ScottW514
56af6eaab2
The test's cleanup jogged the head back to the camera home through the panel's relative jog, the increment taken from the port's position. The core refused it every time (error:15, "the move would leave the work envelope"), eight tries each run, and the test logged "the head is not back at the home" and passed. The takeover that puts the setup record back restarts the controller, which zeroes the kernel counters where the head stands, so the baseline read (0, 0, 0) and called the machine clean. On the bench reference the head was left 10 mm from the home in X and in Y by every run of 2026-09-23 that got that far (three PASSes and one FAIL, images 20260922225653, 20260923084705, 20260923220034). Why the jog was refused: the port reports the step counters, while the core adds a relative jog to its own parser position. The bed check's last jogs, sized from the counters, leave the two apart by up to half a step. The arithmetic reproduces every logged value: the parser held X 60.1 after the answers, the port read 60.099, the check jogged -50.099 toward X 10, so the parser took 10.001, which the step grid (213.33 steps/mm) turned into 2134 steps, read back as 10.003. The test's return of -10.003 then targeted X -0.002, and a camera home's envelope begins at exactly 0, so the core refused the whole jog. No product path returns the head by a relative jog sized from the counters; the panel's Jog card sends fixed steps. Now the head goes back in one jog from a Grbl client to the home in machine coordinates ($J=G90 G53, 0.5 um inside the envelope's start, far under half a step), and the run fails unless the port reads the head on the home's step. That reading is taken before the restart, because nothing after it can see a head left out. Bench reference, image 20260923220034 with the suite file bind-mounted: a negative control that aims the return 1 mm off the home FAILs with "the head is not back at the home (0.0, 0.0, 3.08): [0.998, 0.998, 3.08]" while the baseline still says clean; the fix PASSes with "$J=G90 G53 X0.0005 Y0.0005 F1200 -> ok" and the head at [0.0, 0.0, 3.08]. forgetest's unit tests 454 OK; the coverage lint passes with --enforce on the image's manifest.
OpenGlow / ForgeFIRM firmware for Glowforge
BETA
ForgeFIRM is in beta. Every release below 0.1.0 is a beta release. Expect problems, and expect frequent updates. Upgrade whenever a newer release is available, and report what you find on the community forum.
Open firmware for Glowforge brand CNC lasers. ForgeFIRM replaces the cloud-dependent factory software on the stock control board, with no hardware modification, and gives the machine a local controller, a local web control panel, and a standard Grbl interface. The factory cloud experience stays available as an option.
This repository is the base of the build and of the release: the
meta-forgefirm Yocto layer, the kas configuration, the image recipes, the
install and release scripts, the acceptance tool (forgetest/), the bench
tools (scripts/bench/), the bench actuator firmware (fixture/), and the
release artifacts (releases/).
Start here
https://docs.forgefirm.org/ is the documentation, and the source of truth for every fact about the machine and the firmware.
| Read this first | Safety |
| Put it on a machine | Installation |
| Use it | Usage, LightBurn |
| How the machine works | Technical |
| How ForgeFIRM works with it | ForgeFIRM internals |
| Build, test, release | Developers |
| Downloads | Releases |
| Questions | Community forum |
Build
kas build kas/forgefirm-glowforge.yml
Build covers the host setup, the two images, the source variant and the debug kernel. Release flow covers the pins, the push order and the signing pipeline.
Test
cd forgetest && python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v
The acceptance catalog that gates a release, and the bench tools, are on Acceptance and The bench.
Contributing
AGENTS.md carries the rules for this repository and for the project: safety ordering, proof before done, the push order, and the writing rules. They apply to human contributors too, and Contribute is the same set on the site.
What this costs
Nothing. ForgeFIRM is free in both senses, under MIT and GPL licenses. There is no paid tier, no license key, no subscription and no Pro edition. If someone offers to sell it to you, the licenses allow it, but what you take home is their build rather than this one: get it from the source.
Safety
These machines contain a CO2 laser: it burns, blinds, and starts fires. Never defeat the lid switches or the interlock. Never leave a running job unattended. Keep a fire extinguisher within reach. Read Safety before you cut your first job, and Regulatory and legal before you install.
This is experimental software. Use of it could seriously maim or kill you or others, and it may void your warranty. Use it at your own risk.
Glowforge is a trademark of Glowforge, Inc. This project is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by Glowforge, Inc.