Hello, I'm hoping to use Mach3 to operate my diy 80W laser cutter engraver.  I've purchase the AKZ250 Motion Control board and am looking for any experiences running a laser cutter with this board and Mach3.  I would like some help with how to set up Mach3 to run a laser cutter.  Is PWM the preferred way to go with an 80W laser cutter running Mach3 and an AKZ250?  Are there any detailed procedures out there re laser operation with an AKZ250 and Mach3?  
Any help and experiences with this approach would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.

Keith

Hi Keith,

Lasers require a high switching speed (ON/OFF) to avoid creating ‘dots’ at the start and end of engraved lines etc. To this end the command set M11Px / M10Px was specially created for Mach3 and these commands switch the designated laser trigger pin at the exact moment of axis movement and totally avoid the problem.
Unfortunately the AKZ250 does not support these commands so you are limited to using a spare axis direction pin for laser switching. This is not difficult to achieve but overall you may find it a whole lot easier to switch to a supported motion controller (ESS perhaps) and use the M11Px / M10Px command set. I have explained the switching requirement in a bit more detail here;  http://www.tweakie.byethost10.com/27_files/Page652.htm

Hope this helps,

Tweakie.