So tempting, for the parts alone.
Edit: Since this topic is focused on maximizing value out of this $79 3W marvel, I’ve moved my request for cutting capable laser recommendations to Xtool has a new quad diode 20w laser and they're supposed to be filling pre-orders of it - #9 by azab2c
An hour or so later, only 6 left… 
I bought one as well. It’ll be nice to have two machines and to have the same machine you, the master, do 
Oh, good grief… 
Glad you were able to get ANOTHER one, though… 
It went up to 7 for some reason, and now that I’ve ordered one, it is back to 6.
I just checked the link and as of 10:20am (EDT) on 22 Sept, they are showing 13 in stock. I hope they last as I am tempted to grab one.
Well, as always, life happened yesterday afternoon/evening, and I didn’t get back to the Amazons until late last night. Fortunately, the listing was still good and they had 12 left in stock, so I pulled the trigger. (Here’s hoping the Missuss doesn’t do the same!). I just looked again (7:45am EDT), and it is still showing available with 11 left in stock if anyone else is still looking to grab one!
They might have 100s and just adding them 12 at a time.
Nothing like a scarcity of resources to make a person want one.
This community is actually what made me want one, and have been eyeing them for a while. This community is also what gave me the link to something that is scarce for the price I am really willing to pay!! LOL!!! I hate you guys (but not really)!!!
Did you have to reverse your x axis stepper wiring hen you flashed to GRBL? my system originally homed front right and it looks like the motor is running reverse. Time has been tight, so I have not had time to play with this gem and dial it in as I had hoped so I have not had time to investigate.
No wiring needs to be changed… it is easily changed with Grbl settings. Specifically, $3 is the “Direction port invert, mask” and is used to change the direction of any axis…
On my machine, $3=2 sets the correct direction for X and Y.
– David
Two Questions:
Is this the same spec machine and now $9 cheaper?
Has anyone who’s not all that experienced with flashing things and other mystical practices but who can follow reasonably well written directions managed to get one up and running?
$70 is really tempting for a laser I can get working but it’s a bit much for a paper weight.
Paul,
There are a couple of machines JL1 and JL2 in the original Amazon link in post #1. The JL1 is full-frame machine (currently sold out?) and JL2 is a “minimalist” cantilevered-arm machine, currently about $10 less at $69. I think both machines use the same JL1 controller board and can be flashed with GRBL… but I’ve seen prices ranging from $75 up to $99. Getting what you want will probably require patience and being in the right place at the right time; i.e. here’s another link to the identical JL1 machine, currently offering it for $89.
As I explained in post #120, I purchased two of the JL1 machines and have successfully flashed both with GRBL 1.1f firmware. The JL1 is the machine I’ve “featured” throughout this thread but the JL2 would do just as well… however, the JL2 might have trouble with some of the larger/heavier laser modules people might be tempted to mount on the carriage.
Flashing GRBL on the machine as I did is a simple but exact procedure… and the utility program to do it gives absolutely no status information to help inspire confidence it worked. But if you are aware of the lack of information it provides and have the courage to try, it actually is quite simple and quick and has a good chance of completing successfully.
That said, I would try to hold out for the JL1 machine… as it at least gives you more parts to put in your stash if all else fails.
– David
David
Many Thanks! to you for so much of this thread and for taking the time to offer your advice which having seen so much of your laser work here and in other threads I can only take as ‘Good as Gold’!
I think I’ll wait as you suggest as I have no shortage of things to do, just today one of my car windows decided to start misbehaving and of course it couldn’t have a simple switch but an amplifier and/or control box instead which may well cost (not be worth) more than my 22 year old car. 
I pulled the trigger on one of these (“JL1”) laser engravers last week and it showed up Saturday.
I figured I’d relay my experience:
6 screws to install the X rail & cable chain and it powered up. It homed against the limit switches and then traveled to the opposite corner and turned on the “+” alignment indicator. Movement is nice and smooth and overall really impressive at this price point.
I didn’t even bother polluting my computer with the included software; I used the GRBL update package David provided and it flashed fine (and rather quickly). Hurray; GRBL 1.1f! Thanks David!!!
Using UGS I fumbled around a little with the configuration parameters and determined that $3=2 gives the most sane results for me as well (Curtis shared $3=3, along with a couple other subtle changes from the defaults). It appears to work perfectly well besides homing.
I did beat my head on the wall for a while trying to get homing to work via $23 homing mask and machine size soft limits before I went and read the original Lightburn Forum Posts. It turns out the upgrade tool in upgrade.zip (post 14) is a pre-compiled binary for a “JL3” engraver that has the same controller but different X polarity and limit switch configuration (ie the need to change the $3 parameter from it’s default) but also has a different (slightly larger) working area. The JL3 firmware also has a hard coded G92 offset that is applied after homing and a auxiliary travel command to park at “0,0” immediately following the homing sequence. Consequently it tries to reach 90mm beyond the Y-travel limit and crashes into the rails. Enabling soft limits doesn’t help because as soon as the G92 offset is applied the machine thinks it is out of range and throws an alarm.
So, “Homing not supported” is clearly indicated in both the Lightburn posts and mentioned by David, and I can provide independent confirmation . The other limitation of the “upgrade” software is that turning the alignment laser cross-hatch on and off is not supported. This also mentioned by David and others but is a complete non-concern for me - it has an odd x & y offset from the cutting spot anyway and could be manually switched if desired.
However, I think there is a way to get homing to work via a set of macro commands. I am going to try to temporarily change the step/mm configuration (lower) before homing and then reset it afterwards. It will be confused about where it is relative to the limit switch, but following up with a new G92 offset should correct that.
Also, for awareness; on the Lightburn forum, there has been some recent discussion about compiling GRBL from source code and what the appropriate pin configurations are. Sal has what he purports as a much better version of firmware that supports both homing and triggering the alignment laser via M commands. While neither homing nor the alignment laser is really necessary, I am considering giving it a try for the fun of it. The only challenge appears to be that the JL3 GRBL upgrade firmware eliminates the bootloader that was originally supplied on the control board, so it needs to be programmed through something like an STLink. In addition to getting one of those $10 device, connecting it requires soldering on some pin headers and learning the uplink software so is far more effort and carries some level of risk (If I brick it, I’ll just have to get a more GRBL friendly controller )
I am not certain, but I think you could probably flash the custom JL1 specific firmware .bin file directly to the board with the update.exe tool if you do it prior to wiping the bootloader though I think you still only get one crack at it before you have to resort to an STM programming interface tool. We’ll see if someone wants to be a guinea pig for that - its too late for me.
I’m not sure I understand what you mean about homing doesn’t work. My machine will home via Lightburn or a $H in the console. It successfully sets 0,0 and stays there. I can move the machine to any location and G28 will send it to 0,0 or $H will rehome it.
- Has anyone who’s not all that experienced with flashing things and other mystical practices but who can follow reasonably well written directions managed to get one up and running?
I purchased one of these lasers engravers. I have zero experience with GRBL, but I have some experience with flashing boards. Assuming everything goes right, getting it up and running is not difficult. David provided step-by-step instructions above for running the update tool. For me, other than the tool gives zero feedback (as David mentions), the use was quick and painless. The only other things that need to be “fixed” are to get the X axis running the right way by setting:
$3=2
…and optionally turn off homing:
$22=0
At this point the machine can be used with coordinates relative to the stock like most people use their MPCNC.
When I was setting this laser up (yesterday), I didn’t really understand that LightBurn was a GRBL controller. I installed LaserGRBL, a free Windows application. It contains a very nice tool/utility for changing/setting the configuration parameters. I didn’t find anything similar in LightBurn.
I’m not sure you have the same machine as we do. Since I did not know anything about GRBL, the first thing I did was flash your settings to my board. They did not work. On my machine, the limits switches are “strange.” If they are defined as (0,0) or (maxX, maxY), then the coordinate system is mirrored from what it should be.
Thaks! for this and other good info! This thread has been and is fascinating as I do want to get a laser someday but at this point I think my plate’s getting a little too full. I have to say though this is without a doubt one of the most helpful and educational forums I’ve ever been on.
Seems like the price may be stabilizing somewhat so hopefully when I take care of a few more pressing issues there’ll still be some decent machines available at reasonable cost.