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Starting, pausing and stopping a plot

Plots are run from terraForge.

Starting

  1. Select your file in the file browser, or upload it to the machine.
  2. Press Start job.

Progress appears in the job panel, counting through the G-code line by line:

A job running in terraForge

Decide whether you are staying

Make this choice before you press Start, because it decides whether pausing is available to you.

Once a plot is running it is driven from the terraPen's SD card, so the machine does not need your computer at all. You can close terraForge, shut the laptop, and walk away — the plot carries on to the end.

Do not reconnect to check on a running plot

Reconnecting to a plot already in progress — from either terraForge or the web UI — can overload FluidNC's websocket handling, stall the controller and end the plot part-drawn. You lose the sheet.

This is a limitation in the firmware, not something you have done wrong.

So there are two sensible ways to run a plot:
Stay connected Leave terraForge open and connected for the whole plot. You keep progress and the ability to pause.
Walk away Disconnect and leave it to finish. Do not come back and reconnect mid-plot to see how it is doing.

The one to avoid is the middle: disconnecting, then reconnecting later out of curiosity. If you think you might want to pause, stay connected from the start.

This is getting better

It has not been seen for a long time, and we follow FluidNC's development closely as it improves. The habit is still worth keeping, because when it does happen you lose the plot. If you hit it, please say so on Discord.

Stopping a plot: pause first

Always pause before you abort

Pause is the graceful stop. The machine finishes what it is doing, lifts the pen, and waits — you can resume and carry on, and nothing else is disturbed.

Abort is not graceful. It drops the machine into an alarm state, because the firmware stops trusting where the pen is. Clearing that is sometimes just a reset, but it can mean powering the machine down and homing again before you can do anything at all. It is a faff, and it is avoidable.

So the order to reach for is:

  1. Pause — stops the machine safely, and you can resume.
  2. Resume — if you only needed to look at something, change a pen, or reseat the paper.
  3. Abort — only once you have decided the plot is definitely finished with.

Pausing first also means that if you change your mind, you have not lost the job.

After an abort

The machine will be in alarm. To recover:

  1. Clear the alarm — the alarm control in terraForge, or $X in the console.
  2. Run Homing to re-establish position.
  3. Set your zero again if the job needed one.

If clearing the alarm is not enough

Occasionally an abort leaves the machine unwilling to move even after the alarm is cleared. Switch it off at the rear right, bring it back up, and home it. See Restarting the terraPen.

In the web UI

The web UI can also start and stop plots, using Pause and Cancel in the job progress panel. The same rule applies — pause before you cancel.