Recommended windows10 settings for compatibility with Shark?

Questions/answers/discussion about initial setup of your CNC Shark

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KentonC
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:30 pm

Recommended windows10 settings for compatibility with Shark?

Post by KentonC »

I'm working on getting a HD4 unit up and running for our high school robotics team. We were having some unexpected behavior and noticed that the firmware/software hadn't been updated in over 5 years, so we updated the firmware and are trying to run Ready2Control on my laptop (Lenovo W10 64bit, i5 2.6Ghz, 8G ram) until we can get permissions to install it on the school controlled machine.

I'm getting weird behavior that I'm pretty sure is some interaction with the laptop, but I think I've got all of the power saving stuff shut off.

I've got a G-code file for just a basic facing operation (generated through Fusion360). When I run it through Ready2control, it gets around 55% the way through (around 25 minutes in), then seems to skip some of the steps and continue on (leaving an untouched area). Then when it gets to around 75%, suddenly the Z axis takes off and goes all the way up to the stops and continues trying to go further so I have to Estop it. It has done this (at least similar types of behavior) twice so far. I put the G-code file on a flash drive and ran it from the pendant and it ran as expected.

I haven't been able to find any log files with this new Ready2Control software. Not sure exactly which line of G-code is sending it off the rails.
My next attempt will be to try a different USB cable as the skipping in the middle seems like it could be dropped packets and the taking off could be corrupted packets, but given that the errors occur at similar points in the run, that seems unlikely. First time it did it, I was doing some basic operations on the laptop while it was running (copying the G-code file and editing it using notepad to skip to the missed area of the facing operation). That should not have overloaded the CPU at all, but Windows can be weird sometimes, so I made sure to do nothing other than keep it awake by moving the mouse while it was running.

Any suggestions of settings to look at on a laptop?

Thanks,
Kenton

KentonC
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:30 pm

Re: Recommended windows10 settings for compatibility with Shark?

Post by KentonC »

An update just in case someone finds this thread having similar types of problems. Spent a few more hrs last night chasing this problem.

Created a new power profile on the laptop turning off every possible setting (plugged in, not battery). Same type of behavior (maybe even worse).

Noticed advanced options in Ready2Control for turning on logging (appears basic logging turned on by default), so started hunting for the log file since there's no options to view it through the software. Found it, but it's very cryptic and doesn't log every line of G-code like the old software did.

Tethered laptop to my phone (since I can't connect to school network) to hunt for help with the log file. Found nothing other than the ability to connect log file to a trouble report to Next Wave. While still connected, I noticed a notification in Ready2Control that said there was new software available. Figured it can't be worse, so updated Ready2Control. When it restarted, it said that I needed to update the controller firmware to go along with the new software. So updated the controller too.

Gave it another try, and it ran fine.

So it appears that when I downloaded new firmware/software in March that there was some kind of incompatibility between the firmware/software on the Next Wave web site at that time. Mystery solved.

Kenton

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Bob
Posts: 1252
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2010 3:35 pm

Re: Recommended windows10 settings for compatibility with Shark?

Post by Bob »

Kenton,
Thank you for the update.
Registration of the equipment remains my biggest obstacle to using cnc.
After all connections are good, the actual operation 0f a cnc is relatively easy.
Bob
"Focus"
Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek (Developer of the microscope.)

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