Auto-squaring on the SLB

Etienne.Marcoux · January 30, 2025, 1:25pm

Thanks Chris! I’ll play with it in the next few weeks and let you know if I have any issues!

Sparky1 · June 3, 2025, 2:04am

Hey @chrismakesstuff I wanted to see if there was a version that would support Auto Square as well as SD card support for Macros?

Thanks

wiremonkey · June 27, 2025, 3:07pm

I had downloaded and tested the firmware a while back and it didn’t work. Can’t remember now what the issues were. I have since moved over to a FluidNC controller, that is very easy to setup autosquare and macros on SD. I hope you folks move toward keeping firmware and software open for customization. I was disappointed, for example to see that the SLB has a Y limit sensor port that was disabled. The Altmill is a pro level machine and customization will be important moving forward, particularly with the 4x8’. My two cents.

chrismakesstuff · June 28, 2025, 3:36am

@wiremonkey that’s a shame it didn’t work, I’ve had around 5 others say they had it all set up right and was working well. Glad to hear you’re doing well on FNC, don’t worry we’ll continue making our stuff open - our Firmware is all public already and I actually have some guidance on it for how to make your own build, but I’m happy to also provide some customized versions for those who don’t feel confident doing it themselves. FYI the Y sensor port on the SLB wasn’t disabled, it just needs to have the auto-squaring firmware installed to utilize the feedback on that port.

@Sparky1, speaking of which sorry it took me a bit before I had the time to get to it but I believe I’ve compiled a new firmware together that has both NGC expressions and auto-squaring that I’ll attach here: SuperLongBoard_B5.0.5b-as.hex (823.3 KB)

Be careful trying it out, since it’s been a bit since the last time I compiled, and if I missed anything it might cause unexpected machine behaviour. If you’re ok with the risk, try it out and let me know how it goes

Sparky1 · June 28, 2025, 4:46am

Thank you Chris. I will give it a go after the long weekend.

Sparky1 · July 8, 2025, 3:15pm

I am happy to report that the new firmware looks to be working great. Thank you very much for making it available.

hSolo · July 11, 2025, 12:23am

Hey Sparky,

I’m curious how you have your limit switches wired up? I’m considering repurposing my z inductance switch as a second y and replacing the z with a mechanical rocker.

If you have a sec please describe your set up and post a pic.

Thanks,

Nat

Sparky1 · July 11, 2025, 2:30am

Evening.
Here is the best look at my setup.
Final version Proximity Switch mounts

hSolo · July 11, 2025, 11:20am

Hey Sparky,

Nice Video thanks for sharing.

Nat

DavidR8 · October 3, 2025, 9:29pm

@chrismakesstuff Is the SLB currently in the store flashed with the auto squaring firmware?

greg5 · October 7, 2025, 10:01pm

Here’s the most accurate way to square and set your $171 for machines with Dual Y homing sensors (eg Altmill)

Note for AltMill, Y1 is on the left side of the machine.

Jyx · November 21, 2025, 11:00pm

Would it by any chance be possible to push this to a branch at your GitHub page? While waiting for the SLB I ordered a couple of days ago, I have this evening tried to backport the auto-square feature from the upstream GRBLHal, it compiles at least. But it’d be great if I could compare it with what you had done in the slb_b5.0.5 version where you enabled this. Just a thought.

chrismakesstuff · December 12, 2025, 5:35pm

@DavidR8 no, the board we sell currently ship with 5.0.5b firmware since that’s the default LongMill setup (most LongMill owners never buy or set up limit switches)

@Jyx What I could do is update the sienciHAL readme to clarify how the different builds were assembled. It’s quite straightforward to be honest, the only reason for lack of official release is lack of bandwidth on testing compared with community demand. Also, we’ve been trying to stop working on the sienciHAL firmware and instead work toward re-merging everything with core grblHAL.

Both firmware files just require a simple change to the platform.ini file, ensuring you use the ‘internal-temp-fix’ branch:

For auto-squaring, delete the ‘#’ on “-D Y_AUTO_SQUARE=1” on line 88 and recompile
For SD card macros, add “-D NGC_EXPRESSIONS_ENABLE=1” anywhere around line 200 and recompile

All this info is now added to the readme for easier visibility in the future, so thanks for your comment

github.com/Sienci-Labs/sienciHAL

README.md

SLB_Bringup_Dev

**Note that sienciHAL is now intentionally not under active development**. This is because when we first made it, it was an experiment into whether we could update and modify grblHAL to suit our needs and what we felt the future of Hobby CNC should look like. Now that it's been proven and many more have started adapting our work, we were keen to re-merge all our changes back into grblHAL with Terje's terrific understanding and help, that way all future Sienci CNCs can use stock firmware and everyone else in the CNC community can benefit from the new approaches and features implemented.

# Changelog

These are all pertaining to the SLB only, not the SLB EXT:

- [5.0.5b-as](https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/Resources/blob/main/_downloads/_superlongboard/SuperLongBoard_B5.0.5b-as.hex)
  - Alternate build to support Y-axis auto-squaring for dual motor/sensor setups
  - Never officially tested for release, but reported by community as stable
  - Simply deleted ‘#’ on “-D Y_AUTO_SQUARE=1” on line 88 of [platform.ini on the 'internal-temp-fix' branch](https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/sienciHAL/blob/internal-temp-fix/platformio.ini)
- [5.0.5b-ngc](https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/Resources/blob/main/_downloads/_superlongboard/SuperLongBoard_B5.0.5b-ngc.hex)
  - Added support for NGC expressions for using more complex macros using the SD card
  - Never officially tested for release, but reported by community as stable
  - Simply added “-D NGC_EXPRESSIONS_ENABLE=1” around line 200 of [platform.ini on the 'internal-temp-fix' branch](https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/sienciHAL/blob/internal-temp-fix/platformio.ini)
- [5.0.5b](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YTGGgDs-a5Ajsb47IDdven7NOovp7flb/view?usp=drive_link) (found on branch ['internal-temp-fix'](https://github.com/Sienci-Labs/sienciHAL/blob/internal-temp-fix))
  - Updated default A-axis step/mm to match typical Vortex setups using 32nd microstepping
  - Updated defaults to accommodate some machine setups that couldn’t handle the max speeds and accelerations of the SLB
  - Changed min spindle speed, spindle on delay, and default enabled spindles to match typical spindle setups using the SLB
- [5.0.5](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-1W322z5idOQmhREUlAVHQBAa6PCsN63/view?usp=drive_link): default for June ➜ Oct 2024
  - Updated default homing speed to stop occasional disconnection issues

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Fabu · December 28, 2025, 5:07pm

Thanks for the update and README clarification.

Just to confirm: the builds and platformio.ini changes you described are SLB-only, and SLB and SLB-EXT firmware are not interchangeable, correct?

I’m using an SLB-EXT with external drivers on a single-Y bedslinger machine (one Y motor, one Y limit). With FW 5.0.11-ext I get Error 15 on homing, which seems to come from Y auto-squaring being enabled.

For the SLB-EXT, which branch should be recompiled for a single-Y setup, or is there already an EXT build available without Y auto-squaring?

chrismakesstuff · January 5, 2026, 3:28pm

Yes you’re correct that SLB and SLB EXT firmware builds aren’t interchangeable, though the code for both is relatively similar. You can install the ZIP of the compiled source code for the 5.0.11 build here and that should allow you to disable auto-squaring and recompile to suit your particular setup