Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a PWM controlled laser, Mach 4 vs Mach3

« on: February 14, 2019, 08:24:06 PM »

An add on question - do you use the smoothstepper with Mach3 or mach4?  Is it necessary with Mach 3 to get the results you did?

Thanks!
John

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a PWM controlled laser, Mach 4 vs Mach3

« on: February 14, 2019, 10:59:35 AM »

I would call that success!    I am running ArtCam Premium still, which I think uses a very similar post processor to Vectric.  Would you mind sharing what software you used to produce that art?

Thanks again
John

3

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Using a PWM controlled laser, Mach 4 vs Mach3

« on: February 14, 2019, 10:06:53 AM »

Thank you for this update!

I'd also be interested in learning if you had any success using Mach3 to engrave grayscale images and your thoughts on Mach4.

Cheers
John

4

Post Processors / Re: Vectric post processor for Mach 4 laser operation.

« on: February 13, 2019, 06:29:48 PM »

I know this is an old thread.  I'm wondering if anyone has tried engraving an image with laser and Mach4.  Is there fine enough control to do this with vectric and mach 4?

Thanks
John

5

Mach4 General Discussion / Using a PWM controlled laser, Mach 4 vs Mach3

« on: February 13, 2019, 01:47:08 PM »

Hello everyone.  I will start by saying I've tried to find what is surely an existing discussion (or 3) about this, but the search engine wasn't getting me anywhere, so with apologies....

I am an existing Mach3 user, driving a Leadshine Mx4660 and 4 axes.  I've just acquired an Endurance diode laser that I would like to mount on my CNC table and control without changing up my wiring.  I don't use spindle control presently, so would like to use that for the laser (I think that makes sense so far).

One of the issues I've read about with Mach 3 is that there were delays in processing the laser on/off and intensity levels such that direct control of laser by Mach3 wasn't really great.  There are add on modules from places like J-Tech Photonics, but these are a couple of hundred $US plus the cost of a 5th axis stepper driver, and I would still be running Mach 3, which is getting long in the tooth.

Has Mach4 solved the laser issues?  ie, can I directly control laser on, off and intensity as required for raster / variable intensity picture engraving without an add on module? 

If so, then I would rather manage the upgrade to Mach4 than add hardware.

Thanks in advance for your patience in answering this question (for the nth time)....

John