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Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« on: October 05, 2020, 08:24:48 PM »
Got a diode laser, hooked it up to a breakout board using ess. Set the pwm output to port 1 pin 1.

Confirmed that when I change this pin to "active low" , the laser WILL fire and stay on. Configured everything as directed under laser tab in was plugin using the support page.

Nothing will fire the laser. No g code, not the sample g code they give, nada. The laser screen set fire laser buttons don't work. Can anyone help? Just wanna make simple cuts to start out

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2020, 01:15:57 AM »
The various Mach4 builds and the ESS builds are 'paired' and only work correctly in those 'pairs'.
Perhaps check, from the Warp9 website, that you are in fact using the latest mating pair.

Which BoB are you using ?
Which laser are you using ?
« Last Edit: October 06, 2020, 01:41:51 AM by Tweakie.CNC »
PEACE
Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2020, 06:18:58 PM »
The various Mach4 builds and the ESS builds are 'paired' and only work correctly in those 'pairs'.
Perhaps check, from the Warp9 website, that you are in fact using the latest mating pair.

Which BoB are you using ?
Which laser are you using ?
c

https://www.cnc4pc.com/pub/media/productattachments/files/c25_r5_user_manual_ver.3.2.pdf

this is the breakout board, plugs right into the top of the ESS.

I'm on build 253 of ESS plugin, and have mach 4.2.0.4430 , which are listed as working, but when I go to mach's website, the latest download is
4.2.0.4300
???
I know there's a more recent version of ESS plugin, but that'll mean I have to remove and reinstall mach4. My versions aren't THAT old, I've only gotten into this stuff in the last 12 months. and version 250 of ESS should work fine. I don't want to grenade my whole mach setup just to reinstall if it won't fix it. frustratingly, this is the only thing not working, so I'm able to mill on  this router fine. mostly.

Using a J tech laser, which has pretty good documentation, and I've set it all up according to warp9 and J tech's install guides. really frustrated that if I reassign this pin to something like "flood coolant" , I'm able to toggle the laser on and off just fine, meaning the ESS is sending 5v correctly on that pin, but mach won't do anything with the laser output when set up that way.

is there something with the frequency? I've heard if you set the power above 97%, it has problems or something...

Thanks for your help!!

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2020, 01:47:13 AM »
Unfortunately you are working with old versions which are known to have issues.

There have been a considerable number of improvements made in the operation of both Mach4 and the ESS during the last 12 months or so to overcome the laser operating problems associated with Mach4 build 4430 and the ESS. It has not been a smooth ride for laser users as various Mach4 development versions were withdrawn, WinXP phased out and some ESS updates made which in turn had problems or just did not work, however, everything now seems to have braved the storm with the ‘pair’ Mach4 build 4517 and ESS build 260 working in harmony.
Obviously development work of both products is continuing and the recommended ‘pairs’ of builds will change in the not too distant future (nothing remains the same for very long).

Before updating Mach4 and the ESS plugins, macro’s, etc. ALWAYS make a backup.

I think you should update to the known working ‘pair’ 4517 and 260 then follow the laser setup instructions (including the macro additions) provided by Warp9.

Various Mach4 development builds can be downloaded from here;
ftp://machsupport.com/Mach4/DevlopmentVersions/

The Mach4 laser setup details and required macro’s are here;
https://warp9td.com/index.php/faq#SetUpALaser

Tweakie.
PEACE
Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2020, 02:16:03 PM »
THANK YOU! that was it! now the tricky part is getting my toolpath from Fusion to actually fire the laser properly, but that's a post for another thread. THANKS!!
Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2023, 12:17:30 PM »
Strange but true....so much time has passed!

In trying to get my ESS to work with a new laser module, when trying to load the "ESS Laser v3" screen set, it gave an error about not being able to load the "Trace" Lua module. Well of course not...it's called mcTrace now! The screen also gives weird error messages in the history log about not being able to execute nil. Okay, so obviously some coding error here....

My solution was to go into \Mach4Hobby, find the mcTrace.luac (pre-compiled module; don't rename, as mcTrace.luac is definitely still needed!) and COPY that to Trace.luac in the same folder.

Reload the screen, and the errors are gone, and it even seems to work! That said, I have not tried any of the tracing functionality, so maybe it's only a mere bandage.

Not sure how or why, but that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2023, 12:19:41 PM by ThomR »

Offline Tweakie.CNC

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Re: Laser won't fire from Ethernet smooth stepper
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2023, 12:27:27 AM »
Quote
Not sure how or why, but that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

 ;)
PEACE