GRBL & GCode Reference

There are a ton of web sites that cover GRBL and GCode so I will not duplicate here what is easily found elsewhere.  I will, however, point out those specific to laser stuff.  Additionally, here is a good review of g-code commands and here is Inventables' G-code spec as a starting point for those topics.

GRBL is the software used to control the X-Carve (along with many other CNC and 3D printers).  It is embedded in the Arduino controller which is inside the X-Controller.  G-code, commands that tell the X-Carve what to do, is sent to the X-Controller which the GRBL software processes and then activates the motors on the carve machine to fulfill those commands.

Laser specific GRBL commands to be familiar with

There are many G-code commands but the only ones we will review here are those specific to the laser:
  • M03 - Turn laser ON
  • M03 SXXXXX - To use power control for the laser (via Pulse Width Modulation).  "XXXXX" is a number between 0 and 12000.  NEED TO REVIEW THESE VALUES  Examples: M03 S12000 (turn laser on at 100%), M03 S6000 (turn laser on at 50%), M03 S0 (turn laser off; same as M05).
  • M05 - Turn laser OFF

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