Benbox Gcodes

#1

Hi

I Have an xy plotter with an ORION board.

I am currently using Benbox software, and everything is working.

However, the benbox software is not very good, and i would like to be able to use the plotter from linux.

For this reason i am writing my own program to control the plotter. I have X and Y movement working using G1 Xnnn Ynnn type commands.

Can anyone tell me what the GCODE commands are to control the pen/servo?

I have tried “M1 nnn” and “G1 Znnn” but none of those seem to work.

I am aware that this is probably not the recommended way, but i am willing to take the risks.

Regards.

Anders

#2

So far I have these codes, but I can’t get the pen to move.

G00 X10 Y10 : Rapid positioning M03

L10 P50 : Open laser , Intensty 10 , Waiting Time 10 ms

M03 L10 : Open laser Intensty 10 , No Waiting Time

M05 : Close laser

G01 : Linear interpolation

G02 : Circular interpolation, clockwise

G03 : Circular interpolation, counterclockwise

F3000 : Setting speed 3000

Please let me know if you have the code to move the pen/servo instead of the laser.

Anders

#3

Maybe it would be easier to use the XYPlotter Firmware of mDraw, because it is open source (firmwares -> xybot -> xybot.ino). In this file you can look up the used gcode commands.

I you want a very good laser cutter software which also runs on linux:
There is an open source laser cutter control software I wrote a XYPlotter driver for. Works like a charm and is also available for linux: VisuCut.
Because I just recently finished the driver, it is not yet in the binary files, so you have to go to the github repository of VisiCut and build the development branch by your self, but this is explained on the VisiCut website. As firmware for the XYPlotter you then need the xybot.ino version from my pull request at the mDraw GitHub repository.

It is really an intuitive and user friendly software, maybe that would be easier to use than writing your own program.

#4

Thanks for your reply.

I’d be interested to test your fixed version of xybot.ino. I won’t be using visicut, because i do want to use my own python program to control it. This fits my use case much better.

The last time i tried to transfer the firmware to the board using Arduino suite i had some problems (missing makeblock.h).

I had a look at visicut.org, but i couldn’t find any instructions for transferring the firmware to the makeblock plotter.

Do you know how to do it?

#5

VisiCut is just a general control software. You have to use the Arduino IDE to write the firmware .ino file to the micro controller.

Here is my improved firmware. You can download it by navigating to “Files changed” -> “View” -> “Raw” and copy paste the content to a file named xybot.ino
Then open it with the Arduino IDE.
Download and install the MakeBlock libraries from here. Then you can specify the board and the port in the Arduino IDE and flash the xybot.ino to the controller.

PS: The VisiCut XYPlotter driver can also be used to generate a gcode file which then can be send to the controller with an own script.

#6

Thanks i only just realized there was a repo from makeblock with the makeblock header file. thanks. i will report back when i’ve tried this out.

#7

I also have the Benbox laser…I wanted to also know how do you set the number of passes of the laser, for say a circle, to cut through some thin plywood? I think I can cut through it with 3 or 4 passes but I don’t know what the gcode is for that?

Update: I have since found out you cannot set the number of passes for a cut. I think this must be because this is really an engraver and not a cutter.

Thanks…

#8