I’m still getting the machine dilaled in. i just finished the build last night and was trying to get a good smooth movement out of it when i noticed the defauld travel was set at 1.25mm per rev so it was flying all around.
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I just got a used machine that has a TinyG V8 controller. I am new to this, so I am not sure what to do as far as setup and configuration. Any help is appreciated!
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST! I guess I pushed the wrong button in Chillipepper or updating the firmware nuked all of the settings. My machine was DEAD. Now by using the data here, I got it back online. I have some weirdness with the Y Axis where the gantry shifts when the motors power down after a 100 or longer run.
Hello,
I am on a team project where we are looking to etch PMMA acrylic. We are looking at creating dot patterns on the sheets of acrylic that need to be small and precise, looking at dot sizes as small as .2 mm and space between dots in the range of 1 mm or less. The team is looking at a laser gantry system that is controlled by proprietary software and it takes in imported files of images. After experimenting, the software leaves a lot to be desired as when images are imported (which I have created in Adobe Illustrator using dimensions of the actual sheets) they are imported at low quality and are shrunk down and then have to be extended back to size which causes quite a bit of distortion. Samples returned by the company clearly show this distortion as the dots are exactly how they appear in the software. The motor resolution and laser spot diameter are definitely precise enough to do what we want, it’s just the software holding the laser system back. I was looking at using the TinyG controller and GCode files that I have generated to control the motors and the rest of the hardware of the system, essentially skipping the provided software and controller. I am hoping to get some input on this and if anybody has any more information on whether this setup would work. The laser system we are looking at is here: https://www.smartdiys.cc/pages/fabool-laser-co2-ds
and here is the manual for it:
Before Starting | Laser cutter smartDIYs
Thanks in advance for your time!
My 2 cents.
Double check the motherboard on the laser. There is a good chance it is some flavor of GRBL controller. If so you just need to figure out if you can connect to it with some other version of G-Code sender. (there are a few options out there now, I am still using Universal G-Code Sender because it works ok with my older setup.)
I got a K40 laser a while back and had nothing but problems creating and sending code to it, even with a new controller board.
I eventually purchased a copy of LightBurn Software and it fixed all my data issues. It got the machine working great for about a week until it literal meted down in the summer heat. (burned out motors and controller chips.)
I could not find any info about lightburn software working with a FABOOL controller so it may still need a new controller to get working.
Good luck.
Hey Aaron,
Thank for the reply and info! It is a GRBL based controller and I was really hoping I could use UGS to bypass ordering a new controller for it but I read on another forum that using UBS to send G-Code was attempted but did not work. I still intend to try using UGS with Fabool on my own before going the new controller route but we shall see what happens. I will definitely check out the LightBurn Software and see if that is an option worth taking. Thanks again!