Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: cdelicath on December 21, 2019, 09:06:18 PM
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Hey guys I feel like this should be an easy fix but it’s not working for some reason for me. So I am using a ethernet smooth stepper with Mach3
And my laser is working great using M10/M11. All I am looking to do is turn the laser on at say 2% percent to jog it to my zero position for reference and then shut it off after I find my home zero position. My screen set already has a button for laser on I just need to figure out how to trigger the laser on at 2% power and keep it on until I click the button again. I can use screen4 to edit the existing button but I’m not sure what commands to call to turn on the laser.
Any ideas?
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I should follow up by saying I have tried M3 S2 in MDI no luck.
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if my m11/10 only works at first movement how do I trigger my output 1"laser" at 2% PWM until I call for trigger off again? hmm...
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As with most things there is always more than one way.
My solution to switching my laser ON/OFF at any power setting is to gate the M10/M11 signal with the PWM signal. If it is any help to you this is described here; https://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?topic=12444.msg265104#msg265104
Tweakie.
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Thanks. I looked at that but I think it’s above my comprehension level right now. Just starting to learn laser side of things. And admittedly not really well-versed in Mach3 either. Been doing lots of reading so I’m learning quite a bit but I haven’t figured anything out yet with regards to simple on and off through Mach3 control. Is this a downside of using the M 10/11 commands? Seems like it should be very simple to call for the laser to turn on at a certain percentage of power.
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Hi,
Seems like it should be very simple to call for the laser to turn on at a certain percentage of power.
It is, you call Snnn in Gcode and your nominated PWM output pin will assume a voltage proportional to nnn. This is how a spindle
is controlled and can be used also to modulate a laser.
M10/M11 are to synchronize the laser output to axis movement, a refinement if you like. You might choose not to use M10/M11
in the first instance just the normal M3/M4/M5 commands. The reason for M10/M11 will become clear then.
Craig
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Is there anyway to assign G code to a on/off button in Mach3?
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Is there anyway to assign G code to a on/off button in Mach3?
Yes there is but you will need to add a VB button to your screen. This is done with a screen editor; https://www.machsupport.com/downloads-updates/screensets/
Then a VB script or macro is created and added to the new button. It's easy enough to do but there is some learning to be done.
Tweakie.
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Thanks guys I’m going to look into putting it in a script now. Need to read all about that. I guess I didn’t realize I had to run it as a G code. I was thinking it may be something native to Mach3 that I could use as a command directly in MDI. Thanks again now I got some reading to do..
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Thanks again now I got some reading to do..
;)
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Ok still not working. I’m wondering if it’s something in the way I have my Mach3 set up.
I use a warp9 ESS and a G540 for control.
I have the two TTL wires from my laser running to port3 pin 17 and a ground pin on port3. The rest of the machine is controlled through port1 on the ESS and sent through to the G540.
M3/M4/M5 do not activate the laser I think because I have M10/M11 checked in my ESS plugin settings which to my understanding disables Mach3 settings.
Is this the case?
Would it make a difference if I connected the laser direct to the G540 port#1 output #2 instead of using port #3 on the ESS for just the laser?
Any ideas?
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Ok Scratch the previous post. I Walked through all my Settings one more time and managed to find that I had a step pin wrong in the Mach3 set up. M3 and M5 commands are now working however my new issue is regardless ofMDI entry:
M3 S001 or S100 I get full power every time.
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My reply #3 perhaps ?
Tweakie.
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Another suggestion...
If you move on to Mach4 then your ESS will allow you to gate the ESS generated PWM and Mach4 derived M62/M63 switching signals into one output which you can then connect to the TTL input of your laser. If set-up correctly this will then enable your laser to be switched ON/OFF at any chosen PWM power setting.
Tweakie.
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Thanks tweakie.
I was reading over post #3 which led me to the other original posts Because I signal active low and down the rabbit hole I went. I am completely new to this so I have to go out and research just to comprehend some of the things you where referencing. Moving to Mach4 sounds much easier. I may just manually zero the laser in the meantime in Mach3 until I get the Mach4 trial setup and learn it. Seems like it’s for the best that I make the switch.
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The ESS also supports laser raster engraving with Mach4 and this may be of interest to you; https://warp9td.com/index.php/faq/faq-mach4#LaserSetup
Tweakie.
( initially it may all sound a little complex but once you get into it then it starts to make sense ;) )