Paying 40$ If someone can change the laser module for me

Controllers Smoothie
1

A co2 glass laser tube power supplpy has 2 things it needs. It needs a (on/off) (High/low) (0v/5v) TTL signal of 5V to tell the laser to fire or not fire. It needs a second signal that is PWM which is then converted to an analog signal inside the PSU to a 0 to 5v 0 to 100% signal it uses for the laser tubes power.

Speaking to Aurthur he says to just jump the laser PSU TTL to on all the time and have the PWM “turn the laser on adn off” This is unacceptable to be using a digital to analog converted signal to turn a laser on and off and the power at the same time.

So I want to keep the whole “math” etc “larger processor” of smothie discussions and the reason I bought it relevant and keep the laser module functions as far as it adjusts the power on curves when it accelerates and decelerates.

So what do I need? Someone to implement one of the solutions into the laser module for me or come up with a better solution because as it stands I would not use the laser module and I would loose the smoothies point of existing vs a arduino based solution.

One way to fix this is leave the module how it is and create a second laser pin. Have one pin put out a pwm signal for power and then the part of code where it says g0, g1 turns it on and off make that go to a new second pin. in the laser modules on speed change event where I assume it does its “math” to change power settings as it changes speed just have that adjust the max power setting value that i put in config.

Another way I would accept it fixed is if you delete the entire part about G0, G1 moves turning it on and off (since i cant find a code generator to make code this way anyway) and keep the part that is the on speed change event. Then I can make a switch modeul to turn the laser on and off using m106 m107 since the plugins that I have all found do it this way.

My Ideal end all solution would be for me to set the max power to 100% in config then before I move the motors or turn the m106 on to fire i would put a Sxxx to select the power Then use the laser module on speed change event to effect that current power setting. Then you can just make me a switch that turns another pin on and off for the laser TTL on off signal using regualr m106 m107.

I can pay via Paypal and you can contact e here if we need to talk via message or phone to figure out what we have to do.

Imported from wikidot

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So I either need a second laser pin one for pwm and one for TTL on off,

or

I need the entire part about g0, g1 moves turning it on and off removed and keep the on speed change “math” parts we all heard about in the smoothie vs other controller discussions. I would then keep the laser pin as the PWM pin and use a switch module to turn a separate pin on and off with m106 m107.

My only solution would be to use an Arduino to constantly send a PWM power signal to the laser PSU and set the max power in smoothie to 100% or 1 i believe it is in config and when a g1 move happens it goes to high or 100% (full 5v) to the laser TTL on off. This solution however bypasses all the power on speed change settings in the module meaning I might as well just use the arduino to do the rest as well via ramps etc as smoothies functionality AKA power speed chages is bypassed because i cant change a few lines of code.

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I’m hope I’m not dragging up an old post for nothing, but some code that I recently submitted to the “edge” branch of smoothieware does exactly this. There is an option for a TTL pin that is turned on during G1/2/3 moves and off otherwise. (Active low would suit most laser PSUs.)

The PWM signal is left unchanged so that still turns off when the laser is not firing. I couldn’t see any benefit to leaving it running. Also for someone who isn’t using the TTL pin it could have nasty consequences of leaving the laser on all the time - even when not moving.

If you still want to pay $40 then by all means support the SmoothieBoard project - there’s a donate button on the home page.