I broke a bit mid job

gSender ❓ Question
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I broke a bit mid job. I’m on the latest version of gsender. upon pausing the job, I found that I could not control my spindle and change the bit and re zero the zed. Can someone help me?

I thought I would be able to change the bit an start from where it left off. I own the Altmill 4x4 mk2, with a 2.2 Kw sienci spindle.

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@Xxcase Not sure of everything you are speaking of since this was a short message. But if you only paused the spindle then the spindle will keep spinning because it only pauses its XYZ movement. I believe you have to stop the job, replace the bit, zero the new bit and use the “Start from Line” option. You can then re-start from relatively close from where you left off.

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@Xxcase What @Karver_One said. Just make sure you only zero the z after replacing the bit.

But yeah, you’re a bit short on information for anyone to provide more specific help.

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Sorry, I didn’t know what other info may be relevant. I was only trying to figure out how to start a job where it left off after I changed a broken bit. When I hit stop to change the bit, I didn’t know to use the start from line function. That may be all I needed to know. Thanks much

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@Xxcase there should be a “Start from” option when you run a file that was used the instance before

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You can’t just pause. You have to stop the job. Then you’ll regain control.

gSend has a “start from” option where you can restart the job from a specific part of the gcode so you can resume from where you left off once you’ve replaced the bit and re zeroed the Z.

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For future reference, some where on here I read about how to stop the spindle when you pause. I followed those instructions, which involved putting in a code in the settings on gsender, and now when I pause my job the spindle stops. That would allow me to change a bit and then continue.

But in this case it’s probably better to do as others have suggested. Stop it and then start the job a few lines before where you stopped. That works very well.

I only mention it because I like for the spindle to stop when I pause a job. So there is a way to make that happen, you just have to add some settings. If that’s something of interest I can go out and find what I did and post back. Or maybe someone else here knows what to do.

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@gabo thats a great idea. I would like those settings =)

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  • In Gsender, open the settings by clicking the icon at the bottom left.
  • In the settings, click on the item for “Automations”
  • In automations, there is a section for “File Pause” make sure that’s enabled.
  • In the File Pause section add M05 and save it
  • In the next section for resuming, also make sure it’s enabled.
  • And in that box put in M03 and save it.

The M05 will stop your spindle when you pause and the M03 command will start it back up when you resume.

There are other things you can do in these sections, like automatically raise the spindle, or turn on/off other accessories.

You can find some more info in the Gsender manual or possibly by searching here. It’s in the manual here.

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@gabo great stuff! And thank you for looking into that! I have been thinking about doing that for a while.

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If you did that the Z would be wrong. After changing the bit you have to re-probe so the Z is correct.

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Correct, for this specific scenario the “stop,” change bits, re-probe Z, and restart at some line number slightly before your stop point is the appropriate way to do it.

It just came to my mind when I read the OPs question that I had wanted the spindle to stop when I paused for various reasons. And I had found a way to make that happen and maybe it was something the OP might want as well.

I actually don’t know why the pause doesn’t stop the spindle by default. I think it has something to do with needing to send additional gcode to do that, so better to let the user send what he wants. Once you figure it out, the automations are a great way to handle it and offer a lot of flexibility to do anything you want.

One other thing I’ve noted that I’m not fond of. Some times when I hit pause, it takes a bit of time for it to actually pause. It’s certainly no solution when you need to stop quickly! Of course the big red button on the side works well for that as I’ve found out several times :slight_smile:

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Yeah I have had a scenario where that would have been useful as well. I was carving a 3D relief and it was taking WAY longer than the estimate. I needed to go to my bowling league so I tried to pause it but the spindle kept spinning. So ultimate I decided to just risk it and I let it run while I was gone for 2+ hours. It worked out ok but I was nervous the whole time. If I had known how to stop the spindle I would have and left it paused.

However this was on my Carvera, which was using a different controller. I think this is probably easier to do with my new machine that’s using gSender and a VFD that has external control.

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