BitSetter and other tool length sensors supported in gSender

[Rxman]

Does the new G sender support “Bit setter” s well as bit changes based on g-code???

[CNCBoss]

Awesome thnx. Can you pls explain where do we insert the position of the bitsetter?

Thank you in advance

[NeilFerreri]

@CNCBoss

where do we insert the position of the bitsetter?

%global.state.PROBE_X_LOCATION
&
%global.state.PROBE_Y_LOCATION

[CNCBoss]

Thnx Neil! Really appreciate

[Bnb187]

@chrismakesstuff

Hi all! I know many of you joined into this thread to discuss tool changing and BitSetter support within gSender and I wanted to let y’all know that with the 1.2.0 release of gSender (The next big release for gSender is here! (1.2.0)) we’ve now got (what we hope) are adequate alternate ways to deal with tool changing rather than running custom macros.

Obviously this was all kicked off by @NeilFerreri and the interest of many of the rest of you as well as the Shapeoko community as a whole. I’d really like to hear what you guys think about this new implementation"

• did we miss the mark entirely
• is it still too constraining
• are there small improvements we could still make

We’ve tested things for many many hours but ultimately there’s only so much we can do ourselves so the feedback would be greatly appreciated

I’ve had nothing but problems with the inbuilt tool setter strategy. Sometimes it doesn’t move to probe location and Spindle On is still on the UI when the wizard comes up. Other times the Z zero after tool change is way off. Pretty disappointed with this at this point. That’s what has led me here.

Can successfully run @NeilFerreri macros outside of file. Have tried a two stage method using the initial tool macro prior to start of file. Entered the subsequent macro code for subsequent tool changes into config for Code tool change and that has not worked.

For something so seemingly simple on previous machines I’ve dedicated a lot of time to this and am getting very frustrated.

[Bnb187]

@Bnb187

Can successfully run @NeilFerreri macros outside of file. Have tried a two stage method using the initial tool macro prior to start of file. Entered the subsequent macro code for subsequent tool changes into config for Code tool change and that has not worked.

Have also now tried the Pause setting for tool change in config and run the second macro and having the exact same issue, the spindle lowers, touches the tool setter and then spindle comes on at probe height and heads back to cut and seemingly setting Z zero at the height of the probe.

If I run the macros while not running a file they work perfectly? But once I try to run them in anyway with M6 called in file it does the above mentioned.

[Bnb187]

Ok.. so I think I’ve had a breakthrough.

I removed all the M0/M1 calls in @NeilFerreri second macro and have that as the ‘at tool change’ code box for a code tool change strategy. I’ve modified my post processor to include a move to a spot that makes sense to change the tool and a M0 pause BEFORE the M6 call. I change the tool at this point and click resume. Now the macro executes as desired.

Also, added a M0 in the ‘after Tool Change’ code box in gsender config to allow for dust boot to be reinstalled. This is sort of optional I suppose as it could be reinstalled after physically changing the tool and before clicking resume to run the tool change code.

Have only run it a couple times in testing but will continue to test.

Next question, is there away to call the initial tool measurement macro in gcode so it could be added to the post processor? I’m not very familiar with how the ATC stuff works but have seen some stuff regarding code that can be called in the Post Processor which seems like it would work for this.