Connect your machine
Choose the transport and controller, then verify the Ready state.
Beam Bench supports machines by their controller board and firmware, not by the laser source. GRBL is Supported. Additional G-code, Ruida, and stock K40/Lihuiyu choices are available as Experimental.
Do this
- Plug in the machine and power it on. Wait for the controller to boot fully (most boards take a few seconds).
- Open Laser Control (lower-right by default) or Device Settings > Connection.
- Choose the connection type your controller actually uses: Serial, Network, or USB.
- Choose the controller. Use Auto-detect when the firmware can identify itself, or select the installed controller explicitly. Experimental choices carry the label directly in this list.
- Choose the endpoint. Select a serial port, enter a network host and port, or select the listed USB controller. A serial port is usually named something like
/dev/tty.usbserial-*(macOS),COM3(Windows), or/dev/ttyUSB0(Linux). If it does not appear, see Port is not listed. - Choose a machine profile or accept the default. A profile sets the bed size, max speeds, and other controller-specific values. You can edit profiles in the Device Settings dialog.
- Verify. Laser Control should reach Ready and show the detected or selected controller. A serial G-code controller may also show its welcome or identity response in the Console panel.
Current controller choices
| Controller | Connection | Status |
|---|---|---|
| GRBL | Serial | Supported |
| FluidNC | Serial or Network (TCP, normally port 23) | Experimental |
| grblHAL | Serial or Network (TCP, normally port 23) | Experimental |
| Generic GRBL-compatible | Serial | Experimental |
| Standard Marlin | Serial | Experimental |
| Snapmaker 2.0 | Serial | Experimental |
| Smoothieware | Serial | Experimental |
| Ruida RDC6442S | Network (UDP port 50200) | Experimental |
| Lihuiyu M2/M3 Nano | USB (1a86:5512) | Experimental |
Trocen, TopWisdom, and galvo controllers such as EZCAD, JCZ, or BSL are not included in this release.
What just happened
For Serial and Network Auto-detect, Beam Bench uses bounded read-only identity queries and activates a named adapter only when the controller provides matching evidence. If the identity is inconclusive, the app asks you to choose instead of silently treating the machine as GRBL.
The Ruida choice requires the exact RDC6442S card identity before a job can run. The Lihuiyu choice lists matching CH341 devices and requires a recognized controller status before it enters Ready.
If you see an error, garbled text, or "no response", the most common causes are:
- The wrong connection type, controller, address, port, or serial baud rate was selected. For serial problems, check Baud rate mismatch.
- A required serial or USB driver is not installed, or the operating system has not granted device access.
- Another app is holding the device or network endpoint. Close any other software that talks to the laser.
- The controller is a model or firmware variant outside the exact compatibility row. Use Help > Report a Bug and include the controller model, firmware version if known, connection type, and what happened.