Another example of my engraving with the atmega328pb (10bits ). Next time i do a compare of one identical picture in 3 resolutions:8, 9 and 10bits
Very nice. Is this one pass? Or several passes with different power settings
@Cesar_Tolentino just one pass.
Is this using grbl? If yes what version?
@Bart_Libert yes grbl1.1e
Nice Paul. So I suppose you use the laser modus in 1.1. How do you do the greyscale ? Just do a G1 move and constantly change laser power ?
@Bart_Libert yes you use the lasermode $32=1 and issue just one M4 followed by the g1 codes. G0 or stops just switch off the laser. At the end of the file an M5.
Do you have a build log or website how you put this together? Interested also on the interface you made to attach the OEM cables to the Arduino board.
So for a line with for example 200 pixels, you make sure grbl is in laser mode with $32=1 (which grbl remembers in eeprom?) and then you g0 (rapid) to the start of your line, you enable M4 and you iterate 200 times over the sequence setting of setting power for the pixel and then move to the location of the next pixel ? Is this it ? Is it possible somehow to post 1 gcode file which can be analyzed then ? I currently run my 80W DIY cutter with linuxcnc but would love to experiment with grbl. Also… do you run 1.1e on an UNO or a MEGA ?
@Bart_Libert you’re very close on the right track. Yes all settings are kept in eeprom. I run this on a atmega328pb. You can get a board 328pb explained from mouser for $14. I created a shield for it and will publish this soon on a WordPress site. Having said this. 10bits is slow engraving 300mm/min. 9 and 8 are way faster over 1000mm/min. So still experimenting with it.
So basically an uno on steriods. Same processor but with 2 more 16bits timers and it has 2 uart serial ports.
But grbl doesn’t use that 2nd uart or extra timer ?
I’d like to be able to read more about this. You have a blog about your K40 and how to hook it up to grbl etc ??? I am currently creating a galvo based engraver for small area. A little fast demo can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6DReRwRKs&t=158s
@Bart_Libert very smart remark. Indeed in grbl i replace the uart0 with uart1 vector and similar for the uart registers.
@Bart_Libert yes i have written a smal story about and will put it up on my friends website where blogs on his stem project. A mini particle collider based on an arduino uno!
@Paul_de_Groot super! Always nice to read that stuff. Please post link when it is posted
@Bart_Libert http://awesome.tech my blog will be there within days😀
Paul, can I possibly get 1 of your gcode files (like the one you used for the engraving above) to study ? I can be mailed at educasoft@gmail.com
There are a lot of free gcode senders out there which Laserweb is one of them. I use a product both with my cnc and laser called picsender. It does cost $ but has a lot of useful tools and settings for use with a laser and arduino. The support is second to none. The website is http://www.picengrave.com
I write my own software for that. What interests me is the gcode lines Paul used. Always nice to see such a file and analyze