Enjoyed working with the laser tonight on some scrap pine wood
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Iām watching you since you purchased Laser for your XC Jeremy, just one simple question I want to ask you for long time. Do you really thing buying this laser is worth money. My main concern is capabilities. I understand this is low power unit for cutting, but seems engraving is very well. Do you honestly recommend it,(without any obligations).How difficult to setup electronics back and forward between spindle operation and Laser.
Alan- up front my answer is definitely yes.
You have a significantly better engineering background and likely could set it up a thousands times better than I have but I am pretty happy with what I have set up for the laser and the XC. I started down a path of creating two separate power/arduino/g-shield set ups for the systems but backed off of that plan because there was no need. What I have set up for now works well. Upfront I was challenged with just the XC and dialing it in. Then I was challenged on how to use the laser and the associated software. I am getting more comfortable with all of it and have created several personal items that have been gifts to others. I donāt post my personal gift stuff most of the time. The result is always the same- they are amazed at what they are receiving. ā¦and I am just a beginner. I canāt wait to see what happens when I learn more. The guys at Inventables have been outstanding in their support. The guys at Picengrave.com have been equally outstanding.
On a side note- use the Pincengrave pro 5 for my lithophanes also. I tried vectricās photocarve for the litho and the project took longer to complete (significantly) and it wasnāt as good. Again that could be because I am a beginner but that is important at this stage of my learning. I will continue to go with the version of software that I can learn easy and it works well. Both did that, with the PEP5 being a quicker and better product in the end.
Not sure if this helps, but this is my unpaid commercial for all of the products that I currently enjoy working with - XC, 2.8W laser, and PEP5 software.
V/R
J.R.
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Thanks Jeremy, that was big help.
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Iād have to agree with Jeremy here. 100% best upgrade Iāve made to my X-Carve.
Iām not interested in photo engraving, so itās been even easier for me. Connect the two trigger wires on the laser driver to the two wires on the PWM spindle control on the front of the X-Carve power supply to trigger the laser (just flip the spindle switch to āoffā here).
Single piece of angle ally to make a mount with three thumb screws to quick mount/unmount.
I do all my layout and design in Easel, output the gCode and modify that in a text editor before sending via Chilipeppr to the X-Carve and laser (change Z movements to laser on/offs).
So cutting 3mm birch plywood, cutting card/foam or marking other materials is all great. Really good at āengravingā anodised ally too. Also ablating paint from copper before etching is my main usage at the moment for use in jewellery making and PCB production.
One thing I find it really useful for is prototyping boxes/complex geometries. I can cut the design out in card on the laser in a couple of minutes (faster than with scissors and more accurate) then test assemble before applying to bigger/thicker/more expensive materials.
My neighbours are close, so running the spindle late evening is a no-no, but running the laser is fine.
Sure, itās not a replacement to a spindle, donāt know of any lasers that can mill ally, copper etc. but as another ātool bitā (thatās how I like to think of it) in your arsenal of tool bits, itās terrific.
Cheers
Ian
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One last question before making decision. Iām reading posts, talking about loading different HEX file to GRBL. Is that HEX file is changing anything on Regular Router/Spindle operation.? The other word, do we have to go back and forward between two hex files to download when decide to change operation from Laser to Router.
Hi Alan,
I posted in this thread the differences in using the J-Tech PWM 9g grbl and standard v9 grbl. Sonny stated he will be adding laser support to grbl in the future, but not sure when.
Jeff
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Thanks Jeff, I think Iāll wait for full compatibility. 80% job Iām running is for Spindle cutting which is 0.5 to 0.75 inch thick. Iām planning to Laser Engrave to my parts. But I canāt compromise full router functionality especially Arcs.
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I too have to endorse the use of J-tech Hardware and Picengrave software. I use both and they are great both with hardware and software support.
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The J-Tech laser system does work with the latest grbl now, it just looses the bottom end range of the power because of the frequency difference and the dwell with the S spindle commands effects the smooth motion and feedrate. PicEngrave Pro 5 will create dithered images and generate gcode that can pulse on/off the laser to engrave photos like a commercial CO2 does. You would not need to change your grbl for that type of photo engraving process. This laser engraving was done that way on our Shapeoko.
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I am hoping that you all could help me out with this. I am as new to all of this as you could possibly imagine. The whole reason i own the X-carve is because of Easel. Iām not a programmer, or engineer. I have zero knowledge of how to read, never mind tweak G-code, as I am basically a WYSIWYG person. With that being saidā¦
Question 1: Am i correct in thinking that adding the J-Tech laser is basically almost plug and play at this point? Wire up a few wires, and Iām good to go?
Question 2: This is concerning workflow. Currently, I am doing all of my vector work in Illustrator, and saving as a .SVG file, which is then imported into Easel to be cut out with the router. I would like to be able to use the laser to cut out things like open cell foam, heavy-ish weight card stock, acrylic, plywood, etc. Which software solution would be the easiest to use to accomplish this? Bear in mind that these jobs would be vector based, not a picture. Can PicEngravePro handle this? Can Easel do it? If so, how would i go about doing it? If not, do you have a recommendation on which software to use?
Question 3: Am i better off waiting for the Glowforge?
thanks in advance for any help i can get.
-Ken
Our image to gcode software programs are for raster engraving images only. There are X-Carve owners here with the J-Tech laser systems that uses Easel to cut materials and they may chime in on how they wire there laser to the X-Carveās board to control it and the Easel settings to use. There is a J-Tech Laser Plugin for Inkscape that can be used also.
Jeff
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If you go to the J-Tech website, you can find all the information you need to connect the laser to the X-Carve (it is the same as the Shapeoko). He has the documentation available to read or download. And of course Jay is always available via email to answer all of your questions.
I would also suggest reading the forums to get an idea of what is going to take to build and get the X-Carve running. It has a lot of advantages over the Glowforge, but it also does not do some of the things that is promised by the Glowforge. If I am understanding their sales plan correctly, it will set you back $4,000 unless you purchased it when it was first being offered. It cannot be used as a CNC machine to cut/carve wood and metal/aluminium materials.
There is a lot to consider on this subject. I wish it was more cut and dry!
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Yep, easy to connect JTech to stock XCarve. Two wires to get PWM signal from gSheild to the JTech laser driver.
I then do my vector work in Easel as for spindle.
But you need to convert Z movements to laser on/offs. So I export my design from Easel as GCode, open in text editor and search replace Z movements to laser on/offs. Then send to XCarve and JTech using ChiliPeppr.
Happily cutting card stock, closed cell foam and other materials in a single pass. Bit more complex, multiple passes and cutting 3mm birch plywood.
I mainly use it to remove paint from sheet copper before electro etching for jewellery design and occasional PCBs. Also just started marking and cutting in leather.
I do all my design work in Inkscape then into Easel for the toolpaths the small amount of GCode editing (takes seconds).
Have a look in the Laser Cutting section, more there.
Cheers
Ian
Yep, it does now. Well a macro in Text Wrangler which allows me drag n drop the modified gcode straight into Chilipeppr 
Since G-Code is just text, canāt any text editor just do a global Find/Replace for the Z ups/down to laser on/offs? Does any of that affect the original zeroing of the Z to get the laser properly focused on the surface of the work or is that manual jog?
Yes, any search and replace works fine.
I tend to manually jog then focus the laser (on low power) then zero the machine in CP then send the job. If you are marking or thin material cutting, everything is done in a single pass so no Z movements are required.
Cool, thatās what I thought. @IanWatkins, youāre inspiring me to go ahead and get that 2.8W upgrade 
Have you tried running the program again with a slightly lower Z to see how it traces the first pass and to cut a bit more depth?
Yes, I do exactly that when cutting 3mm birch ply. I do multiple passes and actually step down the Z 0.2mm per pass. In that case I just modify the Z movements to safety height to laser on/offs.
3mm birch cuts at 180mm/min 0.2mm step down (15 passes) at 2W. So not quick but sharp corners unlike the spindle
I would expect balsa to be quicker, will see if I can find a sheet.