Hello guys! I've been following the forum for some time and it's time for my first post and first DIY CNC..
So, i bought a cnc from a friend, it is completely made by him but there is no motion control card. He removed it to use on another small router.
Also the cnc has a laser attached beside the spindle, a small one( i think it is a neje 5-10w).
The motors are these

https://mecheltron.com/en/product/es-m23480
The spindle is a chinese 4kw one with vfd.
Now i want to use mach3 or 4 (havent decided yet) and i want to be able to use the laser with PWM to control the watts through the gcode.
What card would you recommend?

Assuming you go for Mach4 (Mach3 is now obsolescent) then the only card fully supporting PWM laser (vector and raster) operation is the Warp9TD ESS smoothstepper.

Tweakie.

Thanks for replying!
Yes i am leaning towards mach4.
From what i am reading on this card, it requires also a breakout board, right?
Do i just choose any one from the recommended on their site?
Sorry for the many questions but although i operate CNCs for about 8 years, this is my first time DIYing one..
Also my drives are these
https://mecheltron.com/en/product/hbs86
I dont know if that is important.

Hi,

A breakout board is not essential but it can provide low cost protection to the ESS in the event of driver failure or shorted connections etc. In general it is a wise precaution to use a breakout board as recommended by Warp9TD.
The ESS will operate your drives OK.

Tweakie.

I am starting to get it..
The BoB is to connect the drives and the smoothstepper to control them..
I found an old BoB that i think is enough for the drives and limit switches..
And i also think that i can use the 0-10 pwm signal for the ttl of the laser?
Am i right in all of this or no?

Am i right in all of this or no?

So far so good 

Tweakie.

Thank you so much!
I will start the conversion and hope it works!

I am back with more questions..
I started the conversion and i am in the proccess of connecring the laser because i thought that is the easiest to do
I cant get it to work.. not even on/off. I tried connecting to the relay pins for spindle on/off an the 0-10v pins and i got nothing..
I also tried pin 17 and GND and the laser just gets constant power and i have no control..
Which pins do i need to connect?
Also the settings in mach are done according to the manual of the BoB..

Hi,
how about posting the manual of the breakout board.

Most PWM outputs of breakout boards 'take' 10VDC from the VFD (device to be controlled) and processes it to a varying 0-10VDC voltage using PWM.
If you are expecting your breakout board to produce 0-10VDC.....but without......the raw input voltage to process than I think you'll be disappointed.

Craig

Operation of a laser is not quite as simple as just connecting the wires.

Can you please post details of your laser.

Tweakie.