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Have you tried bolting a dremel or router to your RepRap? Can you engrave and drill PCBs? Or cut wood, or ... steel? (Or do you have a commercial mill or CNC router?)
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 5 years ago
Sooooooo update a while later for anyone who is still interested. It took me upgrading to a CO2 cutter and fooling with the wiring there to finally figure out what was going on. So most commercial drivers have a 0-5V PWM input and a ground input. But I realized when trying to control the laser with a potentiometer that you are actually controlling resistance between ground and 5V running to theby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: Marlin Armlevel issues with the z-axis (on a Morgan) - 5 years ago
Problem solved. This version of Marin seems to require max or min endstops to be either all on or all off, versus the new versions where you can enable or disable each one individually. I had them all running so I could do max x,y and min z. And worse yet, the switches were wired as pull-down instead of pull-up (triggering broke the circuit instead of completing it) So there was always an endstoby jdargot - Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms
Re: Marlin Armlevel issues with the z-axis (on a Morgan) - 5 years ago
In case it has any relation, I'll also mention that after working with the z-axis and going back to the arms, I often find them running super slowly when jogged. I don't know what the error is there but it always goes away when I restart the machine.by jdargot - Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms
Re: Huxley heatbed connect to Ramps 1.4 - 5 years ago
Hey, I know I'm coming in way late on this conversation but I just recently had the same issue myself. The little wire jumper soldered into the board has two ways it can go in. One way connects the mosfet and therefore works nicely with boards like the Melzi. If you switch that jumper to the other side, you will allow for a power input that goes straight to the heater. You can no longer plug powby jdargot - Huxley
Re: Beam Dumps - 5 years ago
Sorry for the late reply Viktor, Yeah, makes sense. I still can't quite get over those cheap CO2 lasers that don't seem to have an obvious base to them. Is that just negligence or do some not require more than a little aluminum. I'm talking 40 watts minimum on these ones. Thanks,by jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Marlin Armlevel issues with the z-axis (on a Morgan) - 5 years ago
Greetings! I am building a wacky little Morgan 3D printer out of spare parts I have and am running into an issue with the z-axis (a little unexpected seeing as the x & y axes calibrated just fine). When I tell the axis to home, it only travels about ten mm before stopping if not manually triggered on the endstop already (I'm using regular switch endstops). And if I give a motion command toby jdargot - Polar Machines, SCARA, Robot Arms
Beam Dumps - 6 years ago
Here is a thought I figured I would bring up. Simple diode lasers make due just fine with flame-resistant MDF as a cutting bed. As they become higher powered, a metal bed (honeycomb particularly) becomes much more popular. What I don't see much of is the ideal materials used for a beam dump beneath this. I have seen some designs where the beam goes straight through to the base and other more neby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: Some "serious" laser-marking with a fiber-laser ... - 6 years ago
That looks awesome! Great to show off a machine like that. What power laser did you use in those examples?by jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: GRBL Errors With Z-Axis - 6 years ago
Problem solved! I checked on Github and it seems kHz step rate limit was exceeded due to the high step per mm and max rate on the z-axis. Decreasing the max rate slowed the motion slightly but made it much smoother and kept all the other outputs from going crazy.by jdargot - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
GRBL Errors With Z-Axis - 6 years ago
Hello everyone, I have encountered probably the weirdest error yet when it comes to CNC firmware. I built a shapeoko knockoff running GRBL firmware on a mega and ramps 1.4. The particular program I am using has worked consistently in the past off of the classic Universal Gcode Sender. Recently, I have tried running this off of the classic as well as the 2.0 Nightlybuild with the same results iby jdargot - CNC Routers, Mills, and Hybrid RepRapping
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
And I am not seeing a third marked pin on mine. There is one port for analogue, CN3, but that's not what we want.by jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Munchit1, Sorry for the late response. As to the simplify 3d thing, I highly prefer LaserWeb or just about ANY software that is actually made for lasers. It is much more customizeable and has many options. It's just a matter of generating Gcode. I understand the PWM SXXX commands (XXX symbolizes your laser intensity). The issue is with all the drivers I use, the laser appears to just be alwaysby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: Filament stops flowing after 2.5 hours - 6 years ago
Probably the most asked question in all of 3D printing is "why does the extruder stop extruding?" First of all, be observant. does the extruder motor itself stop running? Is the filament getting eaten by the feeder? Do you hear any strange sounds? Get a basic idea and think about whether it is more likely electrical or mechanical. Then you might have better luck with advice pertinent to the issuby jdargot - General
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Haha. That's the weird thing with some of these companies. It's easy to move a decimal place or capitalize a letter without any repercussions. I made the assumption the laser was 1.5 w when I bought it. Luckily I did find a way of turning the laser off by running the TTL port to the ground of D9. The issue is that this makes it a pull-down instead of pull-up which has certain dangers (such as thby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: Laser Sub Surface engraving of Glass -bubblegram - 6 years ago
Interesting. Subsurface, huh? Well I'll give the little I know on the subject which isn't that much. A 50W CO2 laser could totally be added but it takes some upgrades. All the tubes I know of are pretty big and cannot be directly mounted. Instead, you need a mirror system for arranging the beam along your axes and a lens where your extruder would normally go. All that being said, subsurfaceby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Not the TTL itself, the output to the laser diode. I would check the voltage with the TTL on and then off: no change. (I am confident the port is working correctly). I connected the laser and included an ammeter: no change. And the specifics are in that link (I would give a picture but this site isn't allowing me to upload anything). It is hard to find much more than that but it does all the basby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
What are the best TTL drivers out there? (And current settings) - 6 years ago
Hello, I am considering getting a new driver for my 1.5w laser. I need something that can recieve TTL input from an Arduino Mega (12V instead of 5V) and will operate with PWM. I am considering both of the following: The first one seems nice but specifies a 5V PWM input. Would that require extra hardware and programming? I like the second one but I'm unsure about reliability. Finally, inby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Okay, so I checked the driver with a multimeter and it appears that the TTL makes no significant difference on the output to the laser. I'm considering just getting a new driver but I feel like there must be something I am missing. By the way, here is a link to the laser and driver. Has anyone worked with these kinds in the past?by jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Thank you everyone for the advice. o_lampe, that is good thinking and I may do that eventually. But I would like to figure out the driver a little more and consider other solutions first. cozmicray, I did everything you suggested up until pin 11 or 12. I have been using pin 9 instead because it is fairly easy coming from the cooling fan and should still be PWM capable. Are 11 and 12 any betteby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
TTL on a cheap Chinese driver troubleshooting - 6 years ago
Hello, I recently bought a Chinese laser for my first laser cutter conversion from a 3D printer. The driver has clearly marked pins for the TTL input and the +12v. After researching, it seemed like the most common setup was running the 12v port to the power supply and connecting the TTL pins into a port that has PWM (I used the classic D9 port). Testing the laser, however, I would plug the boarby jdargot - Laser Cutter Working Group
Re: Laser raster GCode interactions with Marlin firmware and GRBL software - 6 years ago
I get it, GRBL is based around router/laser work to begin with and as such, it is simpler to connect to those softwares. My reason for picking Marlin is because it's fast, versatile, and works well for SD projects. It's not the easiest thing to convert but I am asking here because I think it is worth it and I want to see if others have tried. The gcode is rather similar all things considered andby jdargot - Reprappers
Re: Laser raster GCode interactions with Marlin firmware and GRBL software - 6 years ago
Thanks. I actually have a controller I am using under most situations. It's just a little harder when I want to set for multiple passes and such. Yeah, I have considered inkscape too. I'll need to look further into the plugins there. And I'll definitely look into that laser section, thanks for the advice.by jdargot - Reprappers
Re: Laser raster GCode interactions with Marlin firmware and GRBL software - 6 years ago
Here is a sample of the Gcode I referenced. G90 G0 X0 Y0 M3 S0 F1000 X0.1 S19 X0.15 S18 X0.2 S17 G0 X0.25 Y0 S0 G1 X0.45 S17 X0.55 S18 X0.65 S17 X0.7 S19 X0.85 S18 X0.9 S17 X0.95 S18 X1.05 S19 X1.1 S18 X1.2 S17 X1.25 S18 X1.3 S17 X1.4 S18 X1.5 S17 X1.65 S18 X1.85 S19 ...by jdargot - Reprappers
Laser raster GCode interactions with Marlin firmware and GRBL software - 6 years ago
Hello, I will start from the beginning to ensure I cover all the details. I built a Shapeoko model 3D printer/CNC running off Arduino Mega and Ramps 1.4, configured with Marlin and GRBL interchangeably. I recently decided to convert the whole thing into a laser engraver and after a lot of consideration, decided to go with Marlin for speed and SD capability. The issue is that the best Gcode softwby jdargot - Reprappers