Arduino based Laser Control

[DanL]

I will do it like you have done I will use a Leonardo to do it with I will more than likely have a remote screen and buttons and stick the Leonardo inside the computer.
also some cleaver person could change the code so it works with one of the screens that use two wires with the Leonardo as it has more Interrupt pins.
it will be good if this controller gets changed so it can be stuck on any machine I think that wont be to hard to do just need a G code generator like how you did it with Darwin.
It could be a very good add-on for gerotic.
(just ideas for the improvement of your bank balances as I think you deserve it)

[ArtF]

>>lso some cleaver person could change the code so it works with one of the screens that use two wires with the Leonardo as it has more Interrupt pin

  I originally had a 2 wire lcd on it, but I was concerned for interrupt time, its not the number of interrupts so much as the interrupt processing time and how it can interfere with the serial or step traffic. I did in the end make enough changes so that using a 2 wire would probably work now, but
in the beginning I had an interrupt for XStep, one for YStep and another for PWM.. and with 4 total going I was concerned about using another for lcd's.. but now it might work fine as Darwin now combines all the step interrupts to one pin..

Art

[DanL]

I might try using one of the screens with buttons have to look into it a bit more first my programming skill are quite ruff.
also I was thinking of seeing if one of the TI boards will work to as you can just use a chip with a couple bits added to get them working and they are cheaper

[ArtF]

Dan:

  You could use a TI, Ive looked at launchpads, they look good. You just need to know more programming is all. For my next project Ill probably move to a much more powerfull
micro.. but the arduino is working well for the laser so Ill stick with it for that..but I had
so much fun with it that I'm already planning a new project for after this development season..

Art

[DanL]

I am not surprised you have something else up your sleeve your wife must be glad that you are always busy.
I am playing at the moment I have to port over some .H and .CPP files first I am using there ccs program it shows where the problems are I used it to port over modbus last year

[ArtF]

Hi Guys:

Just a note, in the source code when I mention you need to comment out the original core interrupt vectors, the path of the Winterrupts.c file is at ..\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\cores\arduino\WInterrupts.c

  You have to comment out the interrupt vectors as shown because I addressed them directly to make them faster.

Thx
Art

[SkyMoBot]

In my version of the ardunio progamming package, they were in there several times for different hardware configs, so you might have search and comment out the ones for the hardware you are using.

I just commented out all of them and that worked fine for me.

[John T]

Hi Art,
I don't know if this should be here or somewhere else.  You have posted a 2.5D cut of the celtic knot done with your laser.  Is it or will be be possible to generate gCode for a CNC machine to do the same cut?

I have been playing around with "knots" in Gearotic and can generate a dxf but it is just lines and has no z in it and the gCode doesn't seem to work for me.

John

[ArtF]

John:

  It will, hopefully by the end of the year. Celtic knots currently can only be output as STL's
and grey scale photos ( which the laser uses.). The problem is we have never had a GCode
module that can do engravings, or full 3d machining, gears are all 2.5D. SO the new
machining module will get the capability in the end to do 3d engraving, which is how bevels
and celtic knots will be done.

  Im not sure the order as yet, I suspect 2.5D will be redone to be much more powerfull, then
4th axis will be done with a simulator, then 3d engraving will be added as the last step. As of now
thats the plan for this year. Shoudl I finish early, then Ill be adding some more mechanisms or
calculators such as planetary calculators.

  2.5D recoding is almost done, it will probably be released in October, we'll go from there as quickly
as I can in the above order.

Thx
Art

[John T]

Hi Art,
Definitely not trying to be pushy - I just got lost on the trail of things.

John

[ArtF]

:) , Not a problem, it wasn't taken that way.  

I should mention though, that as of Thursday this week, Ill be
away on vacation till Oct 1st. Development starts again on Gearotic on
Oct 2nd.

Art

[tweakie]

Hi Art,
I don't know if this should be here or somewhere else.  You have posted a 2.5D cut of the celtic knot done with your laser.  Is it or will be be possible to generate gCode for a CNC machine to do the same cut?

I have been playing around with "knots" in Gearotic and can generate a dxf but it is just lines and has no z in it and the gCode doesn't seem to work for me.

John

Hi John,

Going back in time, Art created "Mach1Filter" which you could use to create the machining Gcode from the grey scale images of the Celtic knots.
If you are interested, I have described it in a bit more detail here http://openbuilds.com/threads/producing ... -free.380/

Tweakie.

[ArtF]

Wow, even I had forgotten that one Tweaky.. lol

Ill be making a new one soon..for the Knots and for other possible uses, one
with a bit more power..

Art

[tweakie]

Those are just the words I love to hear Art  "More Power"  ;D

Tweakie.

[DanL]

Hi art hope you had a good holiday don't reply to your back.
I am a bit confused about the pins you have set I am going to be using a Leonardo, I am not sure what pins to use for the lcd screen you have it down as A0-A6 is A6 digital pins 4.

all the other pins I can understand I will just use the one on the plan you did for what pins to use.

it will be 3-4 weeks before the parts show up so everything will probably change by then.

I have not change over to a Ti board yet as it will take a bit of recoding to get working as the way they do pwm is a bit different from arduino it will happen one day.