A request for G-sender Help

I am 71 years old and am waiting for my new MK2. I Have a simple request for someone to tell me how I can stop G-sender on a multi hour run and save the job to start up the next day. As this machine is what I call a “For Therapy” machine I have to be able to stop and resume as I take care of medical issues. Thanks in advance!

Dan

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@doublednpr welcome young man! I, too, am waiting for my MK2! I haven’t downloaded the G Code software as of yet (computer is arriving in the coming days). I would like to believe that there is a “pause” button somewhere. But I guarantee someone with more knowledge than me will chime in. What are you planning on creating?

Be safe!
Jake

Thanks for your reply! The main issue is pausing a job on one day and restarting on the next day or whenever. This would include a power off situation. I am going to have the internal switches for STOP, START and RESUME moved to the surface of the work area. If you know anyone who has don this please let me know.

I have paused my Shapeoko for over 24 hours before. No problem.

Just have to leave everything on. My PC is set to stay powered up.

I am also waiting on a new MK2 and while waiting I asked the same question about being able to shut the project down and restart later. I was told I would have to leave the computer and the control box on.
I did see that another CNC company WorkBee just came out with a solution to the this problem where they can shut everything down completely and re-start later or resume from a power outage. I am posting the Youtube video link below incase anyone wants to watch them demonstrating it. It looks pretty cool but I’m sure its something that only works with their type of controller box.

I am still new to this and have been known to lose my head. Then when I finally find my head rolling on the floor I tend to kick it a few feet every time I try to pick it up.
So having said that
proceed-caution

I’m still learning myself but recently I’ve had to stop in the middle of a job, shut everything down and leave till the next day. What I did was

Pause the job in Gsender
turn off router and dust collector
made a note of what line it was on in the code
I returned the router to the XYZ zero (My origin for this job was the center)
Then I shut everything down

The next day

I powered everything back up
loaded Gsender and the code
zeroed my XYZ
Then I used the start from line in gsender

Since the origin of the work piece was center I didn’t have to worry about reprobing for any of my zero points. I have done it before with the origin being in the bottom left corner too. For that, I zeroed my Z and then reprobed for my XY

I need to add that both times I did it was during a roughing pass.

Also, waiting for my MK2.
@Swinly , very good explanation for a pausing procedure. Super important to position your cutter back to the original zero for all axis. I always use a center start reference, so when I shut down the computer/controller it will be in the same position when I restart the computer/controller. May have to reset to zero on all axis. Don’t move anything until you make sure cutter is still in the same shutdown position. I will not be using homing or limit switches.
On long cutting jobs I try to break down roughing and finishing tool paths and try to coordinate/plan my time with each process/cutter.
Do some practice runs, with pauses, as well as the procedure for shutting down everything and then restarting, to finish the cutting tool paths.

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Thanks! I actually thought of that but needed input from others to give it a try. I like the “WorkBee CNC “ solution that was mentioned earlier but that’s integrated into the controller software. I sent a request to the G-sender techs to see if they could do something about this and am waiting for a replay.

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@Swinly @RailImages @doublednpr @RustyR Just an FYI, I have tested the start from line feature and received error messages when gSender is looking for a feed rate. I’ve needed to look at the gcode in notepad++ to find the line closest to the “start from” line that contains a feed rate and use that as the “start from” line. I’ve confirmed with Chris that this is an omission in gSender that will be corrected.

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