More Laser Advice - Firmware

jeffware · January 9, 2020, 5:46am

Sorry for the late reply, finishing up a mount for my laser on a dust shoe for my DW660 spindle. Here is the problem if you haven’t done this yet. I had the same problem until I did the following:

in the Marlin.cpp file find this block of code.

// Limit check_axes_activity frequency to 10Hz

static millis_t next_check_axes_ms = 0;

if (ELAPSED(ms, next_check_axes_ms)) {

planner.check_axes_activity();

next_check_axes_ms = ms + 100UL;

}

To fix the problem it needs to be changed to this.

// Limit check_axes_activity frequency to 10Hz

//static millis_t next_check_axes_ms = 0;

//if (ELAPSED(ms, next_check_axes_ms)) {

planner.check_axes_activity(); //< THIS IS THE ONLY LINE OF CODE YOU LEAVE UNCOMMENTED

// next_check_axes_ms = ms + 100UL;

//}

Once this is done, recompile , upload and viola laser works as it should. This assumes you are using the latest version of Ryan’s MPCNC v2 Marlin code base.

jeffware · January 9, 2020, 5:50am

BTW, I am running the dual end stop version and the above code change fixed the problem. Your laser control is working as it should since the laser intensity changed with the max value for the “S” parameter in your test above. Just make sure you are using mm/min and 255 for your max value laser power, I believe LightBurn calls it S-value max under device settings. Also if you enable laser fire button under device control you should see the fire button appear on the move tab with a power level setting. much more convenient than typing the the command on the console.

cerebraldad · January 9, 2020, 3:40pm

After making the changes to the firmware the text is still skewed… and I’m noticing that only one motor is moving on the x and y axis

Something is going on there…I checked the wires and connection and all look solid

jeffware · January 9, 2020, 4:22pm

How fast are you trying to go. I have found if i go north of say 2000 mm/min things get wonky.

cerebraldad · January 9, 2020, 4:46pm

I got it working. I had one endstop polling as triggered! M119 saved the day

jeffware · January 9, 2020, 5:31pm

Congrats! Have fun torching things!

cerebraldad · January 13, 2020, 7:10pm

Thanks for your help Jeff; was wondering if you had any idea how to set the min power to 0%. I did an image and could set it when in grayscale mode, however the option is grayed out and set to 10% on my line layer - Im getting travel lines.

minpower

cerebraldad · January 13, 2020, 7:31pm

Not sure how that changed. I was fine before

jeffware · January 17, 2020, 9:24pm

The min power will always be 10%. can you attach a pic of the issue and I’ll try and diagnose it for you. is your laser not turning off after each pass?

cerebraldad · January 20, 2020, 6:22pm

It’s nit turning off during travel.

jeffware · January 20, 2020, 10:26pm

Keith did you by chance have line+fill selected? or is that the dialog box for just the line setting

cerebraldad · January 21, 2020, 2:36pm

It for just the line setting

cerebraldad · January 21, 2020, 3:10pm

Not sure where this happened

jeffware · January 27, 2020, 4:36pm

Are you still setup for a Diode Laser or could have the laser type been accidentally changed to Co2

cerebraldad · January 28, 2020, 9:47am

It is still diode…

msh312b · July 8, 2020, 6:11pm

can you include a picture of how it is wired to the Rambo board? I am just getting mine set up and not quite sure where to connect the wires.
I have a 7W diode laser and it has two sets of two wires. one set is for power, 12v. and the other is TTL. I would love to see how to connect it to the board.

Right now I have the power wires connected to the Fan 0 pins,
and the TTL to the 45 and - pins in the middle of the board.
the laser fires on at 100% every time I turn on power to the LRV2.

Thanks,
Kyle

dkj4linux · July 8, 2020, 10:12pm

Connect the lasers +12V power input connection to the Rambo’s power supply… not the Fan signal.

msh312b · July 24, 2020, 8:47pm

When I hook it up to the power supply it just turns on with power, I can not control the on off or the intensity. I connected the TTL to the PIN45 and the power to the pins to the right of it. I tried using Repetier and giving the M105/106 commands and nothing happens. I also tried it in Estlcam, still trying to learn Estlcam can not figure out the laser part when I import a file. It always seem to want to Raster it, instead of vector it.
Here is the spec for the laser.

Any more advice or help would be great.

jeffeb3 · July 24, 2020, 11:34pm

Connect the ttl to ground and then power it up to see if it turns off. If that doesn’t work, connect it to 5V and see if it turns off. You should be able to connect it to pin 45 from the looks of it, and use M3/M5 commands.

cerebraldad · August 21, 2020, 1:38pm

I’m starting to do more laser cutting - so im revisiting this… cant seem to get this darn laser to turn off during travel.

Anyone have any further suggestions?