I have not been able to find any information on the progress of the ability of raster engraving using the smoothieboard. I have spoke to other laser cutter operators and they can’t consider smoothie board as it does not offer raster etching, so they keep to their proprietary control boards, OS and software
I would like to know where the community is at with this functionality. Is there a work around, using other open source software to create suitable g-codes, compatiable with smoothieboard.
If not, then what are the best next steps I can take, to enable this functionality? I will be ordering a 4XC as soon as they are available, I can code a little and have an appitite to develop my skills.
Well , you have to think about SmoothieBoard like a Gcode interpeter and executer. You have to generate somehow desired G-Code.
MAy be helpfull to have a look on instructables and search for Shapeoko-2-Arduino-UNO-R3-grbl-9g-8bit-Raster-Phot
(I’m not allowed to publish web links … :(( )
A while back Logxen coded support for it in a separate branch : https://github.com/logxen/Smoothie/tree/laser_engrave
It did give some promising results. However, that branch is too old now and wouldn’t work with the modern Smoothie ( and it was missing things ).
I intend to start coding laser engraving, starting a few months from now.
If you want to implement this, there is a clear path to doing it, with an order of things to implement etc …
If you want to get into that, don’t hesitate to contact me at wolf.arthur@gmail.com
Also, about two weeks from now, we’ll start a contest for Smoothie.
We’ll be taking in propositions for contributions as contest entries, then choose 30 contributions, and give each a 5XC Smoothieboard !
Implementing laser engraving is actually in the list of contribution ideas we’ll be listing for that contest
Contact me if you want to be entering the contest early.
You can email me at wolf.arthur@gmail.com and we can talk more about the specifics of implementing laser engraving.
I can also help with the process ( I’ll soon be coding something similar ).
I am interested in getting the DAC out working to achieve analogue laser modulation for this very reason (currently I believe there is a bug in the code but I am not up to speed on C++ to find it). Pic Engrave software will generate very nice G Code not sure if it is strictly raster but very good results are achieved.
Check out their website there is a nice article on analogue modulation and laser engraving on hobbyist machines.
Yes logxen kindly added the code after a discussion we had however I have not been able to get the Code to work.
I am running an azteeg x5 which luckily has the Analogue out broken out onto the header so I don’t have to mess around with ripping up the resistor network if I had gone the smoothie board route.
The code initialises the pin ok.
The pin is pulled up to 2.3v as default according to the lpc1769 documentation. Which I have confirmed with a DVM. When I configure laser module to true the analogue out outputs 0v. So the correct pin is being initialised.
But G1 X10 S0.5 has no effect on the DAC out. It is always 0v.
Unfortunately my C++ knowledge is slim to none so I haven’t made much progress in figuring out what in the code might need tweaking.
I’d like to help out where able. I’m working on a laser engraver and I’m very interested in using the smoothie board (just found it yesterday). I’ve already wrote a program that will convert images to Gcode like the picengrave software, however, have yet been able to test it. I do intend to release it as Open Source and will check later for Mono compatibility so it will also run on Mac/Linux. I’m building the circuit to control the laser intensity via GCode tonight. If that goes well then I can begin real world testing. I’m anxious to get my smoothie board and start playing with things. Anyone feel free to email me at phil@phillipaaron.com if you want to collaborate. I’ll also be in touch w/ arthurwolf.
Good news that there are lots of us keen to push this forwards smoothie is a very capable platform.
What laser are you using and how are you planning to control it’s intensity?
I have a 3w 9mm 445nm blue laser diode which I can control the intensity of using a flexmod p3 laser driver which receives an analogue input 0 to 5v. To me this seemed the simplest arrangement as long as I could get the DAC working on smoothie.
I have just ordered the last SB 3XC from robotseed. I have an old laser cutter that I am replacing the control board and motors with. I plan to blog about the whole process, then once all working, I can then can investigate rastering…
I have been researching this for quite sometime and am about to try experimenting using a 3W 9mm laser diode and a Flex Mod P3. I have a smoothieboard and have almost completed the xy portion for the engraver/3d printer.
In researching (hobbycncart. com/forum/63-236-15) I found that there are 2 main ways for controlling the laser TTL and PWM. What they mean by TTL is on or off for each point and PWM is varying the amplitude level for each point. They use TTL mainly for higher power CO2 lasers and PWM for lower power diode lasers.
One of the pioneers (JJWMACHINECO) with diode lasers uses a stepper motor hooked up to a rheostat to vary the amplitude and gets amazing results.(search Youtube for eqvLR9r14jM ). Latter iterations through other users use a DAC type circuit that has a digitally variable resistor varying the output of an op-amp.
I will experiment using the mosfet on Smoothie but am unsure if it is true PWM, which does not work like the hobbycnc guys usage of the term. Worse comes to worse I will be building an add on board and use smoothie to control it.
I am finally getting round to reconditioning the laser cutter. So, within the next few weeks, I will have it up and running, then I can contribute to getting the rastering working.
@defunc: Thanks for the youtube recommendation. Great results, although I am not sure why you would want to move diagonally?
The laser tube I am reconditioning accepts PWM, although the new laser I am planning to buy will be CO2. So would be great if the solution could incorporate both.
I use the Azteeg X5 board on my 3D printers and run Smoothieware.,
Can I use that board to control the laser ? and is it a worth while upgrade ? I have seen the DSP upgrade kits but I would love to use hardware I have on hand if possible. I have tried searching this info directly but I admit this type of info seems to be scattered.
