Messages

11

General Mach Discussion / Re: PWM Laser output not responding to Sxx commands

« on: December 30, 2020, 05:42:51 PM »

I have successfully set up mach 3 with PWM power control, M10/11 control of on/off and succesfully used the relays on the control box to prevent the laser from being ON when Mach 3 is turned off!!!! So stoked to finally get this working. Can't wait to start making cool stuff.  Once I got close, I think I just got lucky trying various combinations until I got what I wanted.







Ignore the burn marks from jogging I fixed this with the correct output in the M11/10 section of the main config.

12

General Mach Discussion / PWM Laser output not responding to Sxx commands

« on: December 29, 2020, 10:10:30 PM »

I have M11/M10 working really well now with appropriate g-code. But I still do not have PWM control of the laser output. I have attached screenshots of my current set up. I'm hoping someone here can pick out something that might be preventing my system from being able to regulate laser power with Sxx commands in the code.

It is my understanding that the Amp meter should reflect the output to the laser based on the Sxx command. No matter what I set for Sxx the amp meter does not change as shown below. It always reads right around 4.1 amps. The voltage meter on the control box show ~4.9 volts usually.

The PWM wire is wired to my BOB at pin 17, ground is set to Pin 18. The BOB is attached via ribbon cable to the output 3 of my ethernet smooth stepper(ESS). The BOB LED for pin 17 responds to input from MACH3, it is lit when there is signal and out when there is not.

One correction to the screen shots. In the main config my controller frequency is 250 Hz. This significantly improved timing of my laser. Also M11/M10 output mode is set to output 2 in my current set up.

In the THC control screen the base frequency is set to 3000 currently.

I have followed the endurance set up as well as the set up on the Warp9/ESS and can not find the error in my set up.

I'm hoping someone here can help me solve this issue for me.
I've added a video of my laser firing and pic of my voltage and amp meter.

13

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 29, 2020, 12:07:34 PM »

I tried some of the code from the Trispokedovetiles.tap file you recommended. I got it to work perfectly. The first run the on/off had some delay and the file did not cut right. As soon as I switched the output signal to active low my on/off timing with M11/10 worked perfectly!!!

Having a working G-code was the key to figuring out the mach3 set up! I have a couple more tweaks to try like changing base frequency and I think I will have it nailed.

The reason for the header and footer is basically just to have a piece of code to turn on/off the laser that is known to work properly.

The last piece of work is to ensure that the Sx commands are changing the laser output properly. I still feel like this is not working 100% as it should.

If I look at the amp meter on the laser box, shouldn't  it change based on the Sx input in the code?

14

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 28, 2020, 01:45:18 PM »

I'm not sure the Inkscape LaserTools extension writes code the right way for PWM. I've attached an unedited version of a test file generated by LaserTools. What do you think?

15

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 27, 2020, 06:17:30 PM »

I found this on the Warp9 website in the laser PWM control documentation for the ESS.

(Start of GCode)

M3 (Enable the PWM output)
S50 (Set the PWM for the laser to 50%, assuming max of 100)
G0 X1 Y1 (Move to start)

M11P1 (This will activate the PWM output, synchronized to start with the next motion command)
G0 X10 (This is the line that will be burned from X1 to X10)

S20  (Lower the PWM  for the laser to 20%)
G0 Y10 (The line will be burned from X10 Y0  to X10 Y10)

S100 (Raise the PWM for the laser to 100%)
G0 X5 (The line will be burned from X10 Y10 to X5 Y10)

M10P1 (This will deactivate the PWM output, synchronized with the start of the next motion command)
G0 X0 Y0 (Moves to the next position)

(Do more things as desired)

M5 S0 (Shuts off the PWM)
M30 (Rewind)
(End of GCode)
 

I also think I had some issues with how my mach profile was set up. This guide indicates active low for the motor outputs and output signals. I changed this in my set up and will test again tomorrow.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

would this piece of code work for headers and footers?

; WhiteRoom Skis Laser custom code

;
G90
G21
M3
S0

;
G0 X1 Y1 F3000.0
M11P3
G01 *********x Yyyy F3000.0 (*********x Yyyy indicates a G1 move defined in the code)
M11P3 F3000.0
S50

add inscape LaserTools g-code here (assuming the plugin generates appropriate code)

M10P3
S0
G0 *********x Yyyy
M11P3
S50

Add more LaserTools g-code (assuming the plugin generates appropriate code)

;(Footer)
M10P3 S0
G1 ********* Yyy
M5 S0
G0 X0 Y0
M30

16

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 27, 2020, 10:49:17 AM »

Tweakie, can you take a look at the file I have attached specifically if this will start/stop the laser commands properly? You can probably ignore the bulk of the code except to look at the rapid moves that would start stop to code in the middle of the file.

This was generated with the LaserTools extension in Ink Scape https://github.com/ChrisWag91/Inkscape-Lasertools-Plugin

I'm sure you are familiar with this extension with your vast laser knowledge But I figured I would attach them so you can see what I am working with.

17

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 27, 2020, 08:24:48 AM »

Ok thnak you for your help. I see the issue. The code generated by the Inkscape laser tools plugin definitely adds the appropriate m11 m10 calls in the body of the code, but it does not necessarily add the right info in the header and footer. I'll be generating most of my laser code with this instead of fusion. I failed to,explain that well in the original post.

It is really just the header and footer than I need to figure out for this to run well.

I guess I'll just have to do som trial and error. Amy chance you can point me to an example of some code than has the correct m3 call follows by the correct sequences for m10/11 to fat rat and stop the laser the right way? Or should I try to program the phantom c axis?

18

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 27, 2020, 04:50:08 AM »

So would moving the G0 immediately after the M10 command keep it from turning on too soon and turn it off when the program is over  as shown below?

;
M3 S0
G01 X0 Y0 F1000
M10P3 S0
G01 X0 Y0
M11P3 S50 F3000

add g-code here

;(Footer)
M10P3 S0
G0 X0 Y0
M5
G21
G90
M30

Or would I need to set up the phantom axis?

Or would calling M10 with a short axis movement to simply back up like 1mm at the end of the program work?


Will this accomplish what I'm looking to do?
[/quote]

19

General Mach Discussion / Re: Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 27, 2020, 04:26:30 AM »

Ok I understand that. How do I work around that? I have read about setting up a phantom axis to get the laser to turn off. Would it work to turn it on also?

20

General Mach Discussion / Custom M11/M10 code headers and footers

« on: December 26, 2020, 06:22:41 PM »

So I have added a laser to my CNC frame. I am having a hard time finding a suitable post-processor for Fusion 360. I have discovered the use of the inkscape Lasertools extension to create g-code.

however the headers and footers are not quire right

So in my research I have written a header and footer to turn the laser on with the M11 and off with the M10 commands that I can add manually to my laser code.

If you would please take a look at what I've written to see if this will do what I want it to which is to

Turn on the Spindle  at 0% power (spindle is mapped to laser output in mach 3)
Move to the origin of the program with the laser off
Turn on the laser at 50% power with a feed rate of 3000

full g-code program inserted here

turn off the laser set laser power to 0
Turn off the spindle
Stop program and rewind

So here are the code blocks I've written
;
M3 S0
G01 X0 Y0 F3000.0
M10P3 S0
(go to start of first cut)
M11P3 S50 F3000

add g-code here

;(Footer)
M10P3 S0
M5
G21
G90
G0 X0 Y0
M30


Will this accomplish what I'm looking to do?