auggie with laser diode on pokeys57cnc

[Richard Cullin]

after two days of playing around I have finally got auggie going with my 3w 445 nm  laser module
so far I have discovered :-
1. when you create an auggie profile  if you choose "use pokeys data " you are in for a  world of hurt '
changes made to pwm pins etc just never work
2.  if you use the  usb connection  network delay must be 0  or motion  is erratic/jerky
3. when in doubt  restore pokeys to factory and delete auggie profile and start again
4. write down the settings that work
5. its  definitely  worth the effort  and a splendid thing

[ArtF]

Richard:

  Thanks for the notes. Comments below..

1. when you create an auggie profile  if you choose "use pokeys data " you are in for a  world of hurt '
changes made to pwm pins etc just never work

  True. This option really is for a person who WAS working, but lost it all for some reason. It will import almost all the
current settings int he Pokeys, it still does require resetting some things though, softlimits being one of them typically.

2.  if you use the  usb connectio n  network delay must be 0  or motion  is erratic/jerky

  Good point, Im of the opinion network delay should be 0 for all, I will now change it to 0 as an installation default.

3. when in doubt  restore pokeys to factory and delete auggie profile and start again

  I too do this, not the pokeys fault, more mine. Should there ever be too much traffic in Auggie I
will fix this up and make the configs easier. I havent pushed Auggie too much, and its lightly used,
so as most are pretty expert at setting up controllers, and I'm always willing to help, I haven't set much
of my coding time to cleaning up config issues.

4. write down the settings that work

  Always, and always keep a copy of the profile somewhere. (Just in case..). I only added
an "Are you sure? " to the delete profile this week because one was accidentally deleted.  :)

5. its  definitely  worth the effort  and a splendid thing

    Thanks, I personally love it when I run Auggie, I find it much more enjoyable
than Mach3 ever was, but then I use it only for laser. Its capabilities tend to mirror
the needs of myself and the testers that try various flavors. I already have more fixes for
tool change  and such for next release, only because someone is testing the past
couple weeks.
  Motion can be tough to tune, and Auggie surprises quite often as the settings can be done
so many ways. A simple Jerk increase this week tripled my speed when cutting a vine,
and even I wouldn't have thought so. Just shows there's lots to learn about it. 
Here's hoping you have fun and find it a cool toy.

Art

[Richard Cullin]

I have another query re  max cv radius 

the runtime value and the engine/planer value are not the same .  if I set the engine/planer  value then on the next restart of auggie the runtime value is set to the new value
but the engine/planer  value  reverts to 1,  yet the new runtime value persists  . seems to be not quite right to me.

so far auggie runs my 3040 mill  at 2400mm/min  with the laser on /spindle removed  cv=12 jerk=50000  and its smooth as silk , the 3w laser will engrave a pic onto wood
at that speed . that just about pulls the laser up  power wise 

still experimenting

[ArtF]

Richard:

Thanks, that was a bug. It has been fixed for next release. ( It was changing it to a boolean ..typo..)

Nice to hear its moving smooth. :) , let me know your experiences..

Art

[Richard Cullin]

first attempts at laser cut  etching masks with auggie
method
blank pcb cleaned up with  steel wool and brasso metal polish
wash with metho and dry
spray with  dark green pressure pack touchup paint , dry in sun 20min (impatient)
cut with auggie , wash again with metho
etch fecl3

first results , pretty good.  drill holes did not cut with laser seems g01 moves on Z don't seem to fire laser at anywhere near full power. I was hoping to use the code directly from coppercam to mark the drills

[ArtF]

Hi Richard:

  Thats looking pretty good. A hint on the Z moves, the power you get is equal to (Actual Feedrate / Requested Feedrate) * 100%, so
if you make your Z move with a feedrate.. Like G1Z.1 F0.5 , youll get a slow Z change at full power laser. Trick I think would be to
select a feed distance and a feed speed that makes the shot long enough for the drill hole. even a

G1Z-.1F.5
G1Z0F.5  would take about 6 seconds and burn full power for that 6 seconds, or so Id think. But if you turn off distance correction you can
have full requested power all the time. Does your laser panel have a button labeled Distance Correction on it? Im not sure if the
distribution has that button, if not Ill upgrade the laser panel to my own version of it. It has overrides for dist/cor and such on it.
    One of Auggies best features for laser ifs that it shoots only while moving, and only in a g1 move. But I know there are times
like when you wish to drill a hole where you need more power, the above may be a solution. If not, we'll find one..

 
All in all it looks like your on your way.

Art

[Richard Cullin]

thanks, I will try some more z moves tomorrow .

Does your laser panel have a button labeled Distance Correctio n on it ?

 
not that I can see , sounds like it could be handy though

[ArtF]

Thx, Ill update the panels so you have my laser controls, they give a bit more power.

Art

[ArtF]

Hi Richard:

The next update will have my laser panel that allows distance mode to be turned off. This can be very handy in things such as PCB.s

In the meantime, here it is, just unzip to the Panels folder..



Art

[Richard Cullin]

thanks for the new panel , but it dosen't  solve the problem

treid the  Z drills  as suggested with distance compensation on/off  and the laser will not reach past barely above tickle power
(laser current 10mA  where idle is 2mA  and full power 1600mA) the power level reached always  is  10mA  regardless of speed
for each g1 Z move the laser does increase and then go back to tickle when completed  but goes from 1 % to 2% (guess) only
coppercam does have a circular boring mode  but auggie does not like the arcs it generates (mach3 is ok)

[ArtF]

Richard:

Its a good point. All my work has been on imageing and cutting, so I hvent had to get power at a location without motion.
I will add a way to do that, perhaps with a Gcode that fires a set power for a set time..

Art

[ArtF]

Richard:

I see what I think would work best. We need to add a Gcode for what your trying to do with drilling.
A simple one like G101P50D1000  which would shoot the laser at 50% power for 1000ms..

It shouldnt be too bad to do that. If the laser spindle library is active, we have a call named

SpindleControl.TestFireRealTimePWM( lTime, lPower);

which will fire the laser at any power for any time.. so to add a Gcode like described above would be
written as a library function as below:

//fire laser as a drill with no motion required// G100 Ppower Dtimeinms
global GCode101 = function()
{
  power = ParmsPRI[0]; //get the P word
  time = ParmsJKD[2];  //get D word..best not to use T, tool number would change.
  SpindleControl.TestFireRealTimePWM( time, power); 
  print("Firing laser at " + power + "% for " + time + " Milliseconds");
};

  So.. just adding the above function to your GCode library should add the Gcode call G100P50D100 run a laser fire.. ( Its pretty easy to add your own Gcode calls, so long as they arent recognise calls, the library call will be made. Your generally safe over 100.. Id add a dwell as well after the G101 ( or add one to the function..), but thats basically how you add a GCode in Auggie. Carefull though, theres no safety there,
if you request a long fire it will happen, though I think its limited to 1 minute..

[ArtF]

Note:

Just tried the above, works here..but there is an example function G101, so delete that if you stick with G101 as your call.

Art

[Richard Cullin]

Thanks art
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;the method works but the holes are too small for me to use as intended [can hardly see them even with my glasses on &nbsp;< .25mm dia], I will need to explore the circular boring a bit more I need bigger marks than that.
had to dwell before and after drilling to get the timing correct

ps
I used G4 Pxx &nbsp; &nbsp;for the dwell &nbsp; I thought &nbsp;the p term was &nbsp;millis &nbsp;seems auggie says seconds
&nbsp;

[Richard Cullin]

problem solved. coppercam can bore without creating arcs ,just need to turn off circular interpolation.
can now make etch drill point marks any size I need at any speed I desire