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PeterB
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Joined: 05/02/2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 659

Posted: 05:30am 02 Feb 2026

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G'Day All.

I decided to upgrade my CNC system to KiCad & MACH3. It hasn't worked since.
MACH3 responds to commands like G01 X20 Y20.
Unfortunately, KiCad generates commands like G01*
I know that I am doing something wrong, but what is it?
Please HELP!

Peter

Bryan1

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Joined: 22/02/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1629

Posted: 06:53am 02 Feb 2026

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Peter what controller are you using for your CNC ? Last year I got one from a Aussie Ebay seller and asked the question before I bought it will it run on win10 and the reply was yes it can.

Now I did find I had to download off the mach3 website the software and on the CD I got was a file called motion software. Installed that and my cnc just worked.

So when you say you upgraded what did you upgrade.

Regards Bryan

PeterB
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Joined: 05/02/2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 659

Posted: 07:39am 02 Feb 2026

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G'Day Bryan

KiCam is on a WIN10 PC
MACH3 is on a separate WIN10 PC
My hardware is probably like yours, Ebay cheap.
The problem is (Ithink) KiCam generates code that is not compatible with MACH3.
What does G01* mean and were does it come from?

Peter

pwillard
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Joined: 07/06/2022
Location: United States
Posts: 337

Posted: 02:21pm 02 Feb 2026

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I was curious, so I asked chatgpt thinks the "*" is about. ChatGPT thinks this is a placeholder for a post-processing step.

The response said: 'KiCad does not generate finished machine-ready G-code by itself

Officially, KiCad’s PCB editor exports Gerber (and drill/Excellon) files, not CNC G-code directly. Those Gerber files are industry standard formats intended for PCB fabrication and OTHERS tools (CAM) to interpret and convert into final toolpaths and G-code'

So something along the lines of https://github.com/r-gal/KiCAD2GCode will still be needed.

Note: I don't do any of this kind of work... it just got me curious.

dddns
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Joined: 20/09/2024
Location: Germany
Posts: 743

Posted: 04:10pm 02 Feb 2026

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I'm using pcb2gcode
It is nice but a journey to install under Linux. Don't know about Windows

PeterB
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Joined: 05/02/2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 659

Posted: 10:13pm 02 Feb 2026

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Thanks to you both.

That should get me going......I hope.

And the Shed still does wonderful things.

Peter

PeterB
Guru

Joined: 05/02/2015
Location: Australia
Posts: 659

Posted: 09:01am 04 Feb 2026

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Back again.

I have always had problems with GitHub.
When I download pcb2gcode or kiCad2gcode I get things like "compressed zipp" or "File folder".
Where to from here?

Please understand that you are dealing with a very old idiot.

Peter

dddns
Guru

Joined: 20/09/2024
Location: Germany
Posts: 743

Posted: 09:43am 04 Feb 2026

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You can download the whole project by clicking on the green "code" button.
In both cases it is source code and needs to be compiled. How to do it is described in the Readme below.

I would start with KICAD2gcode. So you need to install VSCode first and open the downloaded project and compile it.

I have no idea of windows and the details and can't help further..sorry

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