Hey Robert,
Your probably right, Im pretty sure I dont need an enable pin but ill double check…wasnt reading it properly, i just thought the two mentioned pins would have been the two signal wires from my laser.
Ill try PC9 and a ground pin then. it should show 5v with a voltmeter if it is correct i believe? that would make more sense, Thanks. ill update here
You should not see any voltage on the PC9 pin until you send an M3 or M4 command. After sending an M3 with no parameters, you should see 5V on the pin. PWM values are from 0 to 255, so according to the reference, if you send:
M3 O128
It should be half power and you should see something like (give or take) 2.5V on your meter.
If you are using your display to turn the the laser on and off and you are not getting a result, you might try sending the g-codes directly using an SD card or Repetier-Host.
Ok. That may make sense why I wasn’t seeing voltage then.
So I tried to plug the laser in and it went full power right away. Screen said the laser was off…hmm
Definitely a powerful laser! Started burning my spoilboard instantly.
You were correct. I checked voltage after entering m3 0128 and it was 2.6, so that working…just need to figure out why my laser is going full power.
Ok now I am able to power on the laser without it firing. The laser section of the display does not seem to work for the laser but when I input M03 123 the laser does turn on.
I put a gcode in, but for some reason with this gcode the laser only does a very quick pulse. When I reviewed the gcode it seemed ok to me? Section of the code posted below. Seems like M03 S102 should turn on the laser but not sure why its just a quick pulse,
LightBurn 0.9.21
; Marlin device profile, absolute coords
; Bounds: X6.06 Y2.16 to X140.18 Y62.32
G21
G90
; Cut @ 28 mm/sec, 40% power
M9
M05
G0X25.94 Y21.15 F0
; Layer C00
M03 S102
G1X25.92 F1680
G1X25.91 Y21.17
G1X25.89 Y21.18
G1X25.88 Y21.2
G1X25.87 Y21.21
G1X25.86 Y21.22
G1X25.85 Y21.24
G1X25.81 Y21.35
G1X25.76 Y21.54
G1X25.7 Y21.74
…
I’m not sure how smart Marlin is, and they don’t spell it out in the g-code reference, but in the reference they use the following to turn on the PWM at half power:
M3 O128
Note the 0 prefix, and the lack of the 'S; parameter. In your g-code you use:
M03 S102
It may be with the ‘S’ parameter, that Marlin is interpreting your g-code as a spindle command that has a whole other range of values defined in the configuration file.
Another thing you can try is to run part of or all of the g-code in the first post in this topic. Note how that g-code uses the ‘S’ parameter of the G0 and G1 commands. This is code that Ryan was running so you know it has been “tested.”
What bothers me more than the laser not coming on, is that it comes on briefly. I know there are some forum posts with a similar issue, but I don’t remember the fix.
I had asked in the laser thread and Ryan just got me going. His test Gcode seemed to work just great!! my first laser etch! its a bit too dark but ill figure that out. Ryan said “Your gcode does not look correct as we use inline commands now. The move lines get an S command and a travel move stops it.”
So ill need to figure out lightburn a bit more and get the Gcode sent properly.
Can I ask where you got the brackets that hold the L channel on the X axis?
I got them from thingiverse. Had to slightly modify to fit 25.4mm tubing.
Almost finished the enclosure.
Windows are red acrylic with one way film on the inside to make it safe to view laser.
Painted inside white and added lights.
Next will be dust/air management
Looking nice!
Can I ask how you wired your e-stop? Does it just kill 120V to everything?
Thanks, I wired the estop directly into my main power bar. I pulled the power bar apart and just tapped into the wire before the power bar switch. So now anything plugged into that power bar will turn off when i hit the estop.
One thing I dont think i mentioned is the side door i made for the enclosure. It allows using oversized pieces and ease of putting large parts in and out.
I’m already using this door, really happy I built it in.
This looks great. I’m pretty much copying your setup for my current build, but with a table a foot larger than the CNC on the one side, and some more room around the outside.
How is the noise with that big MDF cover? At first i thought that would be overkill/heavy. But i suppose more density means more dampening.
Noise is cut way down with the mdf. I can work in my shop without hearing protection and carry on a conversation.
Looks great, nice work.
Where did you get your Red Acrylic and film?
Jesse
