Machine control
With the Arduino fitted, SRM-CAM reads the machine's position, jogs, probes, zeroes Z and starts the spindle — while VPanel still plays the files and sets the spindle speed.
Windows only
Firmware v3
VPanel sets spindle speed
The machine bar
| Control | Does |
|---|---|
| Connect + port | Opens the link (Ctrl+L). Likely Arduinos are listed first. The chip says what the link is doing. |
| X Y Z readout | Machine position, three times a second, and whether the bit is touching copper. |
| ↓ ↑ + step | Jog Z by the step. Page Down / Page Up do the same from anywhere. Down is refused while the probe says the bit is touching. |
| Zero Z here | Touch the bit down on the copper and call that Z zero. Only Z; XY is never moved. The Z-reach check uses the surface it found. |
| Spindle | Start or stop the tool. No speed control: the machine ignores it and runs at VPanel's slider. |
| Click to jog | Click the bed and the head lifts and travels there, snapping to the nearest drawn hole. Bed frame only. |
| STOP | Drops the move in flight and stops the spindle. Esc does the same from anywhere, dialogs included. The bit stays down — raise it with Page Up. |
The Machine menu
| Item | Does |
|---|---|
| Rescan the serial ports | After plugging the Arduino in. |
| Move the head to the View position | Out of the way, so you can reach the bed. |
| Export the hold-down screw file… | See Holding the copper. |
| Export the bed fixture (pin holes)… | The three dowel-pin holes in the spoilboard. |
| Machine test… | Exercise every SPI command and report PASS / FAIL / UNKNOWN. Read-only by default; motion and spindle tests are armed separately. STOP reaches a running test. |
| Stream this step over the link (experimental)… | Sends the selected step's moves one by one instead of through VPanel. Starts as a dry run. The speed units are not calibrated; for real jobs, export and play the files from VPanel. |
What the link does not give you
Spindle speed is a VPanel setting
The machine ignores the RPM number; whatever VPanel's slider says is what you get. Set it there before any wet run.
- No pause and resume in this interface. VPanel has them, and so does the first interface.
- Feed rate is not calibrated for streamed moves.
- Only the lid bit of the status word is proven.
- After a STOP, click-to-jog does nothing until a Z step has been made; a firmware fix waits for an idle machine.
The spindle's rules
- It will not start with the lid open.
- The button follows the machine: a spindle started from VPanel shows as on here.
- Disconnecting never stops a spindle SRM-CAM did not start.
- A spindle SRM-CAM started stops by itself if the app goes quiet for ten seconds.
- A dry run never spins the tool.
Checking the link
- From the app Machine → Machine test….
- From the command line
python scripts/srm20_bench.py --port COM5 --featuresis the read-only "is the board flashed and talking?" check.