This is a two part question - I am trying to understand things for the day when my machine finally arrives.
Let’s say I have made a tool path and want to send it to the router.
How do people send the gcode to their machine. Is it sneaker net via a USB stick ? Ethernet? USB cable? (this will be for an Altmill)
Is the file downloaded to the router’s brain in a batch or is it sent line by line?
To put some context to question #2, I have a 3D printer that is connected to my home network with wifi. It frequently looses connectivity but since the gcode is stored directly on the controller, loosing the connection is not an issue.
How is this handled with the router - is the gcode downloaded to the router brain as a complete file or does gsender send instructions one line (or a small batch) at a time? Obviously when you manually jog the machine this would be a line by line thing …
I use the iCloud common file to send Gcode from my windows design laptop to my old MacBook Pro. Vetric software sends the entire file to the cloud and I pick it up and open it in GSender.
Gcode is opened in GSender and just “works”. As long as it opens the compete file, connectivity shouldn’t be an issue. My design laptop sends it wirelessly to my file folder on iCloud and My MBP opens it up.
I used to use a thumb drive. My MBP is really old and the USB port is wearing out, so I came up with the idea of dropping it in a common folder and picking it up. One note is once I use the GCode, I delete it once I am done. It is used once, then if I need it again, I resend it. That is my workflow, and your mileage may vary.
How does gsender send the code? USB, Ethernet, sneaker net?
What would happen if I removed gsender from the setup after the router has started? If everything continues to run then the gcode file is stored on the controller but if the router crashes then the file is sent line by line rather than as a whole file.
G-Sender runs your machine. The SLB might have a small buffer, but it’ll stop rather fast after G-sender loses connection to the controller. The controller, be it a SLB or LB or any other brand running GBRL (hall), is merely an interface between your computer, be it an Apple, tablet, Raspberry, or whatever, and the stepper/sensing components, making the complex pile of parts that is assembled into what looks like a pretty neat machine.
The SLB can be connected to the gcode-sender via USB or ETH. Take that connection out of the equation, and your pretty neat-looking machine becomes a useless pile of parts again.
A hint on the dependance on an external PC is given here:
