Messages

1

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Laser Mode i.e. do not stop motion after a G01 G2 or G3 X_ Y_ S_

« on: February 09, 2021, 06:53:54 AM »

If anything it will at least be fun. We do have a Co2 laser we test on. What are you using for cam software?

I forgot to tell you that with CO2 and fiber Laser you also besides the PWM output you need an immediate or sync output to turn on/off the laser. This is not needed with the cheap blue light Led lasers, in this case, you simply send an M3 at the beginning of the program and an M5 at the end of the program.

2

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Laser Mode i.e. do not stop motion after a G01 G2 or G3 X_ Y_ S_

« on: February 09, 2021, 06:26:43 AM »

If anything it will at least be fun. We do have a Co2 laser we test on. What are you using for cam software?

The easiest way to CAM photos to create a raster G code is by downloading the GRBL Laser freeware, there,  you can open any JPG, PNG, or PDF picture file and create a raster, and then export the G code and make minor manual edits to work with Mach and Pokeys. With Inkscape, you can also generate the G code but you need a little more work for manual post-process.

For my normal milling and routing, I use Autodesk Inventor Cam or Fusion360 depending on what platform I used for design.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Laser Mode i.e. do not stop motion after a G01 G2 or G3 X_ Y_ S_

« on: February 08, 2021, 07:57:56 PM »

Had a chat with the other programmer and we have the analog out in sync with the GCode. It is not using the S command so that will be the change. The good news is am the parts are in place! Just need to put them together another way

  Great news, for me and for your organization. I am sure that with this option you will sell a lot of licenses! I will be the first to make a lot of noise 

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Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Laser Mode i.e. do not stop motion after a G01 G2 or G3 X_ Y_ S_

« on: February 08, 2021, 03:44:33 PM »

Brian,

Thanks for your fast response! Al low-cost Chinese LED lasers work the same. There is a cheap Arduino-based board that connects via USB to a PC with a GRBL Laser opensource controller with 3 axis stepper drive included. They need an on/off command to enable the laser and the rest is done with the S command to a PWM output.

I actually use the wait time for the spindle when using my router with a rotary axis but, unfortunately, the wait is a bad thing for laser engraving.

My laser profile works very nice except for the issue above. I hope you can find a solution I can test.

Thanks again.

Carlos

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Mach4 General Discussion / Laser Mode i.e. do not stop motion after a G01 G2 or G3 X_ Y_ S_

« on: February 08, 2021, 03:02:28 PM »

I use Mach4 with a Pokeys54CNC in my homemade router. Sometimes I install a 5.5W led laser to make some engraving.
To use the laser, I created a new profile, I turn the laser on/off M3/M5 using one of the relays outputs and use pin 20 for PWM control with the S command.

It works nicely for cutting or black and white engraving, but this works badly when engraving gray scales. The issue is that when you have a set of instructions like the one shown below, the machine stops in each line, the speed is not constant, and instead of engraving, it burns the stock.

The cheap Arduino GRBL controller has an option they call "Laser Mode" in which an S command after G1, G2, or G3 does not stop the motion!

Is there a way to do this with Mach4?


G0 X4 Y2 S0
G1 X3.8 Y2.2 S216
X3.6 Y2.4 S232
X3.4 Y2.6 S241
X3.2 Y2.8 S279
X3 Y3 S260
X2.8 Y3.2 S257
X2.6 Y3.4 S326
X2.4 Y3.6 S304
X2.2 Y3.8 S291
X2 Y4 S250
X1.8 Y4.2 S229
X1.6 Y4.4 S191
G0 X1.2 Y5 S0

 

6

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Upgraded to build 4534 and single block does not work

« on: September 27, 2020, 09:33:46 PM »

Update #2

I downgrade to build 4835, the single block worked but the program was returning an error when using the touch probe

I installed build 4408 and now for what I use, looks that everything is working both the single step and the touch.

7

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Upgraded to build 4534 and single block does not work

« on: September 27, 2020, 07:50:16 PM »

More information on the issue:

I upgraded because I had problems with toolpath generation and M0 instructions, this is the recommendation in the thread about that issue in this forum. I decided to upgrade to the latest buid.

I made some more investigation on my machine and found the following:

1- If I activate the single block before start running a program it does not work
2- If I click single block in the middle of the execution of the program, the execution stops at the next instruction and single block works as expected.

Using Mach4 with stock router window and pokeys plugin.

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Mach4 General Discussion / Upgraded to build 4534 and single block does not work

« on: September 27, 2020, 06:03:46 PM »

Before typing this post, I made a search and found some information,

I doublechecked that the file single block is checked on the Cycle start and also checked that the single block button is enabled

Single block in a simple program without subroutines ins not working!

Please help