OKKCNC

GRBL CNC command sender, autoleveler, g-code editor, digitizer, CAM and swiss army knife for all your CNC needs.

OKKCNC is a cross platform program (Windows, Linux, Mac) written in python.

The sender is robust and fast able to work nicely with old or slow hardware like [Raspberry Pi]

Note that on Windows XP you have to use pyserial==3.0.1 or older as newer version do not work on XP.

An advanced fully featured g-code sender for GRBL, forked from bCNC ver 0.9.14.

The main reason to fork, is the intention to make it resembling professional CNC controller, and adding the ability to operate the CNC like a "manual machining tool"

So far I have removed some functions that in my opinion are better done by an appropriate CAM program.

• SVG and DXF imports.
• all the CAM operations.
• all the plugins

I have added some button on the right of the jogging buttons

• some preset button for XY steps

• separate Zstep controls with Z button preset

• "memA" and "memB" buttons to make possible to memorize some "relative position" (relative to the working plane G54 as example).

• "line" button that cut a line from memA to memB using the memB Z pos as starting depth and asking for a "final" depth in a popup window

• "r_pt" for a "rectangular pocket" using memA and memB as boundaries and working like a line for the starting depth and the "final" depth

• "RmA" and "RmB" buttons to return to memorized postions

• "RST" button that reset the code created in the editor and the memA e memB positions.

• a new Memory Panel, to store a number of memory position and (WIP) to pass them to memA and memB

The "line" and "r_pt" functions send the appropriate code in the editor window.

Main goals for the future are:

• add a Z override to make possible to correct the Z position by some amount, useful when pocketing os profiling using materials like plywood that are not perfectly stable in time, so a nominal 5mm plywood is 4.9 or 5.1 making diffcult to cut or ruining too much the sacrifical bed.

• add more "Simple CAM functions" but not using a Plugin mechanism, a proper CAM program is better for complex operations, but for cutting along a line or pocketing (surfacing) some area a simple button on the interface is more suited. Not much complexity has to be added, like in the "professional" controller, nowadays no one program the machine by the machine keyboard, but if you want to:

  • Surface a raw stock it's a common practice to "touch down" the stock with the tools and then surface it increasing the Z quotw until it is surfaced.

  • "Drill" some holes in the stock at a predefined positions, using the tools for doing "helical pocketing" with a proper tool engaging

IMPORTANT! Motion controller (GRBL) settings

• GRBL should be configured to use MPos rather than Wpos. This means that $10= should be set to odd number. As of GRBL 1.1 we reccomend setting $10=3. If you have troubles communicating with your machine, you can try to set failsafe value $10=1.
• CADs, OKKCNC and GRBL all work in milimeters by default. Make sure that $13=0 is set in GRBL, if you experience strange behavior. (unless you've configured your CAD and OKKCNC to use inches)
• Before filing bug please make sure you use latest stable official release of GRBL. Older and unofficial releases might work, but we frequently see cases where they don't. So please upgrade firmware in your Arduinos to reasonably recent version if you can.
• Also read about all possible GRBL settings and make sure your setup is correct: https://github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki/Grbl-v1.1-Configuration

Configuration

You can modify most of the parameters from the "Tools -> Machine" page. Only the changes/differences from the default configuration file will be saved in your home directory ${HOME}/.OKKCNC or ~/.OKKCNC

The default configuration is stored on OKKCNC.ini in the installation directory.

Installation (manual)

You will need the following packages to run OKKCNC

• tkinter the graphical toolkit for python Depending your python/OS it can either be already installed, or under the names tkinter, python-tkinter, python-tk
• pyserial or under the name python-serial, python-pyserial
• numpy
• Optionally:
• python-imaging-tk: the PIL libraries for autolevel height map
• python-opencv: for webcam streaming on web pendant

Features:

• simple and intuitive interface for small screens

• fast g-code sender (works nicely on RPi and old hardware)

• workspace configuration (G54..G59 commands)

• user configurable buttons

• g-code function evaluation with run time expansion

• feed override during the running for fine tuning

• Easy probing:

  • simple probing
  • center finder with a probing ring
  • auto leveling, Z-probing and auto leveling by altering the g-code during sending (or permanently autoleveling the g-code file).
  • height color map display
  • create g-code by jogging and recording points (can even use camera for this)
  • manual tool change expansion and automatic tool length probing
  • canned cycles expansion

• Various Tools:

  • user configurable database of materials, endmills, stock
  • properties database of materials, stock, end mills etc..

• G-Code editor and display

  • graphical display of the g-code, and workspace
  • graphically moving and editing g-code
  • reordering code and rapid motion optimization
  • moving, rotating, mirroring the g-code

• Web pendant to be used via smart phones

Debugging

You can log serial communication by changing the port to something like:

spy:///dev/ttyUSB0?file=serial_log.txt&raw
spy://COM1?file=serial_log.txt&raw

If a file isn't specified, the log is written to stderr. The 'raw' option outputs the data directly, instead of creating a hex dump. Further documentation is available at: https://pyserial.readthedocs.io/en/latest/url_handlers.html#spy

Disclaimer

The software is made available "AS IS". It seems quite stable, but it is in an early stage of development. Hence there should be plenty of bugs not yet spotted. Please use/try it with care, I don't want to be liable if it causes any damage :)

Last but not least.

Many thanks to all the bCNC developers,