adding a laser to router

[Tweakie.CNC]

but the raster engraving plugin does activate m3 (swaps from m4 to m3 if m4 is already active)

So it does - I did not know it did that Perhaps my system of individually switching Laser / Spindle is not so shabby

i want to use the laser for engraving part/joint numbers on plywood before or after cutting with the router.
so ideally want to get it all going nicely in the same profile.
i can offset the laser using g52 in a macroloop if m4 is active im hoping.

Doubtful you would ever want to use the raster engraving plugin for this but however you do it you would have two separate operations / toolpaths. Best to laser first then router cut second (reduces the risk of setting fire to wood dust / shavings).

I think I'm going to do this based on tool number.
Il set laser as tool 96.
That way I can exclude it from being probed, set it's offset and set an output pin to switch it on.

I am not sure that would work but I would be interested to hear if you are able to control laser output power.

[Battwell]

my only other dilema is my machine is big. 8ft by 4ft.
the wiring from the control cabinet goes through multiple cable chains so is probably around 30ft or more from the control box.
i have spare thick and shielded cables running up to the head area i can use.
do i put the driver board in the control box so ttl signal wires are short but output cables to laser/fan are long or put control board by the head and have long ttl & power cable from controller to the head? hmmm.

[Tweakie.CNC]

do i put the driver board in the control box so ttl signal wires are short but output cables to laser/fan are long or put control board by the head and have long ttl & power cable from controller to the head?

Can't help you with that one, sounds to me like 'trial and error' to see which option works best.

[Battwell]

ok- ive learnt a few things this evening.
i have control of the laser diode through pwm.
ive written a pp for vcarve pro that seems to work ok switching pwm on /off using m10/m11 for normal profiles etc.
i found it easier to set up another pulley for 0 to 100 rpm (instead of router 0-24000 rpm) so i could command power as 0 to 100% without trying to calculate power.
i managed to burn fine lines in cardboard passing it in front of the laser. i will mount it on the machine tomorrow.

i will have to do a bit of scripting to get this to work on the router!. having the same m3 and the pwm to analog with laser is a bit of a pain! as the spindle runs with those commands. especially using a lower ratio pulley- straight to full whack! im thinking of setting a relay output and switching the vfd run command with laser on through it.
i powered down the vfd while testing until i sort this.

*** may have found a bug too. ***
using the laser plugin i could hear slight "noise" being picked up by my servos- not a problem as i was working with a mess of wiring in the cabinet with nothing shielded etc.
however it continued the same after the stop button was pressed. ( confirmed m3 had shut off but the noise was still there)
noise disappeared once reset was pressed. could it be that the laser plugin was still generating pwm after stop button? using last development version 1.2011 . not latest version at the moment as i dont want to swap monitors and modify new screen set yet.

[Battwell]

if in doubt -read the manual!!!

m10 doesnt use S command it uses Q command !
even got my old scope out to see why i was getting full pwm using m10 ! (but laser engrave plugin was varying correctly)

put here for anyone that reads the thread with same problem.

exact command is
m3
m10 Q255 for full 100% power
M10 Q 25 for 10% power
etc

Q can be between 0 to 255
M11 switches off pwm fast

[3d0g]

Actually not that cut and dried as it depends on the laser. Yes, most solid state lasers only have on/off and simulate "power" by pulsing the beam, but CO2 tube lasers have true variable power output.

I use M3 Sx to set the power output level of the laser supply. I tweaked the settings so it's a simple % for my old brain so M3 S50 sets my laser output to 50%. PWM modulation of the beam (which is quite different than power), is achieved through M10 Qx. I don't use it as often but there's times when pulsing the beam reduces charring on wood. Get the timing right and you effectively ride the higher trigger voltage 'wave' w/o killing the tube.

[Battwell]

1st laser test

1st test engrave . Very simple

https://youtu.be/zE9lw8YpQRo

[cncdrive]

Looks good.

[Battwell]

I’m pleased for £37.
Shame it’s not powerful enough to use the laser engrave plugin. Would take a day to raster a photo !

[Battwell]

Original cv settings are too big for this detail