Retrofitting 1983 Shizuoka AN-SB CNC milling machine, Bridgeport mill, Colchester Bantam lathe and 1982 Tree UP-1000 CNC lathe with modern controls - and other workshop stuff
Wednesday, 27 May 2026
More foolery and frustration with Claude Code in Probe Basic Lathe - and salvation!
Since adding my "Lathe cycles" panel and macros, the main screen has ended up dropping off the bottom of the screen, leaving the bottom row of buttons only partially visible. These include the ESTOP reset button and the POWER enable button, both of which are rather useful if you plan to operate the machine.
It also affects the cycles screen:
Claude has made a complete arse of himself trying to fix this. Must have spent a couple of hours on this so far to no effect. It seems that the "CYCLES" button is screwing up the other elements on the screen.
On the "Probe Basic for Linuxcnc Control" Facebook group, I asked Chris Polanski (PBL author) if he had any suggestions:
Yes, that seems like the cause but I'm at a loss how to fix it. It's almost as if the "cycles" tab has a carriage return (so it occupies 2 lines) that has forced the panel below it to move down. Annoyingly, everything else seems to be working nicely but it would be nice to see all of the bottom buttons, rather than just a glimpse of their tops. Could you point me in a general direction to look at?
Murray Edington you need to watch your widget sizings and make sure they aren't causing the push down.. need to carefully resize everything so nothing is static or if its static it needs to be within the size constraints.
Chris Polanski I followed the step-by-step process on your github. Then configured it for my setup, using the previous ini, hal etc files. This was a complete new install on a clean SSD, starting from the iso image at the top of the page.. https://kcjengr.github.io/.../probe_basic_trixie_apt...
It's all working now but for some reason the bottom of the screen is off the display. The JOG/OFFSET/MDI buttons are no longer aligned with the MAIN/FILE/OFFSETS etc buttons by the same amount. Somehow, adding the cycles button has pushed content down. Any suggestions what to do? It was fine in the initial (SIM) installation before I messed it up.
Incidentally, the S WORD, MAX RPM & SF/MIN values all show 4 decimal places, which doesn't make sense. G94 & G95 values arguably the same?
Murray Edington all of the folders contain updated ui files, the subroutines ä are also updated and new and are needed, the easiest thing is move your custom ini/hal files into a copy of the SIM config
Chris Polanski That's encouraging. I can tell you already that the sim looks fine. When you say specific files, which do you mean - ini, hal, lathe macros, userui? Which ones should I be moving, to be clear? I think you are saying userui.
ah.. you ned to move your specific files into the new config folder. the issue is your using the outdated user ui files which have not ben updated for the new licensed font. thats why the onyl items not displaying correctly are coming from your config folder files.
as a test, run the sim and if it displays correctly that definitely your problem
python3-probe-basic 1.0.1-53.dev from the trixie-dev repository ✓
python3-qtpyvcp 6.0.3-32.dev from the trixie-dev repository ✓
This is the trixie-dev channel (the development version for Trixie), installed via APT as the guide describes.
BTW, it's all running OK now, although I can confirm that homing without the linear encoders connected results in a rapid runaway (no damage - caught by the limit switch).
Chris Polanski ah well, it kept me busy for a few hours and I learnt about stuff I never knew I wanted to. I will now focus on stuff I'm a bit better at, which isn't software. I agree about the buttock clenching nature of the Pugh macros. Having a backplot to visualise what is to be expected before you press the button feels like an entirely sensible approach. I'm looking forward to trying out your conversational stuff which looks truly wonderful.
Murray Edington these completely replace those, no longer needed, they are less useful than the ones built here with no preview and direct run which to me is horrible and dangerous. best to output a gcode file and be able to see the plot incase you have a bad entry. unless of course you are infallible and like to roll the dice everytime you push that button..lol
Chris Polanski I should ideally be able to take a vanilla PBL install and simply(?) add in the lathe cycles and little else. I have to say your true conversational preview looks absolutely wonderful. Having that as well as AP's cycles will offer all options in addition to gcode from CAM programs. Looking forward to seeing that - any idea when it will be ready for testing?
Murray Edington if you edited the probe basic core ui file you will need to remove/reinstall pb epr the docs, your ui user files you can do whatever you want too those should not affect the core files just be sure when you open editvcp to do your editing, that if you are using ai you tell it to leave the system wide probe absic install files alone.
Chris Polanski yes, I was planning to revert to the original files, now that I've figured out what was messing up the button positions. Presumably that means the user .ui file(s)? Where's the best place to get unmolested originals? Can I just grab them from the initial PBL sim folders?
Murray Edington i would undo any other changes you may have made because it should not do what you have going on there. something is broken and if you are playing with ai for these edits it may have gone into some of the core files trying to fix what is broken and that should never be done because it will overwrite on update all edits should be specifically in the user ui files only!
Here is some preview of the Build tab and what it does, it allows the saving and loading of created geometry without having to re-enter everything, this allows the user to open previous builds and have those settings repopulate for easy viewing and editing and updating. it also allows users to store presets for various material types as templates with tool/speeds/feed/step-overs etc for rough and finishing which is super handy. everything about this conversational has been design with helping the job shop lathe operator to be able to quickly create/make/change programs for turning work without needing to get bogged down in cad/cam. Even though I am the guy creating this, I am super jazzed by the progress and functionality which as most of you will understand is a really great feeling and typically means something wonderful is coming together. I have a few odds and ends left before i start working on packaging. for those who have older machines maybe not running linuxcnc but still on maybe the older controls be it Fanuc or Siemens or whatever.. I have created a super simple single file parameters post processor configuration which allows users to simply map out their command code structure which then gets read in for gcode output making this a truly universal conversational package not just for probe basic but for any machine controller output type! super pumped!!
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This latest work from ChrisP knocks Andy Pugh's macros into a cocked hat, as they say. I can safely say the best course of action is for me to quietly put all this Claude Code / lathe macros to the side and await his update. At least that saves me having to f*ck about any further with something I don't understand, using an "agent" who knows only a little bit more than me!
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