let you know what Sparfun suggests.
Sent an email to Sparkfun Tech Support yesterday at 12:20 p.m. As of 4:02 p.m. today, no response from Sparkfun! Tried online chat but their live chat is offline. No phone numbers available to call for help. I played around with the CNC some more but I am becoming more and more convinced that it is a faulty circuit board.
I don’t know when or if I’ll get this thing working.
Have you tried the e-stop switch ?
There is a “Normally Open” and “Normally Closed” switch for the limit switch right next to the screw terminal as well. To change the default signal to trigger the switch that could be inverted.
I tried flipping that switch to see what would happen and when I did, all of the LEDs for X, Y and Z Direction, Step and Limit light up and remain on and nothing moves. Still no response from Sparkfun.
One weird thing is you seems to have the same state of E-Stop in both configuration.
This probably mean the setting do not impact the E-Stop switch. Have you tried flipping the switch ?
Yes, that is why one photo says “Active On” and the other says “Active Off”. I have checked the switch with a miltimeter and it is ok. Sparkfun suggested that I short the E-Stop, by running a jumper wire from one screw terminal to the other, and set it to “Active On” and Then “Active Off” to see what happens. The attached photos in the previous post are the result of that test. I replied to their email with the same attached photos but I have heard nothing back from them yet. I have rechecked the wiring several times and it appears to be correct. I am really getting frustrated with this.
The problem will come from the E-Stop since it’s always activated. Could be a wiring problem or the board itself.
If SparkFun do not supply you with a solution you can create a Support Center Ticket with a link to this forum post and we will look at solving this for you.
After some testing here, it does indeed sound like you have a bad Stepoko board on your kit.
Since you made the purchase through Robot Shop and not us, we need you to contact them about the issue to get a replacement Stepoko control board. What will happen is:
]You contact Robot Shop./:m] ]Robot Shop contacts their SparkFun distributor representative here./:m] ]We authorize Robot Shop to ship a replacement part to you./:m]
Feel free to let them know you’ve been in contact with us and it’s OK to share these emails with them.
If you have any questions or problems, just let us know.
Chris
Technical Support SparkFun Electronics, Inc. 6333 Dry Creek Parkway Niwot, CO 80503 E-mail: [/font] Phone: 303-284-0979
Thanks again DiaLFonZo for all of your help and input.
