laser engrave plugin

[jtb223]

Has anyone used the laser engrave plugin? It seems rather simple. Has anyone set up a laser diode on their machine? I know about Jtech but they seem a little expensive. I've read their UCCNC/Stepcraft upgrade so I think I can figure out how to turn the laser on with a relay (as I do with my router now) and control the laser power with PWM through my UC400ETH and a spare port on my breakout board but any help would be much appreciated.

[Robertspark]

http://shop.cncdrive.com/index.php?productID=736

[jtb223]

Interesting option. Have you used this laser?
I'm thinking I might like a little more power.
I like that it comes with a driver board most of the ebay lasers don't and don't seem to have TTL control.

[cncdrive]

Hi,

We using this laser for several things, for example for stencil foil which is in other words SMD paste masks for SMD soldering.
We doing this with g-code with the M10/M11 commands not with the laser plugin, but the laser plugin also works fine, lots of users using it successfully.
I'm sending a picture in attachment of an SMD stencil we've made.

Be aware that lasers sold on e-bay mostly have the same power as what we sell. The sellers selling there often fooling the buyer, because basicly there is the 1.6W and 3W laser modules,
if you see 5W and 7W etc. power lasers on e-bay those are mostly scams since there is no available laser modules in that price range with those power levels.
But since the avarage buyer can't verify the power level of the laser they just beleive that their laser has 5 or 7watts power while it is simply a 1.6W or 3W laser modul.
There was some discussion about this on the hungarian hobbycnc forum some time ago...