Been struggling with piclaser software, has anyone got the software to work with their k40 uno+ramps setup? Test code it generated looked ok and functions correctly in regards to laser fire intensity, however laser movement is not responding. Any ideas?
Email John or Jeff. They respond very quickly.
Can you manually issue a move command in gcode? PicLaser works great with GRBL.
There is a fundamental problem. The code generated by pic engrave creates a single Goode block for every pixel. This works great for small diode lasers in the 2-3 watt range. When you throw a 40 watt laser into the mix you need to seriously increase the head speed to prevent overburn. The code generated by pic engrave is correct, I suspect the problems you are seeing relates to limitation of how fast Goode blocks(1 for each pixel ) can be processed by the firmware.
Nick you are correct and what you said here hit nail on head. I couldnt figure out why or what was happening but thanks to you I now know what is what. Makes perfect sense, thank you so much. Now back to drawing board lol. I dont know how to create an image or ready an image for laser via inkscape and no matter what program I use I have to run through inkscape as final stage to create for laser. I am beyond frustrated and cant keep asking for help on each individual print.
Even when I do know what I am doing then there will be an issue with plugin or inkscape which makes me think I did it wrong only to find that the plugin doesnt like my input of that particular project. Is there a simple method to get me started on getting an image to gcode that my laser setup will understand?
Andrew did not want to push my stuff but I am developing a solution for this. I did a kickstarter last year for diode laser heads. We have developed our own software that does both vector and image rendering. I currently use a K40 laser to cut all the acrylic parts for my product. When I attempted to do image rastering ran into the same problems that you are seeing.
Went back to the diode lasers and was able to duplicate the same issue when speeds are turned way up. I am currently working on a firmware mod to grbl that will support streaming pixel data specifically for image rastering. This will conceivably fix your problem.
I spoke about it in my most recent update as feature number 8
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1923304356/laser-ink/posts/1469818
This may not suite your needs as it will not work on the ramps 1.4 firmware.
In the mean time you should be able to get decent results from pic engrave by setting your max PWM to 35(prevents over burn at slower seeds) and slow down the feedrate to about 1500 mm/min, also large pixel spacing will help this problem. Can’t guarantee the results and you may need to play with some of the numbers but this is how I was able to do image rastering.
Note, This is a crappy solution because you are seriously throttling the laser and only using a fraction of its capabilities.
Awesome man thanks, after working with jeff it was decided their software would not work. I’ll check out your stuff for sure, what controller does it require? Also with other softwares like pic laser what is the cut width setting .1, .01, .001??
Hi Andrew,
Not sure how to send a private message on the google groups. If interested I will hook you up with the software if you would be willing to test with me. The software is well established for diode lasers and will work great for doing vector cutting, but the streaming feature is under development and has not yet been released. It would be very beneficial to work with a customer on this if your willing.
As for the controller you will need an Arduino uno with a grbl shield.
There are millions of source for the arduino and the shield can be bought here.
The shield is basically 3 stepper drivers only need two of them.
If you have done the wiring for the ramps then it will be very easy to convert over to the grbl.
I have attempted to add you to my google circle so that I can send you an email directly.