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Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.
« on: February 22, 2012, 04:29:43 AM »Well, I think the plugin doesn't control the laser power whatsoever. All it does is trigger it on and off.
Dan
Hi Dan,
In a way you are right – the plugin does indeed just switch the laser on and off but it does in a cunning way called modulation. As laser ‘burn’ is related to both laser power and exposure time when the plugin switches the laser on it does it in pulses or dots per pixel – a few pulses on top of one another produces a light mark and many pulses on top of one another produces a dark mark. You have seen from Art’s description that these pulses or dots are pretty quick and providing the step-over has been set correctly they will blend and this in turn produces the shades of grey. I have tried to describe the process in my PDF http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/Engraving.pdf which I am sure you have probably read already.
Overall, the function is not dissimilar to a PWM spindle speed controller – it only turns the spindle on and off at full power but by varying the duty cycle it controls the speed. There are a few more refinements in a speed controller such as measuring the back EMF and adjusting the pulse width so that a constant speed can be maintained under varying tool loading but basically all it does is turn the spindle on and off.
Tweakie.