Laser and spindle both permanently attached?

Just plain AWESOME! Still more to learn and I am thankful you are patient with me.

I purchased the jtech 2.8 and am wiring it up. What I can’t seem to figure out (or find reliable information about) is the wiring for the laser control board logic to the gshield. I found a tutorial on the jtech website for the shapeoko, but it is suggesting to use pin 12 and 14. On my x-carve, pin 12 is used for the z-axis limit switch. I am going to be making use of the Picengrave software and want to hook it up so that the gcode will control the on/off of the laser

It looks like in your video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ENJAV9YVvk that the logic control hooks into the spindle control? I saw a post by @IanWatkins where he mentioned something about:

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.

It sounds like the laser basically makes use of the signal that controls the spindle on/off and speed?

I am currently running the DWP611 for my spindle. Since I am no longer using the original spindle power wiring, another way to do this would be to make use of the existing spindle wires that run to the wire block on the back of the z-axis?

I am continuing my search for information and if I find an answer before someone responds, I will post the info. However, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chad

Hi Chad,

PWM control has been changed to pin 11 and ground on the Arduino UNO with the newer grbl versions. It also requires S0-S1000 commands to control the intensity of the laser diode with J-Tech’s driver.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, that helps alot. Glad to know I was on the right track.I believe I have come up with a pretty good setup for the jtech laser on the x-carve and if it all works out I will post a little start to finish how to.

Thanks again,
Chad

Pin 11 on the gshield and a ground to the control input on the laser driver should see you good.

If running from Easel, a requested 18,000 rpm will give you full power (whatever that is set to on the driver). 1200 rpm will give a good dot for focusing.

I.e from the machine inspector in Easel, issue the gcode “M3 S1200” to give a nice spot for focusing. An “M5” to switch off.

Bear in mind, if you want to laser images as bitmaps you’ll need to load in a different firmware onto the Arduino as the Inventables Grbl version doesn’t “do” laser, at least not very well. But is fine for laser vector marking and cutting.

Cheers

Ian

The inventables grbl will do image engraving, but you have to crank up the accels for the X&Y axis so it will mostly overcome the spindle command dwell hesitations and you can’t engrave at full speed with full power.

The J-Tech LaserMode PWM grbl is what we used with our Shapeoko 2, Arduino UNO, grbl shield and the J-Tech laser system using S-S255 commands to engrave photos. Jeremy stated he could not get it to work on his X-Carve for some reason, even though it uses the same controller as our Shapeoko.

If you want to try it yourself, the hex can be downloaded from our forum’s main page at the bottom. Keep in mind, limit switch checking and arc gcode support is disabled. It was branched just for raster laser engraving images, but the S commands do execute in real time.

http://www.picengrave.com/forum/index.php

Sure, I know you can with the Inventables Grbl but it’s not ideal.

Switching firmwares isn’t for me as I do a mix of laser and spindle cutting so don’t want to keep changing firmwares. I’m hoping to run a headless system soon so won’t have a PC in the shop.

Hopefully we will get an optimised laser mode and spindle cutting with the next major Grbl update Sonny is working on.

Cheers

Ian

The J-Tech grbl does run Z axis spindle code also. In our testing, it will run X,Y,Z,S and F on every line of gcode if that was needed.

We are looking forward to Sonny’s new release also.

Forgot to mention that the only grbl hex that is available right now that is set for the correct PWM frequency for using the J-Tech laser driver is the J-Tech LaserMode grbl hex. You probably noticed there laser not come on until a minimum S85 command. Not sure how that relates to Easel’s RPM values to control the spindle, but the PWM frequency is not correct in the inventables grbl.

Unfortunately the Jtech grbl and my system did not work. The new 0.9j grbl works but has some delays as noted by Picengravertoo. Those delays are not terrible in my opinion so I continue to use it. I see there has been some conversation about a grbl 1.0 update. Ian put his request in to ensure it works with the jtech laser- good call! I suspect it will. I agree with Ian and others about not wanting to change grbl hex files. I would definitely prefer not to do that again if I did not have to.

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At this point what seems to be the best option to add a laser to the X-Carve?

I have bought the laser and set it up with my machine and then I flashed with the grbl software it told me to and it doesn’t work where do I get a downloadable file so I can reupload it again

If your referring to the J-Tech LaserMode grbl 9g, make sure you set the grbl setting $14=1 or your machine will not move.

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How do i do that?

In PicSender type in $14=1 in the Do Cmd. input box and select the Do Cmd. button.

when I’m done with the file in inkscape do I just import it into easel?