I would think the J-Tech driver would come set with the default jumper setting for the X-Carve, but if it works in reverse than it should, change it.
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This is the actual SMD Edition UNO we purchased from inventables. It works flawlessly with the J-Tech PWM LaserMode grbl. We have been laser engraving images with our 6W LD @ 200IPM streaming X,Y & S command gcode files with PicSender. Our machine is a Shapeoko 2 driven with Nema 17 steppers & the gShield V5 stepper driver. Does your UNO look like this?
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Jumper j3 stays on outer 2 pins and setting had to be ttl now I have control over laser on off and intensity. Feels good to be making some head way. I was under the asumption it had to be set as cw but after reading some things missed cw is full on at all times and jumper j3 is used to configure the ttl and cw switch. My arduino has the bigger chip could it be a older resivion that donāt like the jtech hex?
You have this UNO? If you do, Itās an official/genuine Arduino UNO board also. It should work fine, but we do not have one here to test. We were using the Arduino.cc UNO R3 from Radio Shack before we changed to the Arduino.org SMD Edition and it had the bigger chip like you are describing. It worked flawlessly with the J-Tech grbl also.
Arduino.cc UNO R3.
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Must be missing something in the settings. But It is working with inventables grbl so for the mean time I will stick with that so i can get some machine time. I thank you so much for all the help. And yes that is the one I have
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Hi There, I was having the same problems as you with the J tech hex file, when trying to move the machine it was making really high pitched noises but not really moving at all, the steppers were singing, I changed the acceleration defaults in the GRBL settings in pic sender and this seems to have cured the problem, I found the accel rates were way to high at $120=8000.000mm/sec and changed them to 50.00. the machine started to move again without singing.
Iām just having trouble with laser engraving now, I have setup a picture in picengrave and it should engrave about 100mm x 70mm ish but it seems to be engraving it really big, must be a setting somewhere I think.
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It has to do with the Pixel Resolution (stepover) setting. If you use a .254mm PR, it will engrave the same size as your image. But, if your laserās burn line width is narrower then .254mm, you will have to reduce the PR and resize your image in the editor to compensate. Instructions how to do this is in the Tutorial on page 7.
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You should not be changing the Pixel Resolution setting to adjust the engraving size. That setting determines the step over when it generates the gcode and it would be based on your laserās burn line width. If set at .01" or .254mm, it will engrave the same size as your original image. If you use anything other than those values, the image editor should be used to resize your image instead.
The PicLaser Tutorial is accessible in the Help menu and it has instructions how to do this is on page 14. The Tutorial was added recently, so make sure you are running the latest v2.1.2.
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I have tried the pixel resolution as you have suggested and Iām still not having any luck with the laser engraving picture being too big, I have the X Carve 1000 x 1000 and the J tech 2.8w laser kit, Iām also running the j-Tech Hex fileā¦ I am using pic engrave pro 5 and picsender, Iām not at the machine at the minute but the only thing I can think of is looking at the above post on shanebellās settings to mine is his step settings are $100=40.000 (x, step/mm)$101=40.000 (y, step/mm) and my step settings are $100=250.000 (x, step/mm) $101=250.000 (y, step/mm) would this cause the engraved picture to be massive compared to what it should be?
Also I read in the help file that x and y 0 is bottom left hand corner of machine as you look at it, when laser engraving the machine starts from top right hand corner and works right to left and from top to lower left corner and image is upside down?? is this normal?
so as I start the engraving I have to move the machine up and to the right I press send in pic sender and because I think the problem could be the step settings too big are making my engravings huge and the machine just moves to the left y rail and crashes into it.
Any help with this would be brilliant.
Thank you.
OK, that is why your steppers were singing with the higher accel settings.
Here is the default settings for the 500mm. You will need to change the $130= (x max travel, mm) and
$131= (y max travel, mm) for your X-Carve size & travel.
Use the yellow GRBL button in PicSender and make the changes in the left window. After getting the default X-Carve settings changed back, use the Save to backup the settings.
Here is the recommended grbl changes when using the J-Tech PWM grbl, so make those changes, then back them up also and then select Send. The instructions will explain how to change back and forth with the different grbl versions also.
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grbl.hex (76.0 KB)
$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=255 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=3 (dir port invert mask:00000110)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=3 (status report mask:00000011)
$11=0.020 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=0 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=3 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=750.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=40.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=40.000 (y, step/mm)
$102=188.976 (z, step/mm)
$110=8000.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=8000.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=500.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=500.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=500.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=50.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=790.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=790.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=100.000 (z max travel, mm)
$N1=F4000 (Default Feedrate)
Iām also having issues with PicSender with the x-carve. No problems when using Universal G Code Sender with my Dewalt router but when I added the JTech Photonic laser and downloaded Pic Softwares (purchased Picsender, PicLaser, PicEngrave Pro 5). Now that just opened up a whole new can of worms!
I searched youtube for some type of video tutorial on setting up PicSender to work with the X-Carve and JTECH laser. But I could only find jtech laser installation on x-carve and at the end of the video is a demonstration of the jtech laser etching/engraving a piece of wood, no software setup.
Could someone create a video tutorial on PicSender software setup for the x-carve with a jtech photonic laser upgrade?
Select the info button bottom right on the main screen. There is a Tutorial PDF file in there that you can open up and read how to use PicSender.
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I would be happy to make a vid but I will not be running the laser till this weekend. The instruction really is straight forward I just had to reread it a million times because I was over thinking the setup and made it more complex than it really was. It will drive you to your wits end that i will promise you. After you get it up and running you be in the face palm position
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Thank you! Will look into it.
Thank you! Iāll be looking forward to seeing your video tutorial!
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Well this is awkward. guess no vid till I can figure this issue out. A lot of the same issues as when I first set this up. It all goes good till I try to change the grbl settings for the jtech.hex the header info I think it is called but the hex uploads just fine but tried to send the modded header info in pic sender and all goes good reports back ok then I check it and it is still the old settings kinda at a loss.
UPDATE:
I think I may have figured it out we will find out soon enough
Ok so I downloaded the firmware for jtech (still have no idea how to use the laser) but more importantly now easel wonāt recognize my Xcarve since I downloaded all the necessary stuff for pic laser and sender. Any thoughts here? Being an engineer I feel pretty dumb I canāt figure out the laser at all
As far as I know you have to switch back and fourth between firmware and sometimes it can be a real PITA. And donāt feel bad being a engineer everyone has their kryptonite. I have not had my laser up and running for a few months and I am going through the same things but itās all coming back to me. Once I feel confident on the setup a vid will follow. But believe me and I think you know the first time around can be frustrating.