Set up and calibrate

Machine → Set up and calibrate shows all setup assistants as tiles in the recommended order. Each tile says what you need, how long it takes and whether it has been done for this machine (with the date). The overview is also a button in the control panel under Homing. Closing an assistant takes you back to the overview.

1. Get to know your machine: axis directions, limit switch corner, homing speed and the first homing run (see Homing).
2. Test switches: shows every limit switch and the probe live.
3. Calibrate steps: so that every dimension is right.
4. Measure the work area: so the machine uses its full travel and never runs into the end stop.
5. Test speed and acceleration: so no motor loses steps.
6. Check the spindle (laser: Check the laser): direction, speed and spin-up time, or the laser settings.
7. Squareness and backlash: so squares come out square and fits are right.

The status is saved per machine in your account and applies on all devices.

Test switches

This page shows live which inputs the controller reports: limit switches X, Y and Z and the probe (touch plate). The machine does not move.

1. Press each limit switch briefly with your finger. For the probe, attach the clip to the bit and touch it briefly with the plate.
2. While an input is triggered it lights up in the list and the picture. As soon as it is released it counts as tested.
3. If an input reports all the time, the switch is pressed, the cable is open (normally closed switches) or the logic is inverted. Then $5 (invert limit pins) or $6 (invert probe pin) in the controller settings helps.
4. Door, hold, start, reset buttons and emergency stop appear as well as soon as the controller reports them.

Done saves how many of the required inputs were tested. In laser mode these are only X and Y; Z switch and probe appear as soon as the controller reports them. If a switch does not react at all, check plug and cable. The page also says whether hard limits ($21) are on: then the controller stops immediately with alarm 1 whenever a limit switch triggers.

At the bottom the page shows the controller status report as it arrives. Triggered inputs appear after Pn:. If Pn: never shows up, even while you press a switch, the firmware does not report its inputs at standstill; the page then says so. The switches still work for homing and as an alarm; test the probe with Test contact when probing Z.

Calibrate steps

Every motor turns in small steps. How many steps make one millimetre is stored in the controller ($100 for X, $101 for Y, $102 for Z). If the value is wrong, every part comes out slightly too large or too small.

1. Axis and distance: the longer the distance, the more exact (X and Y 100 mm, Z 20 mm are a good start).
2. Start point: tape a steel ruler to the table parallel to the axis and clamp a pointed bit or a pencil. Move the tip exactly over a mark. Make your last jog in the direction of the measuring move, which takes up the backlash.
3. Measuring move: the machine moves the distance slowly.
4. Measure: enter how far it really moved. The app calculates new = old × commanded ÷ measured and shows the deviation. Below 0.1 % a change is not worth it. Above 10 % a basic setting is usually wrong (driver microsteps, screw pitch, pulley teeth); the app then writes nothing.
5. Check: after writing, a check run shows whether it fits now. Then continue with the next axis.

Measure the work area

The travel ($130–$132) tells the controller how far each axis may move. From the factory it is often smaller than the machine or does not match a conversion.

1. Prepare: empty table, no bit. Choose the axes. If the controller's soft limits are on ($20), the app switches them off for the measurement and back on afterwards. It also suspends its own limits for that time.
2. Each axis: move to just before one end stop and tap This is the end, then to just before the other. About 1 to 2 mm of clearance is enough. If a limit switch triggers, unlock, move back a little and record that position.
3. Result: the table shows old, measured and new. The safety margin (default 1 mm) is subtracted from the measured travel. Apply to controller and profile writes $130–$132 and the work area in the machine profile.

Test speed and acceleration

Maximum rate ($110–$112) and acceleration ($120–$122) set how fast an axis may move and speed up. If they are too high, the stepper loses steps and the machine ends up off position without noticing.

1. Choose the axis: the cards show the current values.
2. Start mark: stick a mark on the table and move the pointer (V-bit, pencil, or a needle on the laser head) exactly above it.
3. Back-and-forth runs: the axis moves back and forth several times at 60 %, 80 % and 100 % of the maximum rate, then many short moves for acceleration. After each stage you answer whether the pointer is back on the mark and the axis ran without stuttering.
4. Result: if a stage failed, the app suggests the fastest clean stage with 10 % margin (or 70 % of the acceleration) and writes the values only when you press the button. A second run shows whether it holds now.

The position the controller reports does not reveal lost steps: it counts the steps it sent. Only the mark shows whether the motor kept up.

Check the spindle

1. Prepare: bit tight or removed, nothing near the spindle, safety glasses. If laser mode is on ($32 = 1), the app offers to switch it off: it stops the spindle on every rapid and skips the spin-up delay.
2. Direction: the app runs the spindle slowly. Seen from above it must turn clockwise (M3). Otherwise swap the motor leads or two phases at the VFD, power off only.
3. Speed (PWM control only): measure with a tachometer at half and full speed. If the spindle deviates, the app calculates the right $30 and writes it to controller and profile on request. Skip without a tachometer.
4. Spin-up time: the app runs full speed and starts a stopwatch; press Full speed once the sound stops rising. The time plus 25 % goes into the machine profile and applies to every program, including opened G-code files.

If the profile says the spindle is switched by hand, the assistant only measures the spin-up time. When you close it, the app always switches off a spindle it started.

Check the laser: in laser mode the same tile checks the controller settings: laser mode $32 = 1, minimum S $31 = 0 and whether the maximum S $30 matches the profile. Wrong values are written on request. The laser is never fired; the test grid checks the power.

Squareness and backlash

1. Rectangle: tape down paper or a board, set the pointer just above it and move to the first corner A. Choose the size (bigger is more accurate).
2. Mark the corners: make a fine dot under the tip, then the machine moves to the next corner until A, B, C and D are marked.
3. Diagonals: measure A–C and B–D. If both are equal, the machine is square. Otherwise the app shows the error in degrees and mm per 100 mm and which diagonal is longer. To fix: loosen the gantry bolts, push one side until both diagonals match.
4. Backlash: a dial indicator stands on the table touching the head from the side. The app approaches the same spot from one side (zero the dial), then from the other; the reading is the backlash. Skip without a dial indicator.
5. Result: up to 0.1 mm is common on hobby machines; above that, adjust belts, eccentric nuts and couplings. If the controller can compensate backlash (grblHAL $160/$161), the app writes the measured values on request.