Jog, Homing & Terminal¶

This section covers the Jog and Terminal screens and the FocuZ:grbl controller — the motion-and-accessory controller FocuZ pairs with your galvo controller.

What works today

Rotary jogging works now — it runs on your BJJCZ laser controller, so the Jog window's BJJCZ Rotary strip and the Rotary Jog (BJJCZ) sequencer action need nothing extra. The FocuZ:grbl controller is coming soon: X / Y / Z motion, homing, the Terminal and the accessory relays described below light up once it's available and connected.

The FocuZ:grbl controller¶

FocuZ uses two controllers that work together:

the galvo controller (BJJCZ) steers the laser beam and fires it (see Hardware & Device Setup), and
the FocuZ:grbl controller — a custom GRBL build — moves the X / Y / Z axes (stage, gantry, or Z focus) and switches accessory relays.

FocuZ detects the FocuZ:grbl controller automatically when it connects (it identifies itself on the wire), so the homing, jogging, and accessory features described here light up once it's connected.

Two controllers, one job

The galvo marks; the FocuZ:grbl controller handles motion and accessories. A job can interleave both — for example, jog an axis, switch on air assist, mark, then switch it off. How they coordinate within a run is covered in Marking & Tracing.

Jog¶

Open Jog from the menu. The Jog window gives you homing, axis control, and live position. It's a separate window, so you can leave it open beside the canvas and keep working — close it with the ✕ or reopen it from the menu at any time.

Homing¶

Home X / Home Y / Home Z home each axis independently; Home All runs them in sequence.
Each axis tracks its own homing status. An axis must be homed for its absolute position to be trustworthy; homing is what establishes a known origin (by touching the limit switch).
After an alarm (e.g. a limit hit) an axis loses its homed status and must be re-homed before its position is trusted again — see Troubleshooting & FAQ.

Motorized axes (Enable X / Y / Z)¶

Tell FocuZ which axes it drives with the Enable X / Y / Z checkboxes — found on Device ▸ Connection (below the FocuZ:grbl port selector) and in Device ▸ Laser Setup's Motorized Axis (FocuZ controlled) section (both show the same setting). Enabling an axis includes it in operations that need confident absolute positioning and shows its jog controls and Home button here on the Jog tab; a disabled axis is hidden. Whether a run requires a given axis to be homed depends on which axes are enabled and what the job does.

These axes move through the FocuZ:grbl controller

"Motorized Axis (FocuZ controlled)" means an axis FocuZ itself drives through the FocuZ:grbl controller (see above). Enable an axis only if that controller is connected and wired to move it. If you focus or position an axis by hand — a manual-focus knob, a fixed-focus lens, or a stage FocuZ doesn't control — leave it off; FocuZ won't try to home or move it.

All three axes are off by default. Your choices persist until you change them.

Position & limits¶

MPos is the machine (absolute) position; LPos is the work position FocuZ derives from it.
Limit-switch status is shown per axis/direction so you can confirm switches before homing.

Manual jogging¶

The FocuZ (custom GRBL) section is a directional pad: Y+ / Y− / X− / X+ arranged as a cross, with Z+ / Z− beside it. Set the Step (mm) and Feed for XY and for Z beneath their buttons, then click to move by that step. Axes that aren't enabled in Device/Laser Setup show grayed out.

These controls appear only while a FocuZ compatible controller is connected — every one of them sends a jog, so without the controller the section shows a note asking you to connect one and the window closes up around it. The BJJCZ Rotary strip below is never hidden: it runs on the laser controller and simply grays out when the laser isn't connected.

Home & Jog to Lens 0 homes Z and moves to the active lens's saved focal height in one step — handy for getting straight to focus (see Lenses, Corrections & Calibration).

BJJCZ Rotary¶

The Jog window's BJJCZ Rotary strip jogs the rotary axis (it runs on the laser controller, so it's live whenever the laser is connected): jog CCW / CW by the set angle, Set Zero to define the current position as zero, and Go to Zero to rotate back to it — with a live position readout. To turn the rotary as a step inside a job, use the Rotary Jog (BJJCZ) action in the Sequencer (see Rotary Jog). See Rotary Marking.

How jogging really behaves (open-loop)

The FocuZ:grbl controller is open-loop and queues moves:

Clicking a jog button several times runs the jogs one after another — each click queues another move.
A move is "done" when the controller reports Idle, not when the axis is confirmed to have physically arrived. With no encoder, a stall, a disabled driver, or missed steps are not detected.
Positional confidence comes from homing (hitting the limit switch), not from per-move confirmation.

Terminal¶

Open Terminal to talk to the FocuZ:grbl controller directly. Type a command, press Enter (or Send), and the output window shows what you sent (> …) and the controller's replies. Use it to run G-code, check status, or switch accessory outputs (below).

Like Jog, the Terminal is its own window and can stay open beside the canvas. Drag its edges to resize it — the output area grows with the window so you can watch a long session, and the command box always stays in view along the bottom.

Accessory relays — air, vacuum & more¶

The FocuZ:grbl controller has several auxiliary relay outputs (switched 24 V / 5 V) you can wire to peripherals — most commonly air assist and a vacuum / extraction fan, but any on/off accessory works.

Each output is switched with an M-code. You can send these:

manually, by typing the M-code in the Terminal, or
as a job step, with a GRBL - Command action in the Sequencer — e.g. turn air on before a marking action and off after it, so it's automatic every run.

Air assist around a mark (in a job)

GRBL - Command — switch the air-assist output on.
2D Import (or 3D Slice) — the marking action.
GRBL - Command — switch the output off.

Confirm the codes for your wiring

Which M-code maps to which physical output (and therefore to air vs. vacuum) depends on how your controller is wired and configured. Test each output from the Terminal and label them before relying on them in a job. (Exact output-code table to be documented for the standard FocuZ:grbl build.)