This is the bleeding edge. Consider yourself warned.
The Carbide Updater is a utility to safely flash the latest firmware to your Carbide Motion PCB.
Because this can be a somewhat tricky process, and could potentially render your controller useless, we have developed a dedicated program to safely connect to and update your controller.
If you'd like the raw hex file for GRBL 1.1 anyway, it's here.
This document will take you through the proceedure of upgrading your firmware from v0.9 to v1.1
With the power to the machine off, pull the gantry close to where you are sitting (or standing) by your computer. You will need to be able to reach both the z-axis limit switch and your mouse or touchpad. If you have a Nomad 883 Classic without a door interlock, there are few additional steps due to differences in hardware in the earlier models. See the Appendix below on updating your Nomad 883 Classic.
After you have downloaded the software to your computer, connect your machine to the computer via USB, and power it on.
You will be presented with the main screen. Follow the onscreen instructions and make sure your machine is connected to your computer and the power is turned on.
The program will find your connected machine, and present you with the screen:
Press YES to begin the updating process.
Once the updating begins, you will be presented with the following screen:
After the updating process is complete (will generally take less than 30 seconds), the software will alert you that it is safe to release the z-axis limit switch.
Congratulations! You have successfully reflashed your controller.
You can now click the 'OK' button to bring you back to the main screen, where you can click 'Quit' to exit the program.
With the changes made to Grbl v1.1, the previous version of Carbide Motion (v3) is no longer compatible.
To re-iterate:
If you want to use GRBL v1.1 you must use Carbide Motion v4
Install Carbide Motion v4 by double clicking the file you just downloaded and following the onscreen instructions. Replace the existing install if prompted.
After you have successfully connected to the machine, you will see the 'Job Info' screen. This is basically the landing screen of the program once you are connected.
WARNING: DO NOT CLICK ANY OTHER BUTTON ON THE TOP MENU YET! ONLY CLICK THE SETTINGS BUTTON.
When the firmware is updated, all of the settings are reset (speed, steps/mm, acceleration, etc.). Before you can use your machine again, You'll need to get the settings back to the correct values.
If you want to view what is about to happen (you don't have to), click the 'Open Log' link. This will open a tab in your browser and show a real time stream of send/receive data between your computer and controller.
Instead of manually entering all 43 settings, we have built the settings into Carbide Motion and created a way for you to instantly save those settings to your controller! You need only to select the appropriate machine from the dropdown list, and click 'Send Config'.
On a Nomad 883 Classic without an interlock we need to cut a pin on the Carbide Motion board, otherwise the firmware will throw a Door Open error. To gain access to the electronics and remove the Carbide Motion board follow these steps.
Loosen, but don't remove, the side panel with the power plug.
Remove the bottom two screws and the four screws around the fan from the back cover, .
Fold the acrylic window up and back so it rests flat on the top of the machine.
You can now remove the back cover/top/window assembly. Pull the assembly back and up, wiggling to clear the Y motor bracket.
Remove the two screws that attach the composite electronics cover to the top of the right and left uprights.
Remove the plastic gasket between the aluminum back plate and the electronics cover.
You can now bend the electronics cover back. We recommend resting the cover on a box or something similar to prevent tears in the bottom crease of the electronics cover.
With a sharpie or black marker, write labels on the motor and limit switch connectors so it's easier to remeber where they go. We also recommend taking a picture of the board and connections for reference.
Unplug the motor, limit switche, fan and power connectors.
Remove the Carbide Motion board by pulling it free from the arduino UNO. Make note of the pin alignment.
With the Carbide Motion board free, look at the Analog In row. We're going to remove pin 1, or A1. See the photos below for reference.
Double and triple check that it is the A1 pin you're cutting. Very bad things will happen if you cut the wrong pin.
Plug the Carbide Motion back on the arduino UNO, replace the connectors, and reverse the steps above to close up the back panel. You can now proceed with the update.
When you launch the Carbide Updater application and click on Search for Machines, you may be presented with this warning message:
This just means that we need to tell the Carbide Updater where the Nomad is connected. To do so, select the first Nomad 883V1 that appears in the dropdown and click OK.
The Nomad 883 Classic has a prevous version of the bootloader, so the update process will start automatically (no need to press the Z limit switch).
Once done you'll be presented with the screen asking you to release the Z limit switch. Click OK.
You'll be presented with the warning screen again as in step 1, but you can ignore it. If you encountered no errors then your Nomad 883 Classic has been updated with GRBL 1.1