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Using tgFX
Once you have installed tgFX and you have loaded your FTDI usb drivers you are ready to run tgFX. Depending on your platform. Double click the tgFX binary wherever you installed it to.
You should see a serial port on the top right hand side of the tgFX application. If you do not see any serial ports available in the "serial port dropdown" then you need to verify your TinyG has power and your USB cable is connected correctly. If all of that is correct please make sure you installed your platforms FTDI drivers.
On connecting tgFX will query your TinyG's firmware build version. If your TinyG is not up-to-date enough tgFX will let you know and will open a window describing how to upgrade your TinyG's firmware.
If all goes well tgFX system status bar will update with your boards build version, unit mode etc....
You will also notice that your cnc "work envelope" was rendered. tgFX acquires your work envelope sizes from your X and Y axes travel max values. Like so...
[$xtm] (https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/TinyG-Configuration#xtm---travel-maximum) [$ytm] (https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/TinyG-Configuration#xtm---travel-maximum) More than likely you will need to change these values to reflect your machine's work envelope.
See the [Configuring tgFX] section for more.
Using tgFX you can set MOST of the settings that TinyG has to offer. Once you have successfully connected to your TinyG with tgFX, click on the Machine Settings tab. You will see that on the left you have a tab pane that contains motors 1-4 and on the right you have a tab pane that have axes x,y,z,a,b,c. From this tab you can change your axes and motor configuration parameters. For example look at the motor tab. You will see the Travel Per Rev. input box. You can change the default value but simply typing in the new value and hitting enter. You can click the query button on the same motor tab to verify that the setting did take effect. All changes to the dropdown menu's require that you click the apply button to set the newly changed values. You can click the query button again if you would like to verify that the changes you made to the combo box drop downs menu did in fact take affect.
Sending gcode files to TinyG via tgFX is very easy.
- Click on the gcode tab on tgFX.
- Click on the load button.
- Select the gcode file you wish to send.
- If you machine is in the correct position, you click run to kick off your gcode file.
While not 100% true to machining naming conventions, this is how we are going to describe the following functions.
Stop:
The "Stop" button is used to stop a gcode file sending job that is ALREADY in progress. What this actually does is sends an [asynchronous command] (https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/JSON-Flow-Control-Specification#async-commands) to TinyG to stop all movement.
Once a stop has been issued to TinyG. tgFX no longer allows for that gcode job that was in progress; to be resumed. What this does allow for is to keep the current state of the TinyG board. You will notice that your DRO (Digital Read Out) on the gcode tab does not reset. It will stay the same value as it was when the stop was received.
Reset:
The "reset" button NOT AN EMERGENCY STOP. That being said it does try to act like one in software. However, this should not be relied on as a way to stop the machine in case of an emergency. The only true "ESTOP" is a hardware solution that cuts power to your motors.
The reset button sends another [asynchronous command] (https://github.com/synthetos/TinyG/wiki/JSON-Flow-Control-Specification#async-commands) to the TinyG. Specifically it sends a 0x18 byte in hex. Or a ESC byte. This causes for the TinyG board to reset. This button is commonly used to restore all offsets and modes to their defaults.