Laser engraving enclosures with a cheap Chinese machine? Yes!

[EBK]

Building this thing made me think of this:
https://youtu.be/qtKtU_zcTGU (couldn't get the link to embed the vid...)

[m-Kresol]

still fighting with this thing to turn on the laser with input commands M03 and M04...
I know the PWM pin is D11 (which is also connected to the yellow wire going to the laser), but I get 0.1 mV on that pin no matter which setting I try. I didn't enable the "USE_SPINDLE_DIRECTION_AS_SPINDLE_ENABLE" command, so enable and PWM should both be on D11. Using M03 (CW) and M04 (CCW) commands switch Pin D13 high (4.7V) and Low (0V), so that works fine.

Upon connecting my Mac to the arduino the laser shortly comes to live, which I can read via a multimeter: pin D11 goes up to about 6.4 mV.

Any ideas where to look? I know next to nothing about programming and am just randomly looking for things that look like it might fit. Unfortunately, I can't have a look at the manaSE firmware as it's supplied in a compiled .hex file instead of discrete files written in C (which is what I have for GRBL v1.1f)

Another thing: anyone knows the steps/mm for $100, $101 and $102?

input is very much appreciated. Thanks!

[EBK]

Felix, hopefully, I'll catch up to you soon and we can work out all the difficulties.  I know that somewhere in either the GRBL or Laserweb docs, I saw a link to a page to calculate steps/mm....
Tonight, I'll hopefully have a chance to get my machine to talk to the controller and be able to flash GRBL.

[culturejam]

The other night, Bean says to me, "I wonder if you could etch knobs?" Never thought about that, but I had to give it a try. Works okay. Probably not something for mass production, but for a one-off it would be doable.

[culturejam]

Got some new Triton boards in the mail today (I sold all the old stock and didn't even have one to do a test build!).

Looks like the scaling on the artwork is correct, but I did forget to make drill marks for the Time1 and Time2 LEDs. It's an easy fix, but I'll get that fixed and try another one (for science).

[m-Kresol]

I finally got it working!

So, I tried several things, but nothing was doing the trick: D11 (engaging and PWM pin for the laser) was always low, but I could toggle it on and off with a simple line of code. Thus, I knew that there was only a software bug hidden somewhere in the grbl code.

Zax (the guy that developed T2Laser) indirectly led me to the solution. He mentioned that I should use M03 command to turn the laser on and S... to adjust the power. In grbl it's up to 255 and in the elekslaser firmware up to 1000. So, I thought I should give the elekslaser firmware another go (when I tried it, I wasn't aware of the M03 command). After flashing the arduino and typing M 0 3 S 1 0 0 0 very slowly for rising tension, the laser came to life. Oh, what bliss!  Now I just hope my fire alarm doesn't go off

So the trick is to use the elekslaser firmware (basically an altered version of grbl 0.9i. I was trying to use 1.1f since it has a specific laser mode) and then you can use the universal gcode sender. if anyone on mac/linux is wondering. the code to flash the .hex to the arduino is:

Code Select Expand


/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -carduino -P/dev/cu.wchusbserial1410 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:/Applications/ManaSE_v3.7.hex:i

MAKE SURE TO ADJUST THE FILE PATHS!


Another thing, which is already included in the ManaSE firmware: the steps/mm for x and y axis is 80!

Now I just need to find a good way to generate gcode from png picture files. I usually use gimp to design my graphics. there are plugins for inkscape, but the one I used for trials only does outline, but I need full area too. any recommendations?

[EBK]

I finally got it working!

Congrats!  Mine is fully assembled, but the X axis seems a bit tight on the rails, and there is a very slight detent near mid-rail, which I haven't found the cause of.  Haven't worked on the firmware yet.

if anyone on mac/linux is wondering. the code to flash the .hex to the arduino is:

Code Select Expand


/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude -C/Applications/Arduino.app/Contents/Java/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega328p -carduino -P/dev/cu.wchusbserial1410 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:/Applications/ManaSE_v3.7.hex:i

MAKE SURE TO ADJUST THE FILE PATHS!


Thanks for this!

Another thing, which is already included in the ManaSE firmware: the steps/mm for x and y axis is 80!

and this!

[m-Kresol]

My X axis also didn't move too smoothly at the beginning. I just loosened the screws that hold the two acrylic parts and the wheels together and it works smoothly now.

[m-Kresol]

Any updates on your 3D printed add-ons and improvements, CJ? A friend has offered to print some stuff for me (and is also looking for a way to procrastinate writing his PhD thesis)

[culturejam]

Any updates on your 3D printed add-ons and improvements, CJ? A friend has offered to print some stuff for me (and is also looking for a way to procrastinate writing his PhD thesis)

Not really. Haven't had time to work on that side of things for a while.

I did improve things by adding a rubber mat under the frame "legs". This stops (or at least greatly reduces) lateral movement of the entire machine when the laser head changes direction quickly.

[selfdestroyer]

I did improve things by adding a rubber mat under the frame "legs". This stops (or at least greatly reduces) lateral movement of the entire machine when the laser head changes direction quickly.

I did that also. It was slowly being moved on my work bench so I used some non-slip mat under the acrylic legs.

I am having a heck of a time to get this to consistently finding my "center" point. Need to play with it some more this weekend before I have to travel for work again.

Cody

[m-Kresol]

Here's an update from my side: I opted out and installed Windows via bootcamp on my mac. Not as bad as I thought. T2Laser is a great software and can basically transfer any image to gcode, which is the feature I was missing. Also, it now includes a german translation I provided

I upgraded the laser with a few 3D printed parts, namely belt tensioner, X axis tensioner and space holders found on thingiverse (will add the links later). Belt tensior is kind of a must. My squares were not so square in the beginning and the 1590a engraving seen below has bit of a wobble to it.
The biggest upgrade is the wooden baseplate a coworker did for/with me. He's got skills and tools to do it properly too. The laser is screwed to the baseplate and the enclosure is screwed to it too. So no shifting due to vibrations or anything. I just set the laser to the centre spot and home the machine, screw down the enclosure and start engraving.











After one pass with full power and 900 mm/min (as suggested by CJ) you can scratch off the residue, but it doesn't work as well as after two passes. However, I found that the details is not too good, likely due to intensive heating around the laser spot. I used 0.05 mm resultion (maximum), so that might also be not ideal. I'll try three or four passes with half power tomorrow and see what I get.

After 1 pass with surface cleaning:


one pass with tooth pick action.


two passes, properly cleaned:

[pickdropper]

Blurriness can happen because of run to run variation or because the power is set too high (or speed too low).  I would play with the power/speed first and see if it looks in focus after one run.  Try to check without removing it from the bed.  If it still looks in focus, then I would run it one or two more times and see how it turns out.

[culturejam]

Wow, those are some nice upgrades. 

[trotel]

Following this thread has been really interesting.  Though it looks like quite a challenge, I'm pretty close to heading down the rabbit hole with the rest of you.

@pickdropper and @m-Kresol:   The alignment baseplate jig looks like an important add-on.

pickdropper- how did you make your acrylic alignment plate? 

m-Kresol- how was your wooden baseplate made?  Looks like the board was cut with a router bit to create space for the laser head?  How does the laser connect to the baseplate?