I saw the basic laser mounting for the shapeoko 2 but am curious if anyone has tackled the new mounting with the X-carve? I received my 2.8w laser from JTech today and am pondering how to set it up (physically with the different mount). I will work through the electrical tomorrow. Thanks!
V/R
J.R.
Unfortunately there are a dozen ways to mount the LASER. I am still trying to make a quick connect plate to swap out the LASER and router head.
interested in seeing what you guys come up with.
Published this a little bit ago. I will work on the laser install a bit later. I need to finish up several box joints on a project.
X-Carve holder for the JTech Laser. Trimming occurred to make it fit better and more x-axis available.
-0.093" thick acrylic.
-4.5" X 4" overall.
-4mm holes.
-Spindle holes-30mm apart, 4.5mm from the left edge.
-Bottom holes-24.6mm apart, 14.8mm from bottom.
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Interesting solution @JeremyHill
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Did the pressure crack the acrylic?
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Do you find that the spindle is loose now?
I haven’t mounted the laser yet. I hope to do that today. It is hard to see but I also added rubber washers where the m4 bolts go in. Before coming up with this solution, I measured an approximately 0.1inch gap for the spindle carriage. That gap was there while my spindle was tightly in place. This solution was taking advantage of the gap that already existed by filling it with the acrylic and rubber washer set up. I will post pictures and hopefully results later or sometime this weekend.
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The mount works well. I did add one more small hole at the top to put a small zip tie to hold the wires for the laser and upgrade fan set. After a lot of frustration I am now running the laser. I returned the grbl back to the normal x-carve set up. I am using Laserpic Lite but also was able to use Laser Etch wih Picsender as the program to move the x-carve and laser system. I don’t know that I have the most optimum set up but I finally determined that M3S255 was the best ‘laser control’ signal I could use. I currently have a draft pic being burned on a board. I am burning/printing a crest which is round. The corners are white and I see that the system is burning that also. Hmmm. One step at a time.
I have been attempting to use this crest on the laser. Anyone have skills on how to cut the white corners on this circular crest in order to only have the laser cut the crest? I apparenty can confirm that I do not have those skills (either)…
I think I am seeing some success finally, but most of the challenges are coming from my lack of knowledge on the software systems and what is going on behind the scenes in the arduino/gshileld/etc. This project is not complete yet, but here are a few pictures from the project.
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Any updates please @JeremyHill ?
I’m considering this laser myself but would love to see some results if you have any please?
Cheers
Ian
Here is some results with our J-Tech Laser mounted on our Shapeoko 2.
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Goblins 0.9i works for both Xcarve cutting and laser engraving. I need to adjust my gshield x potentiometer a bit since I had some drift. I also am working on my letter size and alignment for the laser details. It was a fun start to the project. I am also including a pic of my test photo (Roy Rogers)
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Funny…grbl turned into goblins on my last post. Oops
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My JTech kit has just arrived and after a quick bench test (burning holes in the packing box) to confirm its all working, just need to design a mount and sort the integration with the X-Carve and controller. I will say this, it’s a powerful bit of kit. 
Cheers
Ian
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…and a video of burning holes in a packing box. (SAFETY GOGGLES AT ALL TIMES KIDS!!!)
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That was easy.
Wired it all up and now being controlled from Easel. Connected the laser control PWM wire pair to the input on the front of the X-Carve 24v power supply where the signal comes in from the Gshield. So if I want to use the laser just need to flip the spindle switch from Logic to Off, but the PWM signal still makes it to the laser.
Project wise, send a spindle speed of 18000rpm for full laser power and a suitable feed rate for engraving or cutting. Or send 1500rpm for very low power to trace the job (at a feed of 8000mm/min) quickly to ensure you are on the material, a dry run if you like.
If the laser is fixed and focused at about an inch above the material surface, the lift the bit stage at the start of carving drops it out of focus. Turns on, rapids to start position, lowers to start position and then starts cutting/marking. Works well.
If you want to cut, go around several times with a 0.1mm step down at a slower feed just like normal.
So cutting and engraving at fixed power is possible from Easel. Doing shades of grey/images will, at this time, require different software I think.
So, just need to design and make a mount to get the laser as close to the spindle collet as possible to maximise laser work area. Hope to have it mounted using thumbscrews so that adding or removing it is tool less. Also need to add a fan and ducting to extract any smoke to the outside of the shop.
Cheers
Ian
great. I am using the same spindle position with a change out between the wire sets (spindle, laser). I am working on a different set up to make it a bit more permanent. The folks at picengrave have a lot of good feedback on their testing with the equipment.
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Yep, I’m thinking of another stepper cable to give laser and fan feeds through the drag chains for a permanent setup. Would also want some form of lens cap to protect it while using the spindle.
I temporarily remove the laser while using the spindle. I have essentially a bridge over the whole machine that the laser sits on to avoid the dust.
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I’ve been thinking about it. A stepper cable up to where the laser head/fan will be fitted through the drag chain back to the controller. Have a four way connector (molex) on the spindle carriage so you can plug in the laser/mount it for lasering and then remove while cutting.
Anyway, got my mount made today from some 40mm aluminium right angle. Three holes to mount to left side of carriage, plus your tip, pair of holes for a cable tie. Then two holes on the front for the laser/fan mount. Works fine, pictures and video below, just needs some paint and a little fine tuning and adding some short M4 tool less screws.
Cheers
Ian
