Some g-code examples and recipes

G-code while being universal machine control language has various flavors and capabilities. Below section is dedicated to speed up manual machine control with simple commands.

Move motors

There are two basic linear motion commands G0 and G1. Both are generally the same just G0 uses default max speed constant from configuration. Examples (assume linear actuator is connected):

Command

Explanation

G0 X100

Move X axis to absolute position 100mm

G1 X0 F100

Move X axis to 0 position at speed 100mm/min

Control GPIO pins

GRBL is designed for CNC machines and IO pins are used to make sense. Pin description is provided here, but for actual functionality source code should be inspected.

Command

Explanation

M7

MIST = ON

M8

FLOOD = ON

M9

MIST = OFF, FLOOD = OFF

Command

Explanation

M3

Set clockwise spindle rotation

S300

Set spindle control pin PWM duty cycle at 30% (max S = 1000)

M4

Set counter clockwise spindle rotation

M5

Turn spindle off

Motor homing

After powering controller on it does not know motor position, thus it should be driven to home reference position

Command

Explanation

$HX

Initialize X axis

Read controller status

Almost any time controller status can be read with command ?. It will report motor status (Idle/Run), actual positions and some other info.

Command

Output

?

<Idle|MPos:0.000,90.000,0.000,0.000|Bf:35,254|FS:0,0>

Read firmware version string

Functionality between versions will vary, some firmware versions or branches can have special functionality.

Command

Output

$I

[VER:1.1f-SCE2.20200405:][OPT:VMZHL,35,254]ok

Probing

Firmware allows use of touch trigger probes. Moves down Z axis and stops on when probe pin is triggered, then reports collision point.

Command

Explanation and Output

G38.2 F100 Z-100

Move down Z axis until PROBE pin is triggered

F - Speed

Z - Target depth

Replies with [PRB:1.503,0.000,-22.860,0.000:1]

Idle / wait

Idle command is useful for certain operations where controller needs to wait and do nothing (for example wait till spindle speeds up).

Command

Explanation

G4 P1.5

Wait 1.5 seconds, reply with ok when done

Read write parameters

Controller has quite a few parameters that can be set in EEPROM. See original description here.

Command

Explanation and Output

$$

Read parameters

$0=6$1=255$2=0$3=31

...$132=360.000$133=360.000ok

$132=100.00

Set single paramter with the new value

Replies with ok

Extra commands

Extra GPIO control commands used in motorized zoom lenses (L084, L0117, ...).

Command

Explanation and Output

M113 Px

Control GPIO IO3, replies with ok

M114 Px

Control GPIO IO4, replies with ok

M115 Px

Control GPIO IO5, replies with ok

M116 Px

Control GPIO IO6, replies with ok

M117 Px

Control GPIO IO7, replies with ok

M120 Px

Control GPIO LIM_EN, replies with ok

Where X is 0 or 1