Thanks, David! It looks like that MKS TFT CNC firmware turns the TFT24 or TFT32 into a gcode sender with SD card reader for a board running grbl. I’m already running the MKS Gen L on my MPCNC and the TFT32 (touch screen LCD and SD Card reader) will work with it. So, buy a TFT32, flash grbl on my existing MKS Gen L, flash MKS TFT CNC to the TFT32, and I should have exactly what I’ve been wanting.
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It appears to me (and my understanding is admittedly lacking!) that MakerBase has two different boards… each designed to be a single board replacement for a commonly used boardset, one for Marlin and another for Grbl. According to their advertising, the MKS Gen L v1.0 replaces the Mega/RAMPS 1.4 combo, commonly used with Marlin… and the MKS DCL v2.0 board replaces the Uno/CNCshield V3 combo in common use with Grbl.
I can confirm the MKS Gen L v1.0 will run Ryan’s MPCNC/RAMPS firmware from way back when… I had it on one of my machines at some point. The Grbl boardset I ordered OTOH includes the MKS DCL v2.0 board. Both boards APPEAR quite similar physically and the AUX1 connector that connects the TFTxx display is similarly located on both. I’d bet that the displays work similarly… whether running Marlin or Grbl. But I’m not sure Grbl will run on the MKS Gen L board…
I may be wrong, but I’m convinced it should work for me. There’s a modified version of the grbl port for Ramps (grbl-Mega) that supports the dual endstop configuration which I assume would work on my MKS GEN L too. There’s a thread here in the forum about it.
But if the modified dual-endstop version of grbl-Mega doesn’t work, I have confirmed from a YouTube video that the basic grbl-Mega will work. The person that made that video is also using the TFT32 LCD flashed with the MKS TFT CNC firmware connected to the GEN L. He has a video about that as well. So I think the TFT32 can probably work with many boards running grbl if they accept the serial input from it.
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Gotcha. I wasn’t aware of the Grbl ports for Mega (I’ve only run Grbl on Uno/Nano)… so I’m sure you’re right. Nothing to lose, I’d say give it a rip… 
My TFT32 came in today (used, eBay, $20 shipped). I installed the Marlin specific software on it, plugged it into the MKS Gen L, and it just worked. No changes needed to Marlin. And much more convenient than the old Ramps LCD screen (which even still works along with the TFT32). I’m anxious to get this thing all moved to grbl now.
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I finally got the Makerbase MKS DLC + TFT24 combo I ordered from Aliexpress… took about a month.
I downloaded the GRBL v1.1h hex file and the TFT24 Laser/CNC mode firmware and was able to install them successfully. The TFT firmware is set up already but is the 3d printer version… hence the need to install the CNC version. I have yet to figure out why they only package TWO driver modules with it… it is, after all, a 3-axis controller board.
I considered installing it on my on-going Rolling Plotter/Gantry build but decided against it for now… until I work out the remaining kinks (primarily the “drifting”) with the gantry. Once I have it plotting properly, maybe this’ll be a nice addition.
– David
I was messing with my screen on my gridbot, and the software is terrible. I need to at least update it. I can tell it is sending absolute coordinates, and assuming it is relative, because if I push the +10mmX button, it goes to X=10mm, not 10 more mm. 
.
I need to just figure out how to compile and flash it. I’m sure I can get it to work how I’d like if I could just write a few lines of code for it.
Not sure if this is what you are talking about but I watched a TeachingTech video yesterday, where Michael was adjusting the look/feel and adding custom buttons, etc. I think is it…
Yeah. I think I made a mistake and ordered one that isn’t as common. So I need to find the docs and wade through them. I barely have any motivation for it though, because I tend to quickly use a pi to run it. Pretty much the only feature I use on my old lcd is babystepping.
But I may try this exact one on my wanhao. If I hurry up and order it today, it will only be a month.
Very interesting!.. I happen to have a BigTreeTech TFT35 here and as it just talks serial to the SKRv1.3 controller it came with I was wondering if I could use it to control my Nano based laser controller. I hooked up the display to the Nano’s Tx/Rx pins and tried sending a command, unfortunately, as the TFT speaks marlin and the Nano speaks GRBL all I could get on the display was Error:1,2 or 20…but at least it was communicating! While I can edit the icons, menus and commands on the tft I cant teach it GRBL…so I will have to wait patiently for the MKS TFT24 that does speak GRBL…but it looks promising.
David - what is the procedure for editing the icons - I note that the icons are .bin files whereas with the BigTreeTech TFT24/35 they are .bmp.
Some of my edited icons,directories and commands
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Mike, I don’t know a thing about this little beast. I just downloaded the recommended Grbl and TFT/CNC firmware and plugged in the TFT24… it first displayed icons for 3d printing. I wanted to see the CNC icons so copied the TFT/CNC files to SD and rebooted. The machine now displayed CNC icons. That’s as far as I went with it. I’ve not tried to do any customization at all… though IMO it looks as though it needs it. – David
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Got a little further with my BTT tft. It can control the Nano over the Tx/Rx pins but I cant get it to acknowledge it can communicate, so the “printer not connected” message doesn’t go away - however it does respond to move commands, laser on/off commands and $ commands…I just cant get it to respond to a .gco print file…yet. The firmware is so bloated with 3d printer stuff that it is going to take some time to try and reverse engineer the ‘Marlin’ out of it! These things are fun!..actually …upon even the tiniest amount of reflection…I think this is way beyond my capabilities!..unless anyone might be able to suggest where I look for the ‘handshake’ that makes it all work perhaps I’ll just wait for the MKS one to arrive…
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Is that the one that says “V2.0”? That’s the one I have. Are you just tweaking settings or compiling code?
Jeff -
BigTreeTech_TFT35_V2.0…
A bit of both…the icons are just .bmps so can be easily edited or replaced. Some additional titles had to be entered and some of the menu changes required tweaking the code to achieve. If you are interested I can upload my current firmware and icons optimised as far as I can for routing/lasering.
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David -
Not sure if it is a different firmware and/or icons but there is also a TFT github page
I think it has a later version for the TFT24_CNC as well as a laser version
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Thanks, Mike. I’ll take a look… 
I have uploaded my current firmware for the BTT TFT35 for use with a router/laser on the other display thread for those interested.
OK…well the Makerbase TFT24 arrived…and it does work with a vanilla Nano controller and GRBL on my laser machine BUT the firmware is truly awful. No console facility, no positional data, incorrect homing and at least one dodgy icon position that changes to whatever you pressed just before it?? As the firmware is supplied pre-compiled it is not possible to edit it, MakerBase have turned the project over to open-source and published the source files here but it requires someone with a better skill set to me to sort it into something Virtual Studio will decypher!
The icons can fairly easily be edited but there is a lot missing as it stands
How are you getting on with it Dave?
Mike, I’ve done nothing with it since receiving it and then flashing the Grbl and TFT24/CNC firmware. I just made sure it lit up and kinda responded to the touchscreen… but I didn’t study it or dig any deeper into how useful the CNC firmware actually was. But at least I’m ready when some of you guinea p… brighter folks massage it a bit and come up with something fantastic.
– David
I bought a MKS TFT32 with the purpose of using it with grbl, but couldn’t get grbl running satisfactorily on my MKS Gen L and went back to Marlin. I find the TFT is a nice supplement to the LCD screen, particularly for jogging which is tedious and takes far too many menu clicks in Marlin. But, it’s not a complete replacement. One big problem I’ve found is no way to resume from a gcode pause (M0) from touch screen. And, as you mention, it’s missing important feedback information such as current coordinate positions.